In the mid-2000s, indie rock was booming, and major labels swooped in to sign many of the genre’s biggest acts. Two decades later,, among others, have emerged from those deals into a wildly different music industry. For artists who are coming out of long contracts, “it’s a whole new era,” saysRecording contracts changed drastically between 2004 and 2024.
“I don’t think I’ve done a deal with anybody in the last few years where the artist hasn’t had at least 50% of the profit,” Harding says. “The new wars to wage are making sure that the deals and the reversions are short term, so that the artist can get through the deal and get back these new recordings quickly.” All that said, an artist’s leverage in record deal negotiations stems in large part from their ability to generate streams.
“That always comes up now in renegotiations,” adds an executive at a prominent indie label. “Artists say, ‘Cool, we’ll re-sign with you, but we want those recordings back in 10 years.'” “Could you sell less records and keep more of the money?” Kurland asks. “Yes. But are there other aspects of your business that might suffer by doing that?”and other bands, asks a similar question — but he’s more optimistic about the answer. “If they’re doing really good business as a band, they can sell less records but retain the lion’s share of income and make so much more money,” he says.