10 Questions You Need To Ask Yourself Before Seeking That Elusive Record Deal

The question is are you ready to be signed to a label, whether it is you or your record label?
You are going to have to show an exorbitant amount of sales on your own independently, have garnerd massive airplay, at least in your geographical location before the distributors or labels come knocking. Not trying to be negative, just showing you the reality of this business.


These are the questions you need to ask yourself first.

1. Is your record label incorporated within the state you reside in?

2. If you have production on your album, have you worked out all the contractual details with each producer/writer/studio owner/studio engineer?

3. Have you registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, and made sure that you own both the PA (idea, music, lyrics) & SR (sound recording master) copyrights?

4. Have you established a publishing company as a writer and publisher with one of the performance rights agencies (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC)?

5. Have you signed on with the Harry Fox Agency to collect your mechanical royalties?

6. If you are generating sales of your album, are your songs/album registered with Sound Scan to have a reference to send the label to for proof of those sales?

7. Have you registered your songs with BDS, in order to show tracking of airplay, for the geographical markets that they are playing in?

8. Is your label logo(brand), and your professional name(stage name) trademarked?

9. Is your product marked with a upc code that you registered and own outright, not with cd baby (exclusivity contracts) or any other online retail source?

10. Have you joined the RIAA, which certifies record sale tallies of gold, platinum, etc?11. Have you joined NARAS, in order to vote for or be voted for a grammy?


These are all the things that you need to ask yourself, and most definitely a record distributor (SONY/BMG, Warner, EMI, Universal), who distributes record labels(Bad Boy, Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam, Cash Money), will be asking of you. And if you have not prepared yourself, trust me, their legal department will find out if you have or have not taken care of the above.

This is why artists get cheated out of their earning potential, and/or their careers, because they have not properly prepared themselves to have a chance to suceed.