Coldplay's Sneaky Record Label
As many upcoming artists would be, my band Maida Vale was excited to find out that Coldplay is running a YouTube contest for unsigned bands with the prize being the chance to open for the band on their upcoming tour. However, upon looking closely at the rules you find out that Capitol Records (Coldplay’s big brother) is up to something more…
From the Rules:
“By entering this Contest, you hereby grant to Capitol the irrevocable and exclusive option (the “Recording Option”) to enter into an agreement with you (“Recording Agreement”) that will provide for an option on Capitol’s part to record demo recordings with you and/or enter into a long-term exclusive artist agreement with you. The Recording Option may be exercised by Capitol giving you written notice at any time before the end of the Option Exercise Period. The “Option Exercise Period” means the period commencing on the date on which your entry is submitted and ending on the date 60 business days after the winner of the competition is announced. The Recording Agreement will provide for an approved budget (“Recording Budget”) of approximately $5,000 (USD), to be administered by Capitol under the demo recording deal, or approximately $100,000 (USD) per album, to be administered by Capitol under the long-term exclusive artist deal, and will also contain certain royalty provisions and other terms and conditions commensurate with those contained in Capitol’s standard Recording Agreement for new artists. The applicable Recording Budget includes the approximate minimal costs for associated activities which activities might include, but are not limited to, engineering, programming, arrangement, rehearsals, recording, overdubbing, duplication, mixing, remixing, mastering, media transfers, production, post production, etc., and studio recording and production time reasonably sufficient to produce the required audio track(s) at a recording studio located in New York, New York, or other recording location in the U.S. as designated by Capitol, and at times mutually agreed upon by the respective parties. As part of the Recording Agreement you must agree to and must irrevocably assign and transfer to Capitol, all rights, title, and interest in your submission, including without limitation, all sound recording copyrights therein, pursuant to any demo recording contract as executed between or among the parties, and to forever waive and agree never to assert any and all so-called moral rights they may have or be entitled to in respect of your submission.”
So not only are you signing away the rights to the video you submit, but you have no negotiation power in the event that people start to take interest in your band due to the contest or your performance in front of Coldplay’s fans. You can only guess at what kind of deal the “Standard Recording Agreement for New Artists” will be, but it is safe to assume that you will be getting the shaft and you have now signed away your right to have a lawyer negotiate the terms of the deal.
Of course, it would be an honor for any band to sign to Capitol Records, but don’t count on them treating you like the next big thing. Even if you are headed to the studio, you’ll be buying your own plane ticket.
“Travel to production studio facilities, including all travel expenses, are your sole responsibility, and each of its respective members, and will not be reimbursed to you under any circumstances by Capitol.”
Now, I’m sure that Coldplay doesn’t want to be too far removed from original, independent music and they are doing this as cheerleaders for the bands that will win, but most likely this idea was cooked up by the record company or their marketing firm. The question is why? Do they think this is the best way to develop the next Coldplay? Bait new bands in with a chance to play in front of a big crowd and then hand them a record deal with no say from the artist in terms of what’s fair or what what the artist is worth?
