Ways Artists Destroy Their Careers: Hire Your Mother As Your Manager

This is a bit facetious and might make some people angry.  I'm not picking on mothers!  However my opinion is based on my experience and observation.  Unless they are proven music industry professionals -- hopefully managers -- do not hire your mother, father, uncle, cousin, brother, next door neighbor, boyfriend, etc. to manage your career.  Rather than destroying a career this is often a way to stop a career dead in its tracks on the way to the launch pad.  Even if the relative or friend is a proven personal manager, still give it some serious thought.  More than one artist has ended up suing their father or other relative over the way their relative handled their career.  Tragically then the breakup is not only a business one but a personal one.

Assume you work for a record label and it is your job to decide whether or not a budding artist is going to be signed.  Assume further that you have three extraordinarily talented young artists to choose from.  Depending on the size of your label you will be committing anywhere from $500,00 to $1,000,000 or more to “break” the artist.  Choose wrong too many times and your job might be in jeopardy - indeed everybody’s job at the label given the state of the music industry today.

Given those facts, do you care who the artist’s professional team is?  Of course you do.  These people can help or hinder the road to success for the artist, you and the label.  Artist number 1 has no manager at all.  Artist number 2 is managed by a successful industry manager.  And artist number 3 is managed by her mother who is the successful owner of a local bakery.  All things equal, which artist will you sign?  Number 2 of course. Second choice (first in the case of some record people) will be artist number 1 since the label will have the opportunity to make manager suggestions to the artist.

Relatives - particularly close relatives like mothers and fathers - are not always able to exercise cool objectivity and professionalism when needed.  They love their children and want to protect them for sure.  A noble cause but not necessarily best when it comes to making business decisions.  Music industry gatekeepers know this.  They have learned it the hard way.  There was a time when I presented unsigned artists to labels in hopes of procuring a recording agreement for my client.  Even though I had strong relationships at the labels I learned that some would not even let me in the door if I had mentioned that mom or dad would be involved in career management.  One powerful producer told me that he did not want to even listen or see a picture of an artist managed by a relative for fear he might like the artist and sign them.  I believe that reinforces the point I am trying make.

There have been artists managed by one parent or another who have become quite successful.  To the best of my knowledge there aren’t that many.  Some have overcome the “parent” hex and turned out to be competent music industry managers (Joseph Jackson).  But even then some of those have had very public parent-child arguments and eventual break-ups - both professionally and personally (Leann and Wilbur Rimes). So as a rule if you have aspirations of becoming a successful recording artist, and have reached the age of majority and have a choice, think twice before committing the guidance of your career to a inexperienced parent or other relative, no matter how good your and their intentions might be.

Music Business - Advice Not Taken

Over the years I have represented a number of bands and individuals trying to break into the music business.  Most all of my clients now are established companies and artists but I am pretty sure that the beginners are still making the mistakes that they always did. 

One such mistake is ignoring the advice of the professionals they are paying for advice.  A songwriter client of mine turned down an opportunity to work with an established music publisher because his friends told him he was being “screwed” in the deal.  The songwriter had an experienced music industry manager and an experienced music attorney (me) who were able to secure this opportunity for the writer.  Very little money was going to change hands in the deal but for an unknown these days to even get a major independent publisher to pay for the demos and have their professional creative directors pitch the songs is rare.  And the deal was for a reasonably short period of time.  A great opportunity to launch a career.  And in this case the only opportunity for this writer.  In a slow music business economy I have seen established songwriters with prior hits take deals like this.  But it just wasn’t good enough for my client . . . and his “friends”.

Did I mention that none of the friends were successful music industry songwriters?  None had achieved any significant level of success in the music business.  Why then would my client have taken the advice of their friends over that of a professional artist manager and a veteran entertainment attorney?  I really don’t know the answer.  But he was dropped by the manager shortly after that and to the best of my knowledge isn’t any farther along in his career than when I last talked to him.  Hopefully he and his friends are doing well.

