The State Of The Music Industry- D.I.Y. And 360 Contracts

February 2009

Continuing the series of State Of The Music Industry articles we at Independent Music law Advice (IMLA) have seen a trend in the past year or so that has become stronger and more defined:

"D.I.Y." is a term increasingly becoming popular in the music industry. The state of the world and global economy seem an apt setting for the amount of new music companies that are developing on the basis of D.I.Y. The methods of sourcing numerous members of a team in order to promote, publicise and distribute seem to be in decline. We have seen through our clients that all the elements can be kept in house which has lead to artists managing, producers running labels ect...

There's no doubt that this ideology has been growing in the 6 years since IMLA formed and we have documented this over the years. It now seems that companies are turning into collectives and communities offering a far wider service than has been seen in the past. As a result new types of deals are being offered.

Aptly named 360 deals they involve companies offering a full range of services from management to label to distribution to publishing. The terms of such agreements are likely to be far more beneficial to the Artist and involve them on a level rarely seen in the old major label formula. This is more important than ever in a market that no longer relies solely on record sales for success.

As a result though it is even more important for bands and artists to know what they are getting into. There will be more rights assigned as well as obligations and warranties. In theory it makes sense to group all of a bands interests together but the contract has to be fair and acceptable otherwise a band could find themselves in real trouble.

So despite the doom and gloom of the world economy there is optimism and encouragement for the industry.

Check out all of IMLA's friends and partners to find out more.

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© IMLA 2009