How record deals work and making money in the music industry | FT Film
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- Опубликовано: 13 апр 2021
- How many streams does it take to make minimum wage? Streaming platforms like Spotify now dominate the music business. Social media apps like TikTok and Instagram are changing the playing field. And some artists are moving away from traditional record deals and revenue sources in favor of independence. The FT's Don Newkirk Jr asks some of the world's biggest music companies, record labels, and producers how they are adapting to this fast-changing industry. And he follows an up-and-coming hip-hop artist struggling to make his fair share just as the coronavirus pandemic hits.
Music Soundtrack by @DirtyBlonde
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How much did dirty blonde make from the virtual concert minus borrowed expenses. That production cost dollar bills, his $300, in play revenue hardly covered the cost of his costume let alone the lights, the equipment, the paid musicians on stage with him, the producers and all the stage hands engineering that you can't see. No disrespect dirty blonde I hope you get full return on your investment and more. But I'd really like to know how much you profited from that virtual show.
Virtual concerts will make big name brand artists money, but how many fortnite kids are gonna leave battle match to watch an unknown artist. Again no disrespect I know you do it for the love of music, but it would nice to know for knowledge sake. How much did you profit.
How many kids chase a valuable dream that returns no value except an illusion of wealth to your peers.
Honesty depresses me that it's a facade.
Dirty Blonde, I hope you become a brand, may you be magnetic to the money at the top. Peace.
Bro just need to get a cdl
wish you used questions marks
Awful autotune 'Cher Effect' rubbish. That is not music.
bruh idk about them songs tho, he just aint as good as he thinks imo
There's other revenues in the music business people don't talk about. Don't limit yourself to just being an artist. Songwriting and Production has unlimited earning potential depending on how your business model is set up. Mixing and mastering engineering is VERY profitable since everyone needs a great quality mix, and also just owning a recording studio is profitable as well because everyone wants to be a star.
If you want to make a living off of this game, you gotta expand your skill set. Because just being an artist isn't gonna cut it anymore, everyone wants to be in he spotlight. Working behind the scenes will make you more profit than being up front.
I'd love to songwrite/ghost write because I have a ton of experience. But i really have to idea how to start / search for potental clients
Yup i do almost everything lil simi is me business...its about your hustle
@@YTwoKay start off with your local artists then build up
@@YTwoKay I’m interested
💯👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
The Industry stopped trying to find Talented Acts and started focusing on finding Vulnerable Artists.
Its always been like thst. Micheal, prince, whitney....vulnerable
I agree. The way he was looking at how much he loved his own music made me notice thst vibe
True
😁
Susan Boyle -Britain's Got Talent'
Own your publishing and everything else. Also get incorporated and do all business as that corporation.
Well there would be plenty of underground artists like just wasting your time and money
Very important for artists to set out what they consider success so you can make decisions that are inline with this. Great video
"Once you get a gold record... that's the day when you're on the path to succeeding as an artist." - Mitch Glazer, CEO of the RIAA. Oh? Sell 500,000 records and you're "on the path to succeeding" eh?
Yeah cuz the artist will only get a tiny piece
Im sorry but when he said his inspiration is Marvin Gaye and then started singing THAT i laughed
1:03 Music industry treats them like a commodity 3:30 I didn’t know that 4:10 in debt 14:30 artist success how they split revenue 8:50 label & artist deals 11:40 bridge between artist & industry RIAA diamond 💎 & platinum 14:20 16:00 hard to make money in the industry 17:20 playing @ SOB is right of passage 18:10 negotiating contract 22:20 using twitch to engage audience23:20 hardest in the world 24:15 artists need to be business savvy
I’ve been around labels and understand the back end. Labels take massive risk. Thing is artist just have no clue how business works. Hell the average person doesn’t.
This is amazing content and very informational. Nice to see BMI as part of the content, I worked at the company's Latin dept for over 25 years based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I now own a music business and entertainment company discovering new talent and educating our creative communities; artists, songwriters, and composers on their careers, futures in the business, etc. Great video FT.
I like this documentary alot. Ive been independent since I was 15 years old and did 10 years in and out of prison. So, this is just an observation. If Russell Simmons would sign this guy "Dirty Blonde," he will sign anyone.
Sign anyone down with the agenda and will give up them cheeks to start...to start
@@antiglobohomo2840 💯💯💯 the real can see right thru them 👁
Dirty Blonde sounded ok but he just sounds like everyone else in his genre.
If you got a hot song it doesn’t matter much who sings it
Tbh Dirty Blonde is trash #respectfully #80'sBaby!
Spotify are crooks. You can go on the platform and boost your streaming by a phone farm, consequently get the money from the streaming pool! Ridiculous!
Actually they disqualified bot-streams and/or automated streams to combat just that. Billboard also disqualified artists, especially major label, from asking fans to stream their music to pump up the numbers.
It all comes down to how much do u value the label marketing ur songs, and what ur willing to sacrifice to get that upfront boost to ur brand.
What do you mean by "sacrifice?" 💀
@@yamajastytha3386 sacrifice meaning give up in exchange for something better common sense should tell you that
@@yamajastytha3386 you gotta make a huge amount of sacrifices, it isn’t handed to you. You have to give something equal in return which is your life pretty much.
Problem with this is that everyone teaches artists that they need to handle the business but nobody teaches them how to handle the business. There's no reliable, in-depth training anywhere.
It's called the School of Hard Knocks. No one who is successful in the music industry on the business side has ever been through s training, in-depth or otherwise, you learn and succeed by and through your own hustle and grind game.
u should explore the kpop music business. Kpop artists are employees of the record labels they signed with. They get monthly salaries with bonuses if the songs or albums do well. Its a different business model but seems to be profitable to both labels and artists. Eventhough kpop artists have short life span, many moved on to other entertainment ventures once their pop career ends. HYBE is a prime example of kpop corporate music business. Their artists are well taken care of while the company runs the business. It is a huge machine that is well guarded. Essentially kpop industry is a music factory that produces disposable music.
Yeah but is this music that is coming out in South Korea as varied as the music elsewhere? If everyone here in the U.S. wanted to hear the same style then maybe artists here would enjoy greater autonomy in the industry.
@@joeldavis5815 That's the point, people associate every song/artist that comes from Korea as Kpop when it's not true. There are all kinds of styles that we have here in the west (rap, hip-hop, rock, R&B, indie etc), plus Korean traditional styles. Kpop for them is the idol industry where companies train young people and form groups that then debut, and even here there are a variety of styles, groups that focus more on pop, rock, hap etc. I personally have never heard that about artists receiving salaries, usually the contracts are by time (7 years) and not by album and artists have the percentages on top of what they do . I completely disagree with the example of HYBE in the context given above, it is one of the few idol companies that encourages its artists to actively participate in the creation of songs, as far as I know the profit sharing is also fair, for example, the company does not charge the costs incurred to train the idols (which usually takes years), if the idol is chosen to debut in a group he doesn't need to pay back the company anything, if he is not chosen he can continue with the training or leave when the contract ends without paying anything back (I believe all the biggest companies have this policy). The truth is that even among idol companies the difference in how they operate and how they treat artists varies a lot, it is true that most only see them as products with an expiration date, but this is not the general rule. It's hard to judge the entire Korean music industry in stereotopes that build on kpop, when kpop itself is more complex than just idols who do what companies say without any creative input, there are groups that produce, write, compose, choreograph . The truth is that it's not very different from what we have in the West, not every artist we see in the media did what they sing, but the media doesn't insist on painting the entire Western/American industry as manufactured for that. And again outside of kpop there is a whole music scene in Korea, and this is what dominates the Korean charts, what the general public hears, very few kpop groups do well on the charts and the ones that do are mostly groups of girls. For example, right now who is dominating the charts is a soloist who writes her songs.
Kpop also has an industry where they *train* people how to be stars. It can be pretty grueling if you read more about it, and as time goes on, the companies are giving more rights to the artists they have trained for years even though it’s more disposable compared to what happens elsewhere in the world. Most people in the rest of the world are totally self made (like we saw with Dirty Blonde in this vid), and you don’t really see that in kpop.
HYBE are an exception in the Kpop industry though. The actual norm is this: Kpop artists aren't "well taken care of" at all. They're just seen as dolls or walking billboards meant to display a creative team's vision, plus ads and sponsorships, because the music isn't actually their main source of income, ironically enough. They're allowed pretty much zero creative input (there are some exceptions, but only very few). Idols have ownership over nothing - not even their private life. These artists are paid nothing unless they're very successful, while the higher-ups rack all the money in. Kpop artists are treated exactly just like Kpop music itself: they're disposable. I won't go into all the other problematic things pertaining to Kpop, but Kpop in general is even worse than the US music industry for the artists. Using HYBE as a Kpop example would be wrong, since this corporation isn't representative of the industry - although it would be nice if more Kpop companies were like them.
K-pop is litteraly the worst model
Like they don’t even have the right to date
This is 10x worse
What got me the whole video is the way the guy "dirty blond" kept moving his head with every single sentence with the shades on as he talked, like he's Stevie Wonder singing 😅
🤣🤣🤣 I thought the same thing 🤣🤣🤣
U took the words right outta my mouth,how much he payed for that image 🥴🥴🥴I will sing in my car, 😂 and shower.These artist getting messed over🤨
The Billboard editor said the labels are so flushed with cash because of streaming. Wait, I thought streaming was hurting the labels, hence the need for 360 deals. What a dirty business.
The record labels bought stock with the streaming services to the exclusion and detriment of the artist.
@@andyscott5277 yup exactly right. Smart move on their parts though
Legendary ! This is dope ! I love how it shows both perspectives🔥🔥
Great video, artists need to be educated on their career/business options. Building the right professional team is highly important.
There's no good enough training for any artists out there.
Its wild how the music industry is doing so well, yet as a producer in Hollywood i know so many artists on their back foot.
Is that "Back foot position" those artist are in are intentionally created by external forces and dictated by external forces?
Hollywood isn't hot at all. Nobody interesting in the Hollywood scene unless they're big already.
There is a huge misunderstanding. People consume more music than ever, but there is less and less money to go around. The reason streams pay $0.0043 is because revenue is essentially finite. So once you divide the money amongst all the streams you get these microscopic figures.
All the participants in this videos don’t really depends on that revenue, so they prey on hopeful artists, and offer “services” (without guarantees). They will demand 360 deals so they can continue to be paid first, and out of hundreds (thousands?!) of unsuccessful artists.
At least in the ‘60s and ‘70s you’d sign your money away to some mobster but he would then work to make you famous (and himself rich). Now they don’t even have to bother with that.
@@ThemFuzzyMonsters i understand that. But its stacked against the middle tier artists. Ive personally seen tracks ive engineered that dont get the traction and reach they assumingly should have, because they dont get the same promotion or playlisting as other artists who are already successful. Its not to say i dont understand, its just the state of the industy sucks for the art. As it always has.
@@sergedotcom
I agree with you. If it was hard to cut through back in the days, it is a thousand times harder now.
What annoys me the most is that your odds to recoup (RIO) are null; and it is indeed stacked worst against the small and middle tier artists.
Yet there is a whole “industry” that lives off the hopes and dreams of others, and I think it has gotten worse.
Ima stay Independent cause i feel once i guide myself in the right path i know i can be very successful gettin that big bag 💰 reaching out for greatness💯
Yessirski same here
Keep grinding🤘🏾
sigma male grindset
goodluck
Me too
Modern hip hop music has literally become synonymous with dope - you can find it just about anywhere and it is almost always adulterated and generally not good for you.
Well said
This is the major takeaway from this. To make minimum wage of $15 per hour. The artist would have to have revenue streams of 13 Million! Why would anyone subject themselves to this slavery? FAME! Here's my advise record your music sell it yourself, buy you a multi-family building and live your life happily
Once you have real supporters alot of doors can be opened though, clothing brand, twitch streaming, a RUclips channel, meet and greets, etc, there's alot of ways to make money once you're "famous" and the music will gradually go up over time because your creating a bond with fans
Why
Nah they protect her copyrighting...
After the split of Spotify their costs (think of Google who provide their cloud space), licensing deals by labels (that money is not for the artists), publishing and all their other costs they have to keep. The artists get the rest, think of 10/20% of all. That’s why the rate is so low per stream.
The thing is I would say you have to create your business model -think like a marketer. You can make money is music it’s just ppl are still stuck in an old school mindset
Actual talent is the main thing missing in todays music. Nothing is original anymore
I'm glad that you said it.
That's a lyric on 'Copy of a copy of a copy'
So informative and inspiring. Thank you so much for being of great service to Artists!❤❤❤
Good video! It in a reality sense ... the struggle is real. So not everything that glitters ain't gold. It's potassium when touch air. 🥴🤯
The biggest things artist need to learn is that owning your masters make sense only if they have value. If they have no value then you own 100% of nothing besides just saying you own your masters.
What is your masters? Masters degree
@@blacklyfe5543 original music files
@@GurpreetSingh-vz4hp I wish to know how a music master looks like.
This was well made. Deserves way more views.
I myself is still trying to get into the industry!! It is not easy!! But I won’t give up. Loved this ❤️
so what is the solution here?? dont sign but work tirelessly n potentially waste your own money n time n hope for the best or do sign n give everything youve worked for away forever…
Damn thats the most accurate way to put it
The dilemma is real, either sacrifice nearly ALL of your time or sell your soul…
Cant really live without both of them
Very dope and well put together informational video. Blessings to dirty blonde as well
I swear A&Rs are so vague. "We want to grow big 80s day stuff" Damn people don't use details anymore. Sometimes it seem these A&Rs are spitting hot gas.
It’s very clear if you pay attention to music ...Doja and dis lips are making 80s disco records that are going platinum
Well great film thanks!!!!
Artists really need to understand how the music business is unfair. So much more unfair than than ever i feel. And it is the Gafas and Spotify the slave masters, no longer music labels
Revolution!? Well artists and indi labels are way to dociles sadly....
M.A.R.S Records LLC. will be known. Music And Real Sounds. Music About Real Shii 💯💯🔥💜
💪🏽INDEPENDENT FOR LIFE
Very insightful. Thank you for this content.
Considering the FT was founded in Britain. It would have been great to see UK artists and corporation leaders featured in this video.
Funny the $21bn music industry is literally the same size as McDonalds (in terms of revenue) and 1/10th of Apple - really miniscule (and underfunded imo) in perspective
It especially funny, coz literally everybody in the whole world is listening to music, but not everybody has apple products or goes t McDonald's
@@MrMrdesertrose preach!
Not Russel Simmons it's Kevin Liles
It’s the dark truth of the music industry it sucks
Exactly ! That shows the power of these other companies
Seeing those "artists" made me cringe, and I'm not even that old (mid 30's). Back in the day it took an artist at least 10 years in the music industry before they got of the rails, watching "Dirty Blonde" and the way he looks now, even before he signed up a record deal makes makes me feel pity for these self obsessed, image orientated kids. And his music is the most generic, forgettable, modern "hip-hop" trash I've heard. These producers would make him a favour by telling him now that he ain't gonna make it but I guess he already believes he is an artist so much that he won't give it up.
If you want to learn how dodgy record labels are listen to "Billy Corgan Breaks-down the Music Industry - Joe Rogan". They're all a bunch of dodgy, Harvey Weinstein creepy types.
Russell Simmons sitting there saying there isn't enough money to go around...😄
He is an artist. ..just not a successful one. Don't forget the great majority of artists (in every area from music to oil paintings to knitting sweaters) are broke and almost nobody likes what they create - or at least not enough to pay them a living wage. Tough gig.
An excellently produced video.
This video was crazy informative.. 🔥🔥🔥
Ayeee upstate ny represent 🙏🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻
If you wanna know anything about the industry, music or film, look at Judy Garland story. Look at her story and then think about the fact that they’re hundreds of thousands of people that have been like her or worse
I feel like the grammys is just an event that most celebrities trash and don’t really care about
It makes me sick to see Spotify and Apple etc getting to dictate the flow of money here. I hope that blockchain technology and micropayments will soon allow us to deal directly with artists and not have to continue to have these lecherous middlemen sucking all the rewards out of the connection between artist and fan. We need a micropayments system.
To be fair they did create the technology and the platforms to allow artists to put their music out there and reach people worldwide. Without those platforms (or without a record label) artists would still be forced to build their fanbase in a very grassroots way (through selling cds and doing as many local shows as possible)
Spotify and Apple are not the middle men. I believe you are referring to labels and distribution.
@@stefanzlatarits5080 Streaming services are the middle men, for the middle men
NFTS 😬
Invent one you’ve got the concept
Solid film.
Really good information!
Record labels should not own master tapes or copyright for more than a very short time nor should they think 80% of revenue. They don’t have the same costs as they did before the internet and streaming came along. This needs to change so everyone gets their fair share and artists should own their own masters and copyright.
Enjoyed watching.
This was an interesting video about the music industry
The key is in the title: "How streaming is changing THE MUSIC BUSINESS". This is about the money, not the music.
The key is in the title: "FINANCIAL Times". This is about finance, not time.
Finally a decent comment worth reading.
It's both
This was inspiring to watch
I loved it!!!!🔥🔥🔥🔥
This is Dope I like this Jawn
Great video. Although Dirty Blonde has A LOT of work to do. He needs a songwriter and vocal coach (among other things). Or maybe music isn't his thing. Everyone wants to make music but everyone can't. There are other areas where you can be useful in the industry
184 monthly listeners for my guy lol, f
Trademark, Publishing,Ownership, Management!
I spent more than two dollars mate
My guy Dirty Blonde's biggest moment of fame was this video lol, 184 monthly listeners ouuuuuffff
Loved this
I’ll stick to the independent route
GOOD FOR THEM! RECLAIMING TRUE POWER OR WHATEVA! LOVES IT. THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS BECOMING MORE INCLUSIVE AND REALLY LISTENING TO THE FANS. KEEP IT UP. DONT SLEEP ON YOUR ARTISTS.
DISLIKE IF YOU DONT AGREE
That swimming pool line was horrible 😂
4:37 industry standard of royalties is at most 8%, since most artists have almost nothing to themselves to justify making more than that in percentages
did the math, with the industry standard, which is 8% if youre lucky, youd have to make $13 million dollars to pay back your loan...
And the majority of the major labels are clueless, out of touch, cornballs with a small sense of direction.
Thanks for this video!
Why do none of the people really in charge of rap or hip hop music look like none of the rap or hip hop artists?
Wild right
Oooooh now I get it.... U made this content for a Jay Z artist... I was wondering why u were focusing so much on Dirty Blonde....
Yeah..
A very useful video
Great work, thank you 🙏🏽
great video!
Success comes and go Art stays forever
I gotta watch this shii for my school assignment
4real bruh jaylnn a cheese stick
Thanks for posting this.
I’m Chinese. Everyone in China is getting richer and richer, except for musicians.
I want to be a singer in China, but why you say in China their not making money?
@@harutowatanabeisbae4993 *they're
Dont singers in China perform in big concerts? They could make money doing so.
Is it real that chinese actors are millionaires?
2 things. 1. it's insane how low each stream earns you. the example they gave, that an artist needs millions of streams to even make anything decent from the streaming platforms is insane. doing a million streams isn't even easy most artists will never get that big, to think you're still only making a few thousand at that point, how hasn't congress or anyone forced streaming tech companies to comensate artists more then half a cent a stream?? Disgusting. 2. This guy dirty blonde is pretty good has a nice sound, never heard of him before this
3 Judges Determine that Price,don't believe me go see who set the Rates,you'd be Surprised
@@0-lkx who set it up
Unless you’re signed to Major Label, Music Artist is Not a Profitable Venture, nor a Worthy Investment of your Time. Its just a Vehicle and about everything else besides the Music.
Most artists signed to major labels don't recoup their investment. If an Investor gives you $1, they'll want $10 back.
@@justakid9899 What music do you specialize in?
@@justakid9899 In the Hip Hop & R&B space, what are your strongest set of skills?
@@justakid9899 You're a vocalist? What's your range?
Tell that to Russ. 🤣🤣 It’s profitable in the long run, but there are A LOT of factors involved in “making it”. And as time goes on, more and more independent artists will emerge, and more major artists will leave their record labels, once they have the fan base.
thank you
Real original 😫
This idea that the entity that puts up the money takes the biggest risk is fucking garbage.
The entity that takes the biggest risk is the one that spends their time and energy creating, because time and energy like that can never be replaced.
The money is the least of it.
I consider investors as junkies, and the artists as the dealers.
We need to start living that dynamic.
You are not as smart as you think. The money that the investors put into artists... Where did that come from? Correct, by spending time doing something productive. So the investors spent a lot of time getting that money and invest that into an artist so they are clearly the ones that are taking all the risk
@@user-mn2sn1xu9b right? imagine all the people they invested in that didn’t make a dime lol
if you look at it at face value, you will see, obviously, that's its labels and investors that take the biggest risk. they're spending millions on these artists who may not even "make it", or become popular at all.
@@lowqualitywaffle8765 - as opposed to the actual artist, who spends a lifetime honing their craft and creating product?
Because a lifetime is easily replaceable, but money is not?
Thanks for the input sycophant.
@@fyimediaworld i fully understand what you mean, but this isnt about skills, it's about money. the video, i mean..
Look I been producing for 5 year I'm slowly expanding my skill set
Holy sh*t! Dirty Blonde made it to FT???!
Dudes got to pay back his label sooooo. Yeah, put him to work. Dudes just an employee that's taken out a loan with his employer anyway.
Coming back to this documentary, I was wondering wat happened to dirtyblonde his Career I cant find anything online it seems he quit? Anyone confirm?
It has been the practice from day one. It’s good to work with them though.
I think the record labels and the rest of the leeches has made it so that an artist can't really be his own boss. So the record label is the real PIMP. I think artists need to start selling their own records if they still wanna make money. come up with a way to be your own boss with all the royalty's to your name, instead of starting with a loan and all your work and money is owned by someone else. that's fucked up!
Thanks
Very well made indeed
Shocking what passes for music these days
What's the name of the song at the beginning of the video please?!
Music is my best
6:08 if this dude can get signed then the future of music is bleak my dearest friends...
Respectfully, because I understand he's just trying to make money...
But WTF was that...
I thought the same thing!! Couldnt really understand how he got signed but i mean he has fans so that must mean something
Taste is subjective after all
Exactly. He can't even sing! Only a very generic computer voice-over makes it 'listenable'
I liked this Dirty Blonde artists 80’s baby pop song the best. It stood out while the others sounded like the same song. Plus the name Dirty Blonde is giving me 80s punk band name vibes 😂
All yall rappers better thank GOD he let mankind the intelligence to create technology cause back in the day if you couldn't perform it naturally you couldn't fly bro. So don't cry when u only made a million after 7 albums BEFORE TAXES** and then want to get out after you broke lol .. NOT all rappers but alot of u rappers if it wasn't for them lables push and tech you wouldn't make it to far.(no disrespect to the independent rappers)
Deals should be in capital letters , no corners no walls no bending ,
6:51 dat face when you hope you ain’t give a advance for this 🗑️😂
compare to kpop to jpop to USA music = loan are given ... then work you off until its done... life insurance important
Ain't nobody got enough money for me to sell my soul nor does the devil my soul is priceless and will never be bought nor my love
I been a label for two years
Gotta love “Half Way Ray”! :oD
8:39 facts
What's the song at the beginning of the video???
8:06 *nah son*
*And that right there*
*That righ there is why everyone sounds the same*
*That 80 6a6y Is Soda Pop / Cloud Trap*
*Smh*
*His Other Songs Was Hittin*
*A&R's*