Interview · moment 4 of 28
360 Record Deals and Exploiting Musicians
from Louis CK | The Tim Dillon Show #317 · #317
2 min
Guest
Louis and Tim break down how 360 record deals and advances are designed to keep musicians perpetually in debt, using private planes and other perks as examples of costs quietly deducted from artists' earnings.
- Record labels pack poor musicians into cheap housing uptown, get rich off the music their squalor creates, then take the lion's share when they die early.
- Tim explains 360 deals: the label gives an advance, recoups it from everything you earn, and keeps you perpetually in debt to them.
- Record companies tell bands they're getting a private plane, but the plane is just recouped from the advance as an expense they control.
- Tim stopped taking advances on the road long ago because labels call them expenses and take them back when they split.
- Nobody tells young artists the con: that a Porsche they're offered is just debt they'll be paying back forever.
record label dealsBiggie