OffKey Season 3 Episode 7: The Recording Artist’s Team
This week on OffKey, we’re looking at the various players on the Recording Artist’s team. Our guests this week include: Brian Hetherman, founder of Curve Music and Cerberus Artist Management; Byron Pascoe, an entertainment lawyer at Edwards Creative Law; Jonathan Simkin, founder of 604 Records; Savannah Wellman from Tiny Kingdom Music; and Jeff Wolpert, an engineer and producer at Desert Fish Studios and educator at the University of Toronto. We discussed when to assemble a team, the role of the personal manager, what to be aware of in recording agreements, and 360 deals.
The Recording Artist’s Team
Just like the songwriter, getting an artist’s music out there is crucial in order to make money from their work. And to make this happen, there is often a whole team of people working behind the scenes to develop, distribute, and promote an artist’s work.
When an artist is ready to take on team-members, a key player is to consider is the personal manager. Put simply, the personal manager’s job is to build the artist’s career and take it from one level to the next. For example, this could include determining which jobs the artist should take and ensuring that the artist’s social media reflects what they’re trying to present professionally. The role of the manager is broad and difficult to define, as it can take many forms depending on the artist’s needs.
Another key player to consider in building a team is the label. Record labels can encompass many other players as well, as most established labels generally have marketing teams, press teams, radio pluggers, accounts departments, etc. — essentially, the infrastructure to support the various components of an artist’s business. In the past few decades, there has been debate about the role of labels in the music industry, given their contentious history of having disproportionate control over the artist’s career. Today, labels are widely varied in the services they provide and the proportion of royalties that they claim — a shift that has occurred alongside the growing prominence of independent labels, which usually give artists greater control and ownership over their work. There’s now even a certain amount of prestige to the term “independent”, as high profile artists have voiced their support such as Chance the Rapper who won a grammy for his album Colouring Book as an independent artist.
Now, I think it’s important to discuss the term “independent” because there’s no clear definition. Some artists view it as funding their projects out of their own pocket without the investment of a label. Others view it more broadly, as not being signed to any of the 3 major labels, which are Sony, Warner, and Universal.
From what I can gather, the term “independent” can be somewhat misleading and perhaps isn’t particularly useful. Artists who are “independent” are usually backed by a team covering the key business components that a label would also handle. Given that there’s so much to manage as an artist grows, it’s unlikely that any one person would be able to handle all of the business components alongside creating music. I think it’s more relevant to think about the artist’s team as an entity that can be formed either through signing with a label, or through other types of deals with distributors, promoters, booking agents, etc. Basically, as an artist, you should be aware of these different parts of building your business so you can negotiate the best deal for you, whether you go with a label or another type of service provider.
Whether you’re an indie artist signing a distribution deal or an artist considering a record deal with a label, negotiating and signing any contract brings another team player into the picture: the entertainment lawyer. Legal documents can be hard to understand, so getting a lawyer to look over any agreement you’re considering is very important.
While there are all kinds of agreements an artist can sign, recording agreements are an important type of contract for an artist to understand and be prepared to negotiate when faced with an offer. There is no single type of record deal, and with a rapidly changing industry, it’s hard to say what a typical recording agreement might look like. But there are some key things to be aware of when you’re presented with an offer, including the term of the contract and the number of albums required.
As the music industry has evolved alongside capitalist consumerism, an artist’s “brand” has always been an important part of making money. But “branding” has taken on a new meaning in recent years. Artists are now able to earn money through non-music related revenue streams, such as merchandise and brand partnerships, and many major artists are now being sponsored by brands to endorse non-music products such as clothing, cell phones, and even vodka. You can see these partnerships all over instagram, such as Lady Gaga’s partnership with Tiffany & Co and 50 Cent’s partnership with EFFEN vodka. These partnerships are a key component of 360 deals, which give the label greater control over not only music-related aspects of an artist’s career but also merchandise, endorsements, appearances in movies, etc. 360 deals have been a topic of debate, as the deals have been seen by some to give the label an unfair opportunity to capitalize on more and more streams of the artist’s income.
Overall, building a team is something to consider when you feel like you need help developing, distributing, and promoting your music. A lot of this process is about being aware and proactive in negotiating clear agreements with various team players so that your relationship is beneficial to your career as an artist.
Thank you so much to Brian Hetherman, Byron Pascoe, Jonathan Simkin, Savannah Wellman, and Jeff Wolpert for their contributions to this episode!
If you have any topics you would like me to cover in future episodes, please feel free to reach out via email to offkey@membran.net. Otherwise I can be found on Instagram at @membranlabs or @taliyasw
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