Chapter 110： Record company

Chapter 110 Record Company

“Link, you are so popular right now. Many record company managers have come to me and want to discuss signing a contract with you. Take a look at these, are there any record companies you like?”

At noon, when he was lifting barbells in the equipment area, Simon came up to him with a stack of documents.

During this period, he was still training in the boxing ring. When Taylor or Selena were free, he would learn guitar and piano from them, leaving Simon to handle all the singing matters.

It’s just that Simon is a boxing manager and is not very good at music.

Link put down the barbell in his hand, sat up and wiped his sweat with a towel.

“Can’t we publish it ourselves?”

 Dynasty Promotion Company has a publicity and distribution department and also has certain distribution capabilities.

"Yes, it's fine in Florida and Miami, but if we want to sell records across the United States or even the entire America and Latin-speaking regions, our channels and manpower are very limited. In addition, Dynasty Promotion is a sports company and has no experience in promoting and releasing music. , the operation cost is too high, it is better to leave it to professionals.”

Simon said.

Link nodded. It was okay to leave professional matters to professionals. He opened a few documents and looked at them.

There are currently more than thirty record companies contacting him, including Universal Records, Sony Records, RCA, Hollywood Records, Sony Music Records, as well as many small record companies, including Taylor's Big Machine Records.

There is no signing bonus, only a share of the song album royalties, and various packages to promote the songs. For example, Hollywood Records said that they would give him a B-level singer package and invest no less than 2 million US dollars in album release promotion. Go on a concert tour.

Link didn’t know much about these things. Looking around, he didn’t know which company had better conditions.

Simon is also a layman.

So he called Katherine and Taylor to get their opinion from two industry insiders.

Catherine told him that both large companies and small companies have their own advantages and disadvantages. Large companies have wide channels and strong distribution capabilities, but they have many artists, limited resources, fierce competition, and low royalties.

Although small companies have limited resource channels, if they can become a famous singer and be fully promoted by the company, it will be much better than entering a large company.

Taylor directly persuaded him to join Big Machine Records, and the two joined hands to conquer the music world.

 Link naturally would not agree to her. Big Machine Records was founded in 2005 with a registered capital of less than 5 million, and there were too few resources and channels. It was difficult for Taylor to promote and package it alone, let alone two people.

If he joins Big Machine, the company's resources will be even tighter. Even if he doesn't want to compete with Taylor, the team behind him will secretly compete, which will inevitably affect the relationship between the two. This is not the result Link wants.

In addition, Big Machine boss Scott is not a good person. After Taylor's contract with Big Machine Records expired in 2017, he announced that he would not renew the contract.

Scott was so angry that he sold the rights to her first six albums to Taylor’s most hated person, Justin Bieber and Kanye’s manager, another guy named Scott, without Taylor’s knowledge.

Taylor was not allowed to perform the songs she wrote in public afterwards.

This incident caused a big fuss on the Internet at that time. Taylor had a war of words with Justin, Kanye, Scott and others on Instagram, causing shock in the European and American music circles.

Link had eaten a few melons back then and knew a little about the matter, so he would not join Big Machine. He was also prepared to find an opportunity to let Taylor terminate his contract with Big Machine in advance.

"Don't try to persuade me. Big Machine Records is a new company. It's already very difficult to run a singer. Plus, I'll be operating at full capacity, which will affect your development in the future. That's not good. If you don't believe me, ask me. Mrs. Delia, she definitely knows the situation better than I do."

“Hey, how do you know my mother is here?”

Taylor smiled.

"I guessed it." "You guessed it right, my mother said. If you are a new singer and just release a few singles occasionally, joining the big machine is a good choice. But your reputation is too great. The first song The single is on the Billboard before it is officially released. You have great potential, and Big Machine Records is too small a platform for you.”

“Yes, Mrs. Andrea is right, it would be more suitable for me to choose another company, but I still have a few questions to ask you.”

Link asked a few more professional questions, such as record royalty sharing, album copyright ownership, streaming income sharing after signing, etc.

Taylor told him that according to the contract between the singer and the record company, the singer himself can get 20% to 40% of the royalties from each album, the songwriters and producers and other creative staff will share 5% equally, and the rest belongs to the record company.

As for the copyright of the album, even if it is a song written by myself, since the record company is also involved in the song production and MV shooting process, which is equivalent to joint creation, the copyright is basically owned by the company, and the singer only owns part of the copyright.

Unless you are an independent musician who creates, produces and distributes your own music, you can own the copyright of the entire album and receive all royalties.

Most independent musicians are very powerful or have been famous for a long time. They have strong creative ability and a fixed fan base. They can sell albums without the support of record companies.

This road looks cool, but it is only suitable for famous singers, not for newcomers.

After listening to Taylor's words, Link felt that he was more suitable to be an independent musician. He was a celebrity and had his own traffic. The songs he had were basically hits. He didn't need much promotion from the record company to sell well, and he didn't need to pay any money. Others give money.

Being an independent musician is equivalent to working alone. He has to train every day and does not have so much time and energy to take care of the company.

He told Taylor his idea and asked for her opinion.

 Taylor told him that he could find a professional to cooperate with him. For example, Big Machine Records boss Scott Borchetta was once a music producer at Universal Music Company's Nashville branch. He left Universal in 2005 to start Big Machine.

There are many people like Scott. If you search carefully, you can always find a few suitable candidates.

“You are right, I will consider it. When can you go home today?”

Link asked.

“You miss me?”

Tyler asked in a sweet voice.

"Yes."

"I miss you too. I want to go home now, but "Fearless" will be on the shelves soon. I have a lot of work recently, and I won't be able to finish my work until about seven o'clock today."

“It’s okay, you come back early, I’ll cook and wait for you.”

Hearing Taylor hang up the phone, Link put away his phone and thought about who to cooperate with.

ˆCatherine is a suitable candidate. She is an industry insider and a relative, so it is easy to work together. However, the two of them currently get along well. If they become business partners, I am afraid there will be more troubles.

But apart from Catherine, he could not find a more suitable candidate.

Just when he was hesitating, Ivaca called and asked him if he had time to go to the Madison Square Garden Arena to watch the boxing match between Holyfield and the Eastern behemoth Valuev. She had two tickets. .

Link was a little surprised. After returning from Miami, Miss Ivaca called him several times. She only talked to him about the boxing match arrangements and rarely discussed personal matters. This time she took the initiative to invite him to watch the boxing match.

Link thought for a moment and decided that it was probably a serious matter, so he agreed.

(End of this chapter)