Sometimes it is family advice that kills the career of an aspiring artist or songwriter.  Advice from family members who know nothing about the music business of course.  I have seen it happen. And I am sure it is hard for the writer or artist to ignore the advice of those he or she loves.  The damage is not the advice - it is taking the advice over those who know better.  The poison might exist be cause the advice given is just plain wrong or ill advised.  Or it might be because the relative wants to launch their own career as a music business mogul.  Those of us in the business have seen the latter as have the general public when law suits are filed among the family.  I don’t doubt that most parents who give advice to their children are doing it out of love.  But that still doesn’t make it good advice.

Another situation that I found particularly heart breaking is the case of the artist who believed that he should hire an expensive producer to produce his first indie album solely because the producer used to be successful.  I don’t believe that should be enough.  I told them that I could get a producer for them in the same music genre for a third of the cost.  A producer who was known as an up and coming producer/songwriter in the industry.  A producer who had produced a top 5 project just the year before.  And did I mention - for a third of the cost?

The artist did not even want to listen to the work of the newer producer.  That would be fine if this had been all about the artist spending his own money for an album that he only wanted to have available to sell on his own website and at engagements.  However, the artist had no money.  The parents of the artist had no money.  But they borrowed the money to pay the more expensive producer.

That artist and his parents certainly had the right to hire the producer of their choice.  But in my opinion they certainly should not have made a decision of this magnitude without even investigating the options.  Especially considering the financial impact on the parents.  Fast forward just a few years.  Last year the producer I recommended had 4 number one singles on the charts and is in demand as a producer.  And his fees and royalties are now greater than the producer that my client hired.

As an end note, please know that I recognize and have worked with artists and writers whose friends and family know how to be supportive without endeavoring to be advisors about business specific matters of which they know nothing. Investigate your options if you have them.  Many writers and artists do not choices.  If your manager or other professional gives you advice you don’t have to take it - but in my opinion you really should give it some weight as you make your career decisions. Ultimately career decisions are yours (and should be).  Try to be smart about it!

Who Owns The Performances On Your Recordings? Part 2

Continuing with last weeks subject matter, why is it when you hire musicians, producers, vocalists and others that the resulting Master tracks are not “Works Made For Hire”.  If the recording were works for hire then you as the person who paid for their creation might be considered the employer and thus the “author” and owner of the sound recording copyrights.

The idea of work for hire is an exception to the general rule that the creator of a work is the “author” and thus is automatically the owner of the copyright.  There are two kinds of works for hire.  First, a work can be considered a work for hire if it is created by an employee within the scope of his or her regular employment.  If you were to hire a vocalist to sing jingles for you full time and told the person when and where to work, then the jingle recordings might indeed be works for hire.  But that is not the situation in most recording sessions that I know about.  The artist or record label hires the musicians to come to the studio and record for that one album or for a certain number of songs on the album.  Recording that specific album is not their full time job.  They get paid for the project and not as a regular full time employee.  They are independent contractors. 

The second type of work for hire is the situation where one hires independent contractors which is the example given for most recording sessions.  In that situation every one making a creative contribution to the recording will likely be a creator of it and thus an owner of copyright along with the other musicians, vocalists, etc.  However, their work can be considered a work for hire only if two conditions are met:  (1)  the work must be intended to fit into one of nine categories listed in the copyright act AND (2) there must be a signed contract that states that the work when finished will be considered a work for hire.  That is why I stated in last week's post that without the written agreement most songwriters and artists will not own the copyright in the sound recordings they just finished recording and paying for.  Does an EP or an Album fit into one of the required nine categories?  Arguably “yes” – in category number 1 below:

1. A contribution to a collective work

2. A part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work or sound recording

3. A translation

4. A supplementary work

5. A compilation

6. An instructional text

7. A test

8. The answer material for a test

9. An atlas

The lesson:  when you get ready to go to the studio be sure you have anyone making a creative contribution to the sessions sign a work-for-hire agreement that addresses all the requirements of the Copyright Act. 

What Is It That A&R Does?

