Record Labels - Different Types Of Record Labels

A 360 record deal is where the artist agrees that their record label can make benefit from all areas of activity in which the artist is involved. This differs from a typical exclusive recording contract where the record label will only make money from selling the recordings of the artist. They could cover thing such as your PR, all of your merchandise and ticket sales.

A production record deal means that a label would recognize you as a musician whose musical judgement they can trust and therefore will let you produce your own music instead of doing it themselves. This deal allows you choose who you want to take on board as your band and which other musicians you would want to work with instead of the label doing this for you. This could be beneficial for musicians who are already close and work well with other certain musicians, as it prevents the risk of you not getting on with the musicians our label could've chose, however if you were to have a disagreement a personal friend you've decided to work with, some could argue that the consequences could be more uncomfortable personally as well as work wise.

With 360 and production record deals, they will give you a certain amount of money for producing your music, creating merchandise and other such things, however once you start making an income from all of this, the first thing they will do is take the money out of your earnings.

A licence record deal would mean that your record label is in charge of selling your music and getting it out there. They will manufacture, distribute and sell your songs, however they do not own your songs, they are still yours. These kind of deals are helpful for artist who don’t need there record label to help with as much as other deals could, such as the recordings of their song. It is good for artists that have already recorded an album. As they don’t typically do as much as other record labels do, they will usually also ask for a smaller royalty.

A development record deal would mean that an artist, instead of being required to record a whole album, would only be asked to record a few demos or singles. During this, the label can then make a decision as to whether they want to keep the artist on or let them go. In theory, this label gets to see the creative best from an artist who will be hoping to secure a full, exclusive recording contract.

In my opinion, I wouldn't want to sign a 360 record deal because if you have a disagreement with your label as one of the roles they're in charge with, you can't employ someone else for that role and you lose everything. I don't think a production record deal is suitable for me as far as where I stand as a musician currently, because I don't have that many contacts in the music industry to help me record and produce my own music, however for someone who did, this would be a great choice as it would mean that you could ask people to come and go as you wish without getting your label too involved. A licence record deal in my opinion is the best deal because you don't necessarily have to spend a lot of money using a professional studio to record your first album, just a good quality demo album will do, using either your own professional equipment or the equipment of someone you already know. I would be able to do this as I know people who own studios and also have my own equipment at home, therefore I would not have to spend much money on recording my first album, which I wouldn't want to do anyway, as when an artist is starting out, the label takes a large percentage of their earnings and they don't make much of an income of start with. Another record deal that I think is a great opportunity to test the relationship between a label and a musician as well as a good career opportunity is a development record deal. It would be good experience even if the label didn’t decided to keep you on, and by then your audience could’ve grown through the experience of having a development record deal.