Signing with Online Record Labels
The global music industry is strewn with many horror stories of recording
artists and their acrimonious relationships with their record companies.
In this irregular music business, these types of stories seem to be business as
usual. The good news to all aspiring musicians is that they don't have to
sign their lives away for a few dollars and some hokum. They can, instead,
sign to an online record company. One of the first things that a musician
should take into consideration is the online and offline visibility of the
record label. A well-known online label will have a certain buss,
visibility, and reputation that will cause musicians and music buyers alike to
gravitate toward the cyber label. If the label has similar acts to yours
signed and those acts are enjoying a healthy dose of exposure and music sales,
then it demonstrates that the virtual label is successful at marketing your
genre of music. Also, if you sign to the online label, will they make it
easy for music buyers to locate your music? If there is a cost to sign to
a virtual record company, find out the total cost and try to determine if it is
worth your investment, especially considering the fact that there are many
virtual labels out there for free. Sites that require you to
download a specific software in order to access their store will repel most
people who will, no doubt, opt for a more simplistic designed store.
Furthermore, look for an online label that will allow you to have your own
domain name and retain ownership of it.
Seek to sign a short-term non-exclusive contract with the label that entitles
the label to no legal rights to your name, image, likeness, copyrights, and
music publishing. Also, never accept a royalty rate of less than 50% of
the gross receipts. Since the online label gets paid almost immediately by
the purchasing customer, the royalty payments should be frequent--no less than
once per month.
You have been given the basics and a starting point, go from there!
™ Digital & Electronic Music Organization, Inc. 