I hope my friends in A&R do not take offense.  I'm sure they wonder what it is that I do.  Nevertheless, I have heard many artist managers ask (rhetorically and cynically) “What do the A&R people do these days?”  In my observation they still have jobs to do – but maybe it just isn’t what it used to be.  It used to be that when I was younger and playing in bands that A&R were thought to be the people who might stop in at one of our gigs and offer us a big record deal.  As time went on and I became less naive, I learned that A&R might indeed stop by the gig – but only after hearing about the band in advance and most likely listening to a demo (or if a solo artist with connections, acoustically in their offices).  It used to be that the A&R person looked for the raw talent, signed the artist and found the songs for them to record.  In my experience today, while finding songs is still a function of A&R, an artist who doesn’t come to the table with a few hit songs written by them or someone closely allied with the artist, their chance of getting signed is even less than slim (slim being the norm).  And of course A&R used to help "develop" the artist – perhaps together with an ancient label department known as “Artist Development”.  You might want to read Ritch Esra’s guest post on this subject, if only to lend some credibility to my observations.

While I have pretty much gotten out of the record deal shopping business, I still sometimes give advice on the process.  And today I tell the artist that to improve their chances they should get out there and do it!  By that I mean perform, record your own EP or Albums, sell them, get a fan club mailing list.  In short, get in the music business – and thengo to the label not only with a demo and a pretty picture, but also with facts and SoundScan data in hand.  Too many artists come to me and hope that I will do it all for them.  It doesn’t work that way – at least not most of the time these days.  Artists:  Go to work and be in the music business – be a working artist!  Don’t wait to be discovered by someone on the A&R Staff.  Chances are it won’t happen—at least until you develop the entire package you have to offer.

Persistent or Pest--Pitching your Songs and Artist Demo

 Many years ago I was attending a meeting of a songwriters’ association.  The speaker, a friend of mine, had procured many major artist cuts of her songs.  She was not affiliated with a publisher and did all of her own song plugging.  She made regular trips to Nashville to network and to pitch her songs.  I have never forgotten something she said during that presentation:  “There is a fine line between being persistent and being a pest.”

Take heed young writers and artists.  If you believe in yourself and your creative product, persistence is a requirement of success in the music business.  But take care not to be a pest.  Whenever you call on an a&r person, producer, artist, publisher, lawyer, or other person with your demo, be very respectful to that person and of that person’s time.  Your goal if you do not get any interest in the product you have presented is to be invited back when you have new material and if you are lucky to learn any specifics about what this person is looking for.  I have passed on deal shopping representation of artists and writers before and they have actually argued with me about my decision.  Guess who didn’t get invited back!

Because of my blog and my website, I get a lot of requests from songwriters and artists to help them place their material or help them get a record deal.  These days I decline to represent them 90% of the time because I no longer want shop deals in this difficult music business economy.  Nevertheless, some of those hopeful writers and artists keep emailing me and messaging me on social networking sites to the point of becoming pests.  When what they really need to do is email me when they have new material and ask if I would mind taking a listen.

Recently after several email exchanges I decided not to represent a new writer because networking on her behalf was part of what was needed – and as I said, I do not want to do that any longer – for anybody.  The writer wrote me a very kind letter, thanking me for my time.  I immediately gave her a couple of names of other people who might be able to help.  She was polite and persistent over our two weeks of exploring whether we would work together.  Never was she a pest.

Getting A Record Deal - Attitude

Last year I posted about one of the requirements for landing a record deal in Nashville – or for that matter succeeding as a recording artist in any genre or label city.  In that blog I posted about talent as a requirement for success as a recording artist.  If it is your desire to get signed, be it at an independent or a major, then your attitude can also be a critical factor.

As a reminder, there are always other artists being looked at (or soon will be) for the same slot at the same label that you hope to fill.  They are just as talented as you are—but the label doesn’t have the resources to take you both.  All other things being equal, do you suppose they will sign the arrogant jerk or the person they find pleasant and that will be the easiest to work with?  This is not rocket science!

