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Berklee College of Music
The A&R diary: An outcome paper of a year of working as an A&R Manager
for Disrupción Records & guidance for future A&Rs of the label.
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of
Master of Arts in Global Entertainment and Music Business
Supervisor: Pete Dyson
by Camila Anino
Valencia Campus, Spain
June 2019
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Summary……………………………………………………………………………………….2
2.Task…………………….……………………………………………………………………….3
3.Objectives………………………………………………………………………………………3
4.Resources Utilized……………………………………………………………….……………..5
5.Outcomes…………………………….…………………………………………………………6
5.1.Gantt…………………………………………………………………………...………....7
5.2.Scouting………………………………………………………………...………………...7
5.3.Signing……………………………………………………………………...…..……….10
5.4.The Road Towards The Delivery of The Masters……………....………………….…12
5.5.Cohesiveness…………………………...……………………………………………….14
6.A&R & Mental Health…………………………………………………………….………....16
7.The Artists…………………………………………………………………….........................17
8.Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….........................22
9.Appendix…………..………………………………………………………….........................25
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1. SUMMARY
Disrupción Records is the record label from Berklee College of Music Valencia.
Throughout the years, Berklee projects and artists were released through the label. Five years
ago, when it was founded, Disrupción counted on a team of three people, which today has grown
to a team of eight people plus volunteers. The students of the Global Entertainment & Music
Business Master program have run the label from its beginning, presenting a difficult challenge
which is the fact that the team changes every year when the new students come. This
disadvantage makes the label lack continuity in its vision and mission, among other things, and it
also makes the different teams start from scratch every time they take over.
This past year, one of the main objectives was setting strong foundations and coming up
with a way of making the transition between each year a smooth one.
The project of being Disrupción Record’s A&R Manager for Berklee’s academic year has
been the perfect opportunity to dive in the record label world, extract insights and knowledge,
but also contribute to the label’s general objectives from an artistic and creative point of view.
In this paper, the journey of the past year working for the label as an A&R Manager is
described, together with the objectives, resources, experiences and learning outcomes. Its main
aim is to provide some guide lines for the next A&R Managers who will have written words at
their disposal, about what the previous person in charge of doing the job wished had known
before, what was learnt throughout the year, which artists still need to be taken care of, and how,
due to their agreement term.
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2. TASK
Disrupción Records’ A&R team dedicated a year scouting artists inside and outside
Berklee by utilizing diverse resources, to release through the label. Musically speaking, the job
included polishing the sound to make it as attractive to the audience as possible, always in
agreement with the artist. For this matter and in order to take advantage of Berklee’s human
resources, as an A&R, producers and mixing and master engineers were also scouted to help
with the artist’s material.
Regarding the identity of the label’s artists, the idea was to make it cohesive with the
music, creating a full concept around it and working very closely with the marketing department
around the artist’s storytelling. In addition to this, the job also required one to build a trustful
relationship with the artist in order to achieve the best results for every party involved.
3. OBJECTIVES
When the news of who will take over Disrupción Records on ‘18-‘19 were received, the
team first got together and had a long discussion about where the label was at and where the new
team wanted to take it.
On a general point of view, Disrupción Records needed:
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a better structure that would allow the label to have a more organized catalog;
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a strategy to separate the brand from being “a student run record label” in order to
make it look more serious to the public;
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more staff to be able to analyze the artist’s data or take care of synchronization
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and coming up with a solution in order to make the transition to the next team, a
efforts;
smoother one.
On a personal level and in what regards an A&R Manager, goals were set in order to
make the best out of this job and acquire as many skills, experience and knowledge as possible.
These objectives include:
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finding and learning to work with reliable sources of information to scout artist;
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creating a strong network;
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encouraging the artist to release through the label instead of self releasing;
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signing at least one artist that is external to the Berklee community;
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building strong and trustful relationships with the label’s artists;
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accompanying the artist throughout the creative and recording process;
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learning as much as possible from the other areas of the label in order to get to
know their working methodology, tools and resources;
+
come.
and setting the foundations regarding the A&R department for the next team to
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4. RESOURCES UTILIZED
As for the resources utilized for this position, studio time was needed as well as
producers and engineers. Other Master programs have students who are trained and experienced
in producing, therefore, it was not hard to find someone who would donate their time and dive in
the studio with the artist. The problem came when finding mixing and mastering engineers at
Berklee. The reason why the A&R team was pushing to work with engineers from Berklee or
who were in Valencia, was because specially mixing, but also mastering are two arts that the
team together with the artist wanted to supervise. The only two engineers found in Valencia that
would charge an affordable price were the ones to work with Disrupción in two different
projects. It is worth mentioning that the label should not take care, and did not take care, of any
of the recording costs of an artist because both parties worked under a license deal.
