The 360 Deal Discussion Continues

As I told you yesterday, WMG has announced that going forward, all of their deals will be 360 deals. I wanted to bring to everyone's attention a great point made by Cameron Mizell in a comment to yesterday's blog. He so rightly raised the issue that majors have been laying off staff for ages now - just who is going to handle all of these new responsibilities that WMG wants to take on? I know, if you work for a small indie, you're thinking, "hmm, except for the part about getting paid, these 360 deals sound a lot like my job." Believe me, I hear you. But the sheer scale of operations at a major means that there really does need to be some delineation of duties in the ranks - in other words, the majors have so many artists and so many fingers in so many pies that to effectively manage the responsibilities the label is taking on in a 360 deal, they need staff - lots and lots of staff - to get the work done. It seems downright impossible that WMG is planning a hiring spree, so...how is this going to work?

Whenever I say something like this I get a lot of angry emails from people, but these deals make me want to say it again anyway. My prescription for a music industry business model that works? Pay people for work that they do. Don't pay people for work that they don't do. Don't demand or give away rights to revenue that has nothing to do with the kind of work you're doing or that you're hiring someone to do. Don't try to lock people into contracts that last longer than your average marriage. Mutual respect is a lot more effective at building a long lasting working relationship than blood oath agreements that make people feel resentful from the outset. You can protect your rights and your assets without overreaching. A lot of people will say it's naive to work that way in the music industry, but I know plenty of people who DO work just like that and are just fine. "Standard" doesn't mean the same thing as right or viable. After all, look at where we are.

OK, today's soapbox moment is over! Incidentally, Cameron Mizell works on the Musician Wages site with Dave Hahn, and if you haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend it. They offer very practical advice that you can actually put into action as a musician - two thumbs up!