Part of a good attitude around here is not saying anything negative about anybody.  Just be a good guy or gal!  You want people to like you!  I was once helping an artist procure a recording agreement in Nashville (Back when deals were more plentiful.  Translated, before illegal file sharing.)  At breakfast with me one morning the Artist made a critical comment about another artist – one already signed and successful.  By lunch I had gotten a call from someone considering signing my artist-client.  The comment had gotten back to the person calling me!  I told the artist.  He never did that again.  In this town you never know who you are talking to or who is listening to you talk.  Even if you don’t feel it, act like you are a nice person who is happy for everybody’s success!

Attitude is not only important when in getting signed – it is equally important aftergetting signed.  More than you might realize because you’ve never heard of the artists who sabotaged their careers with their own attitudes.  Apparently after getting a deal some artists feel they can then show their true colors.  A good friend and very successful manager once told me about a certain male artist he was co-managing.  The artist was on a major label and his first album was in the stores (remember stores?) and at least one single had been released.  The artist decided he knew more than the label about selling records and announced to management that he was going to have it out with the label president.  When the managers warned him that approach might not be so wise, he retorted “They won’t drop me because they have too much money invested in me!”  So, contrary to the advice of his managers, the Artist made an appointment with the label head and let him have it with both barrels.  I probably don’t need to tell you what happened next.  He was dropped from the label on the spot and kicked out of the building.  Who was he?  No idea – I never heard of him until his former manager told me the story (surprise, surprise).  And I know of other similar occurrences – at least one of which I was involved with as the only attorney this artist used that did not get stiffed (because management paid me). 

Burning bridges, being a jerk or an arrogant ass is not going to help you advance your career.  If you think you might be one of those then get some therapy before coming to town.  It might pay for itself.

Who Decides--the Lawyer or the Artist?

A baker doesn’t ask his attorney’s opinion of which dough to purchase.  However, as any entertainment attorney knows, he or she may often be asked for opinions and advice on artist career matters which technically have nothing to do with the legalities of the decision being made.  It is a part of what we do.  I have sat in on many a strategy meeting with managers and their artists.  I am there as a consultant because I have seen a lot during my career in the entertainment industry.  And I am also there to keep an eye out for any possible legal issues pertaining to the matter being discussed.  But I am not there to make the ultimate decisions regarding of the course of action being considered.

Most artists hopefully understand that ultimately major career decisions are theirs to make.  Often a distaste for things business related and a very busy schedule will lead to the artist delegating a lot of the decision making to the team members.  This might make sense when it comes to routing tour dates, the correct quantity of merch to order, and other matters of that nature.  But large career altering decisions should ultimately be made by the artist after listening to his or her advisers. 

I do not find that delegation to me of making legal decisions for my clients to be a sound policy – and frankly that does not work for me for a number of reasons.  A very successful client of mine once told another artist “Steve does what needs to be done for you – and then he tells you he’s done it!”  Ok – I was taking care of business for a very active touring artist.  But only matters within the purview of legal “maintenance” of a successful career.  Major decisions are a totally different matter.  I recently had another successful client enter into a long-term recording agreement – not the artist’s first.  After prolonged and difficult negotiations were complete and it was time to explain the contract to the artist, I was told that the artist told the manager “If Steve says it is ok I’m sure it is.  Just let me sign it.”

No – please come into my office and let me explain where we are with the contract.  Or I will prepare a bullet point sheet of the important deal points.  But I will not make the decision for you.  I will tell you what I think.  But it is your career and your life.  The decision is yours not mine.  Personally I don’t want the liability.  And if the deal sours someday, which many do, I don’t want you coming back and asking me why I “let you” sign the contract.  But mostly I want you to have a long and successful career.  You are the CEO so you must understand the basics of your business’ significant choices and make them for yourself.

Got it?

Getting a Record Deal - Talent

Does it go without saying that Talent is a prerequisite for getting a record deal?  Or for success as an independent recording artist for that matter.  If you expect a record company to spend millions to help launch your recording career then you best have some talent or you won't get signed.  Talent is one of the required elements needed for a successful recording career -- and it cannot be bought.  Granted, you can improve on what you have with practice, experience, vocal coaches, etc.  But the raw talent needed to be a star is a gift.  