Moreover, the label got a grant of €1000 to support mainly marketing and promotion
efforts. The budget for each artist was different according to the stage of development they were
in, but an estimated €100 per artist was used for these matters. This number included
photoshoots, videos and social media campaigns. Nevertheless,Disrupción team came up with
events meant to raise money to increase the budget available for the label, and it dedicated one
person for the search of sponsors.
In addition, the label started operating with an A&R Manager, a Marketing & Promotions
Manager, a Product Manager, and a Label Manager; and today that team has increased to a team
of nine, adding one A&R, one person fully dedicated to promotions, a Synch department which
added two people, and one person in charge of Data & Analytics. In addition, Disrupción also
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worked with volunteers for each area, therefore, this year there has been a considerable
incorporation of human resources.
Finally, Disrupción counted with external legal advice from an expert in entertainment
law, for the making and signing of the contracts.
5. OUTCOMES
After a year experience as an A&R at Disrupción Records, it has been concluded that the
job at the label consists mainly in a four step process. On the first place it comes the scouting of
an artist. Secondly, once an artist has been spotted, the signing step begins. The third step, and
the most creative one, is the road towards the delivery of the masters, which varies depending
on the nature of the legal agreement and in the case of Disrupción, the label works under license
deals. Finally, the fourth step will be called cohesiveness. It is the step in which the A&R helps
the artist find and shape its identity and craft, and contributes to the marketing and promotions
team to make sure that what is being communicated to the audience, makes sense with the
artist’s identity, the music, and the vision.
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5.1 Gantt
5.2 Scouting
When the new team took over Disrupción Records, different imprints were created with
the intention of having a coherent way of releasing the signed projects. Therefore, the label has
three imprints: Evlve, the imprint in which all the development projects fall in; Common Chord,
the imprint mainly destined to Berklee’s jazz musicians; and Fusión, the imprint through which
the label signs artists with the intention to synchronize their songs to moving images. Hence, the
most important artists signed were released under the name Disrupción Records, with the
criteria of having a considerable strong fan base and promising masters to distribute.
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Disrupción Records imprints.
Every student working for the label’s team needed artists signed in order to start working
on completing their culminating experience at Berklee. For this reason, there were signings
meant as marketing projects, A&R projects, and synchronization projects. The marketing
projects had a commercial vision and most of them were released under the name Disrupción
Records; whereas the development projects were the ones in which the masters were not ready to
be delivered and a creative process had to take place, giving more work to the A&R team.
Regarding the scouting of artists, there are many online platforms that facilitated it, but
Spotify and Instagram resulted as the most useful ones.
Spotify is not only the most used DSP but it is also the strongest one in regards of
playlisting. The increasing user interaction and sort of social media platform that Spotify has
become, has facilitated the sharing of content and the cumulation of artists in just one list. This
means that the surfing and scouting through Spotify normally leads towards discovering new and
interesting talent.
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Something that was very important for the A&R team to keep in mind when checking on
DSPs if an artist was unsigned, was distinguishing the following two symbols:
Copyrighted song
Registered Phonogram
The song and the phonogram are two different pieces of work and therefore require
separate registration. Sometimes the “C” and the “P” might appear as owned by the artist and not
by a label. In that case it can mean that it is a DIY artist either wanting to remain unsigned or
looking to be signed. Another useful thing for spotting talent on Spotify is following curators
profiles and their playlists.
Regarding Instagram, ears and eyes must remain wide open. People tend to share the
music they like, new discoveries, and live shows they have attended. It is also recommended to
follow accounts with online music news, influencers, and again, curators. Music blogs are also
very useful in terms of scouting.
Live shows must not be forgotten since they can provide a different perspective of the
artist’s talent, who they are, their stagecraft (if any), and even their soul and passion. The essence
of the artist can get fully uncovered when performing live. For this purpose, it was very
important to go to different venues and events, and not only rely on what the scouting behind the
computer screen can provide.
Finally, and in regards of Berklee artists, there is something called “The Berklee Roster”
to which musicians submit their work so that other Berklee students may find them. Sort of a
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“vocalist looking for guitarist” that can also turn into “label looking for artists”, and it fact, it did.
Working with Berklee artists brought interesting opportunities for the A&R team to work with
cross collaborations like the one done this past year between Celestine and Earlybird.
5.3 Signing
Once an artist has been spotted, the road towards the signing begins. Disrupción’s typical
selling points to approach an artist were:
1.
The label offers a very a rtist-friendly deal.
2.
The artist gets to keep the ownership of the masters and the label licenses it
exploitation for a s hort period of time.
3.
Disrupción has a distribution deal with The Orchard.
4.
There will be m
arketing and promotion efforts, with a budget destined for it.
5.
Berklee has recording studios that could be used for free, making the artist save
the highly expensive recording costs.
6.
A&R guidance will be given to the artist.
7.
The label has a small team and the relationship with the artists are very
personalized.
Although this doesn’t seem as much of a commitment, especially from the artist’s
perspective, it was still very hard to get artists outside Berklee to sign a deal with Disrupción
Records. A lot of times people got quite frightened by a written agreement and it was very easy
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for them to distrust a brand without successful records and little budget. Some other times, they
felt like they would miss out on other opportunities if they signed with the label. The best way
that the A&R team found to address these concerns was to explain the agreement to the artists
clause by clause, strongly recommend them to seek for external legal advice before signing, and
also highlight that they would be getting into a very artist-friendly deal that lasted for a very
short term. Nevertheless, the third parties that were most likely going to say yes to the proposal
were those who had never been offered a deal by a label before, or those very niche artists.
In regards to Berklee students, they were more open to see what Disrupción could offer
them.
The next step was to present and negotiate the agreement with the artist. Disrupción’s
agreements were very straightforward. It was very important for the A&R team to understand
what an artist-friendly agreement is, and that the most important things to focus on while reading
or explaining a contract to an artist were: term, territory, how many master recordings are
involved, delivery deadline, consideration, the marketing commitment, and termination.
Another important aspect regarding the signing was when to introduce the team.
Normally, the A&R team that did the scouting would come first in the process of contacting,
getting to know, and talking the artist into the proposal of licensing their project. Then, the Label
Manager was introduced to help give Disrupción more credibility in the eyes of the artist. After
that, the Marketing team would be introduced. For the first signings, the Marketing team was
introduced way too early, especially in the development project in which the A&R team needed
some time to work with the artist in order to come up with a vision. The fact that the Marketing
team started to be introduced later on in the process of the signing, allowed a stronger coherence
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between the work of the A&R people and the Marketing people. Finally, the Product Manager
and the Synchronization department was introduced.
5.4 The Road Towards The Delivery Of The Masters
First of all, let’s clarify that when a label works under licensing deals and ask for masters,
they really mean masters, not raw recordings, not mixes, but masters. When a label licenses and
does not cover recording costs, there is no such ownership of masters, there is only a license for
exploitation, and in Disrupción’s case it was for a short period of time. Therefore, it would be
nonsense for the label to incur costs for mixing or mastering.
It is crucial to understand the difference between producing, mixing and mastering
because it helps to not be flexible and to understand what one gets when asking for masters:
Producing
It is the process done during the recording sessions. The producer oversees the entire
process, coaches musicians if needed, and sometimes also controls studio time.
Mixing
It means taking all the recorded parts and putting them together, deciding which
instrument will be predominant in every single second, adjusting volumes, adding effects.
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Mastering
Masterting is basically a process about unifying the sound of a record and maintaining
consistency across an album, it is the final polish to a mix.
Mastering is an art too, so it is highly advised for artist to pay for this service instead of
using free of charge websites that provide mastering services like Landr.
Keep in mind that these are all very expensive services. During the past year, the A&R
team has come across engineers that charged artists for the hour, and others that budgeted the
whole project. It is important to know that no mix or master will be done at Berklee by
engineers, for less than €50 with this number being an extremely cheap and friendly price.
As previously said, if the artist was in Valencia, or if it was a Berklee artist, the studio
facilities from the school could be used. This was a huge asset because they would be saving
recording costs. Usually, GEMB students cannot book more than two hours straight, so if more
studio time was needed, the solution was to team up with another GEMB student working for the
label, and book slots together. Also, studios were normally very busy and fully booked, so if the
idea was to record in one of the Berklee studios, one had to remember to book it very much in
advance.
