Talent manager, George Britton has bemoaned the lack of professionalism in the local music industry.
He observed, for years that the music industry was not operated as a business but rather with so many emotions attached.
He emphasized the necessity of “a contract” to protect the “investments” of both music executives and their signees.
To artists who overhype their value in comparison to the investors, the GB Records founder noted: “You might think you have a talent. My talent is also putting money on the table for us to get results.”
Britton, thus, advocated mutual respect and appreciation in record executive and musician relations.
He cited how, particularly in the past, artists unceremoniously ended music deals and went scot-free because talent managers, music producers, and all that, have not activated the laws.
“So, hardly do you hear a label fighting an artiste or an artiste fighting a label in court,” he said, noting recent exceptions.
Britton stressed allegations of ungratefulness on the part of both executives and artists can be avoided or better managed if contracts are signed and respected.
Furthermore, he advocated executives and artists keep a cordial relationship after their contracts come to an end.
“What I want us all to do is to behave like proper businessmen. If I sign a deal with you and we exhaust the deal, if I want to continue, I will, if not, I will move away. It doesn’t make you my enemy.”
George Britton
He cited how his four-year contract with Afrobeats star Camidoh has ended but it doesn’t make Camidoh his enemy, adding, “I still support him but in an unofficial capacity”.
“After 15 years of my career as a talent manager, I feel I need to build a brand that will also help [even] more talents and so I enrolled in a university program in the United Kingdom.
“Meanwhile, I’m still friends with all the artists I managed in the past, including Hiplife star Akoo Nana who is in my house here in London almost every time because we’re working on another thing, not just music [and] now and then I’m on the phone with Dr Knii Lante, the musician.”
George Britton
He underlined the lack of “bad blood” between him and all his former signees (Akoo Nana, Keche, Knii Lante, Camidoh) because of the presence and respect for a contract.
“If you feel a contract is demeaning do not sign it and later [complain],” he admonished.
Creative Strategist Addresses the Controversial 360 Record Deal
Music executive, George Britton spoke on the controversial 360 record deal.
He said it is a deal by which a record company takes a percentage of revenue from other ventures apart from music sales.
“It could be concerts, sales of your merchandise, public appearances, image rights, it covers all this,” he explained.
He intimated a 360 deal is as beneficial as it may seem scary.
“When we sign a 360 deal, it’s my role to project you to the rest of the world because if you make more money, I make more money as well,” he assured.
He spoke on an artiste owning 100 percent of the economic rights to his masters (the final version of a song that is put on the market).
“Even distribution deals these days, the distributors make money by taking your masters away from you for 10 years – mind you these are not labels. The rationale is I’m investing in you [and] I need to hold on to something that can [guarantee] a return on my investment. Music has become business.”
George Britton
He noted how a 360 deal, typically from a major label, could promise to “blow” and “project” a musician to the global market, assuring of performance opportunities at enviable venues and, for example, “every festival in Europe”.
“We’re going to build a website for you, you’re going to have an e-commerce website that is going to sell your merchandise. Let’s say Camidoh is so popular, that girls want to wear Camidoh’s shirt and hat same as boys.
“The label would say: ‘We’re going to do a huge marketing, we’re going to create a marketing budget for this and help market your mech. Now, for every sale your merchandise makes, we get a percentage. For your image rights: everybody that comes in and uses you as a brand ambassador or uses your image for advertisement, they pay x amount [and] we own this percentage in your x’.”
George Britton
George Britton asserted this all means “the label would have to double up their work to make sure they push you into some rooms in which some [key] decisions are made and for you to be seen on [some particular] platforms”.
Eventually, he cited, when an external company recognizes the artist’s value and offers a deal of say 5,000,000, when the record company takes 50 percent of the money, for example, per the preexisting contract, the artist cannot claim they have been cheated because “it’s business”.
“Nobody holds anyone at gunpoint and says: ‘Sign this’. You’re presented a contract [and] usually, you take like two weeks or even more for it to get back.”
George Britton
While an artist considers the contract, he advises getting help from a legal practitioner so that they will know what they’re signing.
READ ALSO: UK’s August Rate Cut Chances Bleak
