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The music publishing business is about royalties. Westbury Music Ltd has been a part of this cultural industry for nearly 20 years and, while we are principally a Music Publisher, a large part of what we do for the people we represent concerns the contracts that they enter into with other people in the business. We advise, we trouble-shoot, we negotiate.
A major record company, publisher or manager might use a standard contract of up to 100 pages long but most of the serious work of a music business contract is done in only a couple of clauses and a balanced, workable contract can be done on only one page.
Clauses will be similar, whatever type of contract it is. The right to look at the books of your record company or publisher or management company is standard, as should be the right to serve notice if they default in their payments to you. How often they make payments to you also usually follows an industry norm and how long you or your songs or your recordings are signed to them will also be defined in a fairly standard way.
Doing contracts needs expertise on both sides but, provided the label/publisher/manager has good standard contracts and provided the artiste/writer has good advice before signing, contract paperwork need not be expensive nor a problem.
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Westbury has spent almost twenty years working in independent music and has been involved in the negotiation of hundreds of music business contracts, either on behalf of its artistes/writers or on behalf of the labels it represents.
Working in the independent music business does not mean you can just put tunes out and not bother about complications like royalties. The same industry rules apply whether you are a faceless multinational or a brand new label run by enthusiasts and, when you have your first hit and you see the whole situation go pear-shaped, it might be already too late to start learning your business lessons
Westbury might be able to advise you. One thing is for sure: if you try and work in music without attention to contracts and without knowing how the industry operates, you will lose more money than you will make.
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