Thoughts on 360...

"Hand in My Pocket" 360 Deals to Become the Norm

In response to the article above:

I went to a panel discussion of music entertainment attorneys last week and they were saying something along these lines. An important consideration is the fact that the term "360 deal" can mean many different things and the degree to which you give up your various revenue streams is negotiable. That being said, obviously the most established artists will have more leverage to negotiate, and the new guys coming in the door will probably get the shaft. Perhaps yet another reason for us to do as much of this on our own as we can.

One of the things Ryan Leslie talked about in that other panel I went to a couple of months ago is that Artists these days who are trying to get noticed need to bring more than just talent to the table. The days of getting scouted by an A&R for your abilities are over (well not exactly "over" but you get the idea). Artists today have to be able to demonstrate that they have something that people want; they have to show that they have developed a marketable product for which there is a demand. Obviously you can show this a variety of ways: you tube success, an actual fan base, some kind of following, etc. But the bottom-line is that more and more artists are being required to do for themselves things that the record labels used to do for them in terms of developing their product. If this is the case, then it may only be a matter of time before someone comes up with a new and better way to do what the labels do and perhaps there is an argument that what we are really looking at is the demise of the labels altogether.

Before we get ahead of ourselves though, it was mentioned during last weeks panel that the head of one of the majors recently pointed out that what the labels do is basically "push" music. Rather than you having to go to you tube and look up a song, or Myspace and look up an artist (i.e. you going to the music) the labels make it so that the music comes to you. They put it in movies and commercials, on the radio and in clubs, and we all know that the golden rule with the public at large is that the more you expose them to a song is the more they like it. This is why they can now be looking to tap into all these other revenue streams through these 360 deals, because at the end of the day they still do what they do better than anyone else can. What we need to do is figure out a way to beat them at their own game, cut out the middle man, and laugh all the way to the bank.

Terry McBride Explains 360 Deals