It is sad that there are so many hopefuls who do not have talent and do not recognize that they do not. The sad part is that it is often these good people who support the "fringe recording industry" in Nashville and elsewhere.  People who are willing to mortgage their homes (literally) to pay some "producer" to make recordings for them and help them become "stars".  There is no point in telling these folks that they do not have the talent to compete.  My experience is they do not believe me when I am honest with them.  And so far I have never been wrong.  They spend their money trying to buy stardom -- and without fail they lose their money.  I might not be able to pick who will be a great star -- really nobody can for sure.  But I am pretty good at recognizing those who do not have a chance.

There are hundreds of thousands of hopeful artists with good voices, tens of thousands with really good voices, thousands with great voices, hundreds with incredible talent and unique voices who will get signed, and of those, only a very few that that will be successful enough to keep their record deal for very long.  If you don't believe what I just said, come to Nashville for a couple of days and spend some time at the bars and clubs downtown and elsewhere.  These are the people who cannot get deals or haven't yet -- or who have had deals and didn't make it.  And if the implication is not clear, most are exceptionally good vocalists.  As a friend of mine says, "In Nashville, talent is the common denominator."  So -- if you have the common denominator then keep reading my blog for a few other requirements for success.

Isaac Hayes Passes

 I knew Isaac Hayes.  Not well, but enough to be on a first name basis.  Not well, but enough to admire and like the soft-spoken music icon as a genuine person.  I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and was strongly influenced by Memphis music, including Isaac's home label, the famed Stax Records.  In fact, my style of guitar playing was heavily influenced by Stax's Steve Cropper and my bands always were dubbed "blue-eyed soul" groups.  I first remember seeing Isaac in his songwriting office at Stax when my own band was doing some recording for the label.  Songwriters were my heroes and high among them were Hayes & Porter who wrote many of the Stax hits, including "Soul Man".  At that time I didn't know Isaac could sing.  But he was already my hero as a songwriter.  It wasn't until I moved to Atlanta in the late 1970's and became an active member of NARAS in that city that I got to know Isaac (who had also moved to the area) much better.  He was always a kind gentleman.  He passed away this past Sunday at his home after suffering a stroke.  Thank you, Isaac, for your inspiration, your kindness and your tremendous influence on the music I loved and performed as a young man.

Recording Commitment: Opportunity or Obligation?

A university student recently asked me if Artists view the album Recording Commitment in their recording contracts as opportunities or obligations. To put this in context, most recording agreements today provide for a "Recording Commitment" which is linked to the Term of the Agreement. A simple example would be if the Agreement provides that the Term will be for an "Initial Period" of one year. However, the label will have options to extend the Term of the Agreement, year-by-year, for a specified number of years. EXAMPLE: A Term for an Initial Period of one year with the label having options to extend for five additional periods of one year each. The Recording Commitment might provide that the Artist will record one Album during each contract period. Thus, this Artist could possibly be required to record six albums for this label.

Back to the question: Do most Artists view the Recording Commitment as an opportunity or an obligation? A good lawyer answer is: "Both!" It depends, at least in part, on where the Artist is in his or her career. Most Artist's entering into their first recording agreement are going to be looking at this as an opportunity--not as an obligation. However, as the number of required albums increase, the more it might be viewed as an obligation. Since the options to extend the recording agreement belong to the label--not to the Artist--I think most Artist's would prefer that the deal be for a lesser number of albums. The thinking is that if the Artist is a "star" by album 3 or 4, he or she would like to be free to negotiate a better deal with the same or another label. (In reality the label will usually renegotiate the deal with the Artist once success is achieved even though they are not contractually obligated to do so.) Experienced entertainment attorneys understand the long term ramifications of the length of the Term of the Recording Agreement and will generally try to negotiate these provisions so that the Artist's Recording Commitment will be on the low end. The label, on the other hand, will argue that since they took the initial risk by investing substantially in an unproven Artist they should be entitled to benefit on the back-end after the Artist achieves success.

A final note: While major label deals for a new artist will typically be for 6 or 7 albums, the Term and Recording Commitment for a first time artist signing with an independent label varies widely.