Surely he would have provisions on his contract that prevent that from happening?
Someone I know here, who’s been a friend of M-solo both on and off over the years, and is closely related to recording artists, remains confident BoT the album will in fact be released next Spring, with more shows before and after. (Presumably, if poor Morrissey, the cat’s mother, doesn’t mind!) He also hopes opportunities for Morrissey to go into studio with Alain arise without delay. He looks wistfully back to the era after You Are The Quarry’s release when Merck ably managed the whole shebang, and feels such input could make a huge difference these days and just make life easier all round.
(btw, here’s a list of the
top 15 music managers of all time! )
If Sam handles talks with record companies, doesn’t he at least have the benefit of a law degree? Of course, those competencies may not include training in public communication and managing perceptions. Jumping the gun with news and without rock-solid confirmation, seems especially imprudent and likely to backfire?
I did some cursory research on record deals, and picked out relevant points, as below, from
https://heroic.academy/truth-about-record-deals/ , who actually have negotiated record deals for artists, and who warn about tripwires that are par for the course, particularly when inexperienced brokers are involved, among other things:
Record deals have developed a reputation of being notoriously strict on artists, which in many cases can be true. It all depends on who you’re dealing with, your bargaining position, negotiating skills and relationship with the label.
…find someone versed in legal affairs, whom can advise and negotiate for you. This is better than negotiating for yourself, as artists are often too emotionally involved with the outcome to be able to play hard ball.
In high-level deals it is common to license only to specific territories, so that one rightsholder (for example – you, the artist) can negotiate deals with different labels in different markets (read: territories). You could have one label exclusively represent your work in the USA + Canada, another in Europe, another in Asia and another in Australia + New Zealand. The benefit to doing that is that each label can use their expertise of their own market to market it more effectively, but you can also gather more advances on royalties from each deal, as well as negotiate more marketing / promotional investments (for radio promotion, video clips etc).
It is not uncommon for artists to grant rights for the duration of copyright, however a well-negotiated license deal usually lasts between 10-20 years.
…add prior-approval language to: the selection of songs on records (if you’re not already choosing yourself), artwork used, any videos and/or promotional materials made and used, remixers, and to restrict the use of your name, brand, image and likeness to promotion of the recordings… prior-approval language means adding wording such as “subject to prior written approval of Artist” to a clause.
…favor option clauses, which give labels the right to put out future releases, on the same terms as the initial deal, if the first release and collaboration is satisfactory.
It is not uncommon for labels to sign records and never put them out. That’s why you need to ask for a release commitment.
This clause needs to include language that commits the label to releasing your record within 60-120 days after acceptance of the product (first single, follow-up EP, etc), as well as granting you rights to get your recordings back in the case they do not release within that period.
When dealing with majors or larger indies, you will want to ask for guarantees on paper for marketing efforts.
There’s
another record deal guide here that seems reasonably knowledgeable and genuine. Some of you guys would know way more about the process, which entails challenges that sound tedious and complicated to me. I’m just curious : )
www.morrisseycentral.com
