Week 16: Truth on Record Deals

“A lesson learned is a lesson earned.”

It's almost Christmas, so by now you have heard multiple Christmas songs hundreds of times! The making and distributing of music is a big multi-billion dollar business. Everyone wants to make money in this business, and while many musicians are very rich, it is really the record companies that help produce and distribute this music that make a larger portion of that money. Many musicians have signed contracts that may seem great to them at first, but later in time as their career progresses, the artist feel they have been ripped off.

1. What Does Owning Your Masters Mean?: Food In this video, Smart Rapper gives advice to those who may already be in the music business, or just starting out. It goes over the different aspects of what owning your masters means, what type of language and 'tricks' you could see in a record deal contract, and what you should negotiate to help keep your masters.

Watch What Does 'Owning Your Masters' Mean In Music? by Smart Rapper

2. The Why Taylor Swift Doesn't Own Her Own Songs: The Taylor Swift has been very vocal, especially on Tumblr, about her current situation with the previous record label she worked with, and the one she currently works with. This video goes over how her last label still owns the masters to her early works, and how she is working on getting them back.

Watch Why Taylor Swift Doesn't Own Her Own Songs by Insider

3. Why Musicians Need to Own Their Masters: Kanye West has been very vocal about the terms of his masters, and why he wants to get it back, and help other artist gets their masters back. Damian Keyes walks through the basics of what it means to own your masters, why it is very important to own it, and how this relates to what Kanye has gone through, and what Kanye plans to do next.

Watch WHY MUSICIANS NEED TO OWN THEIR MASTERS: The Truth About Major Labels by Damian Keyes

Bonus 1: For a quicker summary, watch this interview clip of Future breaking down why he owns his own masters and the business side of the music.

Watch Future Sheds Light On How Record Labels Really Work & The Importance Of Owning Your Masters by Durtty Daily

Bonus 2: This video goes over some of the worst record deals in the industry, and shows why there is a greater push now for artist to own their own masters.

Watch Rappers With The Worst Record Deals by Hip Hop Content

Call to Action! Take If you are getting into the music business, or know someone who is, or getting into any type of business, make sure to know the ins and outs of how money is made, and who owns what. Do your research early on, and don't be afraid to ask questions or challenge certain norms, it may save you a lot of money and headache down the road.

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