Our Clients & Our Artists Deserve The Best... The Very Best
Castle Records, is opening their doors to singers / songwriters who want to be heard by the American people and radio stations across the USA. Country Music, R&B, Pop, Rap and Gospel.
Thanks to Alison Krauss, who won (4) CMA awards on an independent label, the doors have opened for independent record
Companies like, Castle Records. Rounder Records,
Curb Records, Audium Records, DreamWorks
Records,
Dreamcatcher
Records,
Dualtone Records, and
Lyric Street Records,
Artists like Kenny Rogers, Aaron Tippin, Randy Travis, and David Ball are all on independent record labels.
Castle Records has developed a new marketing approach in order to help you open some doors.
Castle Record's producers, will give your project a chance to be recorded with the top musicians ( The A Team ) sounds of Nashville
Tennessee
Many record companies these days,
before they offer a new artist a multi-album recording contract, will offer an
artist what is known as a "demo" deal or a "development"
deal. These are basically different names for the same fundamental thing,
although the terms of a demo deal might be shorter and the development deal
might last a little longer. In these deals, the record company waves the
Producers fee and all you have to pay is the Production cost to record a quality
demo, and if they like it they have the first right to sign you to a full record
contract. If they decide not to sign you, you get to walk with the demo. With
the escalating costs of signing a new artist and the substantial expenses often
involved in recording an album (not to mention the astronomical cost and expense
of promoting and trying to "break" a new artist's first album), record
companies often want to get a little taste of what an artist can do in the
studio before they make the big commitment. A demo or development deal is usually
just a few pages long (as opposed to the long-form record contracts which can be
as long and cumbersome as the RJR Nabisco leveraged buyout paperwork), but it is
still a binding legal commitment so it’s best for you to understand what you
are agreeing to when you do a demo deal. Such deals are usually appropriate
only for a brand new artist. Established artists have a track record and
experience of which the record label is already aware. A new artist, however,
may have to make some demos with a label before the company is ready to commit
to the bigger numbers necessary to record an album. If the demo deal is properly
negotiated, there is usually no down side for a new artist to go this route.
Same for the development deal-- in a development deal, the demo making period
may last a little longer which gives the 
The deal usually consists of two parts: the first part states the conditions surrounding creation of the demos, and the second states the parameters of the "option" granted to the record company after the demos are completed. We’ll go over this is detail below. In rare instances, a deal memo (i.e. short-form) or long-form record contract is attached to the demo deal with the representation that those will be the terms of the record contract if the label decides to sign the artist. However, since this requires extensive negotiation of the proposed terms of the record contract in advance of doing the demos, the usual procedure is to have the demo deal refer to a period of "good faith negotiation" for the record contract after a decision is made to pursue the artist.
Artist Producer/Development Agreement
(See APDA) AgreementIf the company does decide to move forward with the artist, then there is usually a period for "good faith" negotiations. However, if a deal cannot be reached, that may not necessarily be the end of the deal.
Everyone needs someone to look out for his or her interests. If you believe in yourself and your talents give yourself the benefit of the doubt, invest in legal representation.
Independent labels are poised to thrive and capture
increased market share from majors
1. They have the strong support of college kids and
from adult consumers
2. Increasingly strong and flourishing music economies in several cities outside
of the major label mainstream.
a. Austin economic impact study shows it has a flourishing music economy that is
not dependent on major label activity.
b. New Orleans is next to do study
c. Chicago, Portland, Atlanta, Boston and Seattle have strong music scenes that
are very indie oriented.
3. More than 50,000 independent recordings are released annually in the U.S.
a. Regional and local music economies are thriving because of them
b. Indies are taking market share away from majors
c. Variety of technology tools are increasingly being bought (boon to
manufacturers and retailers)
D. Manufacturing is relatively inexpensive.
E. Cheaper than ever for artists to profit on sales of 1000 to 2000 recordings
f. Creative uses of internet and internet radio
g. Sophisticated usage of internet by indie labels.
h. Development of niche marketing techniques
4. Proliferation of supra music community organizations to help local and
regional musicians and songwriters thrive
a. Muses Muse
b. Just Plain Folks (more than 20,000 members
5. Increased membership in genre-organizations like Folk Alliance and new
organizations (Rap Coalition, Future of Music, Americana )
6. Massive educational support from colleges, universities, and conferences that
draw 10's of thousands (like South by Southwest)
a. Proliferation of DIY (Do it yourself) conferences in regional areas like
Southern California.
b. Strong memberships in songwriter organizations all across the country
Major label woes are due to a synergy of mistakes
1. Focus on file sharing as primary source of declining sales is misleading and
detrimental to consumer base
a. Lawsuits against consumers that engage in file sharing is turning them off
b. Misunderstanding of consumer needs
c. Lawsuits have infuriated large computer companies
2. Radio consolidation
a. Fewer radio spots available for major label artists
b. Increase in "promotional fees" charged to major labels
c. Less access to variety of music to consumers
d. Sparse commercial programming for independent artists
e. Fewer noncommercial stations for indie artists
f. Radio promotion costs to commercial radio stations and to independent
promoters are huge and amount to payola, if not in name, then in deed.
Consolidation has led to higher, not lower fees.
3. Consolidation of major labels into super entities
a. 90% failure rate for all recordings that are released
b. Glut of product, much of it mediocre (more than 6000 titles a year)
c. Too much reliance on back catalog (like Beatles or Pink Floyd) to carry the
profits
d. Inability to pay attention to genres outside the big three (contemporary rock
(and all its synonyms, e.g. urban, hip hop); country; historical rock
e. Super deals at the expense of new and established mid-line artists
f. Inability to sign and develop artists who are going to have the staying power
and incremental creativity of 60 and 70's artists
g. Too much product with only a few good cuts
h. High retail prices
i. High executive salaries
j. Mediocre internet models
5. Recording contracts too heavily weighted against artists
a. No accountability for promo costs charged against artist's royalties (radio
promotion; video production, etc), which can be much higher than recording
costs.
b. Royalty audits (by those that can afford them) almost ALWAYS show huge
discrepancies
c. 7 year clause ties artists to very lengthy contracts
6. Competition for leisure dollars from other products within their
conglomerates (videos, video games, hardware, software, audio products, movies,
and new formats, such as super DVD.) combined with a recession that has made
fewer leisure dollars available for all consumers
The net results of this 'synergy' is a loss of support from their consumer base
at a time when fans of music are increasing (as shown by interest in file
sharing) and sales, market share and interest in independent labels is
increasing.
Castle Records have been in business and in good standing with the AFM since 1969 ( Over
33 Years of Service).
For more information please call.
Web Author: Tower Music Group
Copyright ©1969 by Castle Records - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED