By: Jessica Hopper
[Editor's Note: Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers!
Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured
internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist,
and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop doing it wrong. Send your problems to her — confidentiality is assured, unless you want to use your drama as a ticket to Internet microfame.]
Fan,
I'm an artist who put out a debut pop record last year that did
relatively well. It sold enough to put me in the black and ended up
with a good deal of great press. However, when I signed my initial deal I
was relatively unknown and signed to a small subsidiary of a UK label
with options for more records.
Since then the smaller subsidiary is dissolving and the larger label
would like to take me on. Lots of this is good, I enjoy working with
the label people for the most part and I know they will go to bat for
me. However, I don't feel like I especially fit in with the roster on
this larger label and there is a part of me that would like to use this
opportunity to find an even larger worldwide label with more reach and
artists I feel akin to. Do I stick with the people I have a decent
working relationship with or do I take the risk of jumping ship?
L'Artiste
]
L'Artiste,
Congratulations on the success of your record! Fan is a fan; I am
psyched for you. It's not surprising that you are scanning the horizon
for other opportunities — where you started and where you are now are
leagues of stardom apart. Given that you are, in some regards, still in
the launch phase of your career, there are some things to weigh in this
situation. The people you are working with “get” you and you have a good
rapport; they've helped facilitate you getting this far — these things
count for a lot. The rub is they are about to be subsumed into a larger
corpo-entity, so their power to push through projects on the
reasonable, indie, we-respect-your-work terms you've had with them
before is likely to be greatly diminished.
They are also going to be learning how to navigate and work within a
larger bureaucracy for at least another six months. Where you are right
now you don't want to be aligned with people that low on the totem pole
because, best case scenario, it'll mean a whole lot of hustling and
maybe a little ass kissing to get in with the people who do have the
power to help make things happen for you. I don't think that is going to
be a good use of your time.
Given those odds, I would just as soon get a good lawyer who
understands you and has (at minimum) a decent knowledge of this
particular corner of the music industry that you are trying to navigate
and see if you can't trade up to a larger, name brand indie label. As
long as you act like a professional, be courteous and gently honest with
everyone, leaving a deal should not be too torrid. Also, given how
you've blown up in the last year, the little-label people are probably
already anticipating you getting scooped up and will be understanding
and supportive. You had some sales and visibility; old-fashioned
unit-moving success gives you some real leverage — so use it.
Look for a label that has good ideas about how to keep moving your
forward and capitalize on all that you have already accomplished; if you
find some that you like, arrange to speak candidly with people who are
on the label, big and little. Ask a journalist or two, pals in radio and
retail how they like dealing with certain labels. As long as you do
your homework there is not that much risk involved. You are in the right
place to be thinking about these things and the things you are
considering show that you are reasonable, so have confidence in whatever
decision you do make. As laudable as loyalty is, it would be a shame to
see you riding out a contract that no longer fits you at a label that
isn't even the one you signed to in the first place. The music industry
is too much of a hassle to just go with whatever you are willing to
settle for. So, be ambitious, quash any lingering punk shame about your
fame and build your dream to suit you.
Yours truly,
Fan
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