I'll try to do this without naming the main players then.
We signed a deal with an indie label in mid 2010. The label was basically a multimillionaire who didn't know dick about the music industry, but wanted to give it a go. We got an attorney and started negotiating. Little did we know, the drummer was re-negotiating behind our very, very expensive attorney's back. The deal we ended up signing was a 360, but the worst one imaginable. Here's a simple breakdown:
- No signing advance (forget a bonus)
- All expenditures are fully recoupable (standard to a point), but 100% of what was spent must be repaid before we see a dime (also somewhat standard)
- Here's the fucked up bit about that: we would have zero control of what producer we worked with, what tours we were on (he tried keeping the band off of tours because he personally didn't like the music of this or that band, nevermind that we fit with them and they would have been nice tours), transportation, scheduling, etc. We also had no control on where the money was going. Instead of buying a reasonable van and trailer, he would blow money on a larger-yet-broken down rv and a very small trailer.
ALL OF THIS would come out of our pockets. The kicker is that any money that was made off of show guarantees, merch, what ever, had to go back to the label before we saw a dime. Per diems, gas and living expenses...they were all recoupable, but we needed them just to live because we couldnt use any of the money we actually made.
Working with Sylvia Massy (TOOL, Deftones, Sevendust, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, System of a Down), we tracked 2 songs that ended up getting shelved for 8 months. One of them was eventually released on an EP after I was fired from the band. Then they work with Johnny K on 3 songs. Those two are not cheap to work with.
I wont name names of who they toured with, but I will say that for the genre, it was hard to beat the tours they were on. The unfortunate thing about the tours was the buy-ons for them. Because the label owner is seriously difficult to work with, people had the tendency to overcharge him. He didn't seem to care, he would get the money back one way or the other. Like I said, the band had zero control. It was even written into the contract that the label had the majority of the creative control. Write a song he doesn't like? Say goodbye. Disagree with the label? They fire you from the band.
Like I said, I'm thankful they fired me, because I was able to get out from under all of that debt. Last I heard from the band, they were just over a quarter of a milling in debt to the label.
So yea, they come home from tour, work for a few weeks, pay off their credit cards, then go back out. It's shitty, and I hope things change for them.
For the record, signing that contract was one of the biggest humiliations of my life, and I knew through the whole process that we were getting fucked over. It came down to sign or leave the band, and in my foolishness, I actually thought the band was that important. I've learned otherwise since then.
