Taylor Swift Sign with Republic Records

Absolutely huge, and a deal point that basically only someone like T-Swift could ever hope to obtain.

 

I feel bad for Scott. It’s a weird dynamic because managers invest in unknowns to make money. Once everyone makes lots of money, artists want out. Part of the game though. He’s a pro though, and will have no problem finding new artists, and it’s not like anyone is hurting financially here.

 

While I DO NOT want to say it’s common in 2018, because it isn’t, but some of the biggest bands in the world have obtained their rights to all their masters past, present, and future in their new ‘record deals’.

Metallica being the biggest among them. Also, possibly Springsteen?

On a much smaller scale, Manchester Orchestra owns all of their masters, and have made it a point in any deal they sign, since the beginning.

 

I know of bands buying the rights back, but never assigning them in the first instance (particularly in the pop world) is news to me. Then again, I'm not intimately involved in the transactional side of the business, so I haven't seen the new contracts.

 

I can’t speak about the pop world, but in rock it seems the ‘smartest’ acts were hip to get the masters years ago.

Metallica negotiated the masters to revert back to them on a certain date years ago, Motley Crüe actually put it into their first deal in 82 or 83. Coincidentally, both were signed with Elektra.

Bruce negotiated his deal with Columbia/Sony, he retains the masters, they retain distribution (probably forever).

At a certain point, I think it’ll be a normal thing soon enough. Labels are becoming so obsolete for the BIGGEST acts, giving them their masters would be a nice incentive for someone to sign with you, because at least you still get SOMETHING from these artists while they are with you.

Adele could probably ask for her albums in her next deal and get them relatively easily.

 

How many bands do you listen to that aren’t associated with a label or haven’t really been? The closest thing I’d have is probably The Republic Of Wolves. Even they have a distribution source though with simple stereo.

I do think bands owning their work has value. Historically speaking though, artists didn’t write their own songs.

I guess its like artists controlling their own destiny, like free agency in sports

 

BMR is still set for a decades and decades to come based on her previous work alone.

 

If you were replying to my post above, I was talking about the biggest bands or artists.

Metallica has no label and still remain one of the biggest bands in the world.

Blink doesn’t have a tradition label situation, either, to my knowledge.

Chance the Rapper, to my knowledge, has never been with a label in any capacity.

TS just needs distribution at this point, she can afford to build her own team - to be her own label. It’s just about weighing the costs and the labor of doing it.

 

I was more than anything saying bands that people listen to that have never had a real label.

Bad Religion has no label, so Brett started his own. But, they even went to a major label for a while to increase fan base.

Blink, Metallica, and artists like that have financial freedom because of years of hard work, label support and business smarts. They are in a good position as a band to do what they want when they want.

I’m not familiar with Chance The Rappers music, but that’s cool to hear of artists you’ve made it or do well without having label associations in their history.