DaVo wrote:
This idea that there is all this money in touring is complete fantasy. Unless the band is at the level where they are playing large venues, touring is a money losing situation. I have yet to come in contact with an indy band that makes huge profits on the road. Most in fact only survive on the road with merch sales and tour support they get from the label.
I didn't say there is "all this money in touring"...I said the majority of their money comes from touring/merch. Touring is not always a losing situation. Why do you think GWAR tours 360 days out of the year? And I hate to break it to you, but bands aren't getting tour support at all now. If your van breaks down and you can't afford to get it fixed, you're done with that tour. If a venue screws you over on your guarantee, well that sucks, better crash at somebody's house who doesn't mind you eating their food.
Labels are in so deep with some artists, they're being incredibly stingy with anything less than their top dogs. It's pretty unfortunate.
But all that said, the bands that care divulge any information to me have told me that they still net a few k's each tour. Don't forget they get to write off their gas, lodging, and a few other expenses so whatever they make essentially is all take-home.
I'm not saying that a band can't manage themselves especially if they are a small indy band but reality is that they are limiting the amount of success they will see in the future. It's a who you know business regardless of what you think and there is an indy glass ceiling that they are going to hit. So hey if you aren't interested in running with the big dogs and getting big then sure sign to a small label, sign away your publishing, give away your ticket sales and your merch and let them control your career. Just don't be surprised if you get to the end and realize that someone else owns your music and your dead broke. Look at all those artist that made no money during their career but long after the band was dead and gone, have been lucky enough to make money off their publishing and masters by selling songs for ads, movies and TV. With 360 deals or the Polyphonic model bands and artist would be out of the profit and without control over how and when their music will be sold. Publishing is the future and the real money.
Again, I will reference Metal Blade. If you become ''too big'' for an indy label they will typically let you go for a variety of reasons. Slagel did that with Metalica, Goo Goo Dolls, Slayer, and a few others. They're never trapped. Even if a label wouldn't let them out for some reason, the band could very easily hire an entertainment attorney (they should already have one) to get them out pretty easily(this falls under that 'a variety of reasons' thing I just mentioned...)
And good God, you're not "signing away your publishing, giving up your ticket sales/merch sales, and letting them control your career". You just have no idea, guy. I will reference Cellador/Metal Blade here- Slagel TOLD them to get an attorney to go over the contract with them before signing it. I've looked through the contract, it was a whooping 15 pages of straightforward no-non-sense legal jargin- (as opposed to the 100+ page contracts I've seen for some major label artists where it takes them two paragraphs just to state their own address.)
If a band can't figure out whether or not they want to retain their publishing rights (actually its usually what PERCENTAGE of their publishing rights) after it's been explained to them, then honestly, they deserve everything they get.