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5.5 Cohesiveness
This step is a very creative one and where one can very much explore one’s skills as an
A&R. Yes, spotting a promising talent is a crucial part of the job, but developing the artist’s
narrative across every form of communication is equally as important so that the final product
makes complete sense and it does not becomes a challenge to sustain in time. When talking
about cohesiveness it is important to take some concepts into consideration and know them by
heart to deliver a better job as an A&R. In the case of Disrupción Records artists, the most
important concepts in this step were: the artist’s identity, stage presence and craft, and artwork.
Artist’s Identity
Even though this is mainly how artists express themselves and what is shown to the
public, it is also not far from how artists perceive themselves. What is communicated to the
audience cannot be much distanced from who an artist really is, and what the artist feels
comfortable with communicating in order to make it sustainable across time. For example,
Michael Bolton struggled along his career because he wanted to express his gayness instead of
keep on giving the image of the very straight man.
Identity refers to: gestures, postures, opinions, values, voice, sensitivity, causes artists
choose to fight for, their upbringing, sexuality, ethnic heritage, body, clothes, colors, aesthetics,
brands, moods, among many other things that define who an artist is. At the end of the day,
identity involves everything.
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Stagecraft & Presence
This is a sensitive area for an A&R because it is strictly speaking outside of the record
zone, but for Evlve’s development projects, helping the artist develop a stagecraft and find a way
to strengthen their stage presence was a crucial part of the job.
In an artist’s live performance the stage craft represents a sort of choreography done
across the stage. How the musicians are positioned is the first important part to consider: how
many are in the front? is the singer in the middle? are we talking about a band or a solo artist?
Then, stagecraft is also about how the artist moves on stage, how the microphone is
handled, how the instruments are handled, if there is a distinguishable posture. An example of
this is Liam Gallagher and his unique hands behind the back and lean to the front posture.
Stage Presence is about the charisma, the energy, or the appeal that an artist has when
performing, but it is also about the soul of a person and how much you decide to open up on
stage, to connect with the audience and to be present. One cannot take the eyes off an artist with
good presence; their performance is not a boring one.
Artwork
The artwork is the result of a lot of collaboration from different actors, and the resources
available (especially money). It is a strong piece of communication in which one has to consider
the imagery, the logo and the typography. It is part of the identity since there a lot of things being
said about an artist in the result of an artwork. Nowadays, one should make sure that the artwork
should work on a smaller size than before, meaning that the visual content it includes should be
more simplistic than the ones from older days. Let's look at an example:
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Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles | 1967
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Billie Eilish | 2019
6. A&R AND MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health has been a sensitive issue lately among the artists community. Suicides,
panic attacks, depression, anxiety, and addictions too. The awareness and understanding of the
importance of mental health has increased considerably the past years in the industry. Dedicating
one’s career to music can turn into a risky decision, and in terms of artists, an A&R plays a
crucial role in taking care of them.
This year, one of Disrupción’s artists went through a very difficult break up in the middle
of the recording process. Her emotional state initially delayed the process, especially because her
ex-boyfriend was the band’s guitarist. After long conversations, it was decided to try to use the
difficult time to express sadness in a creative way and come up with new songs. Working in
music keeps one busy, but working with music heals.
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What was learned from this experience is that an A&R should be highly empathetic with
the artist, but also be one step ahead. They must be able to understand when it is time to stop or
move forward, when to get help and when they can actually handle things alone.
7. THE ARTISTS
Nathan
Nathan was found at a small gathering, where he was playing guitar
and showing his new material. A study abroad undergraduate student with
an interesting concept in his mind for the release of an EP. Nathan was
Disrupción’s first signing. His EP Circus wants to portray the way he feels
with the transition of moving from Brazil to the USA, building a new life
there, being accepted, many times rejected and some other times seen as a
weird species that comes from the jungle. Nathan mixes jazz and funk with his musical south
american background. He sings in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
The recording of the EP was done in 5 studio sessions, it has three tracks and it was
released on May 24th. Nathan also released a single called “Amor Hi-Fi” through the label on
March 30th.
Contract Termination: 1st August 2019
Accounting Date: From 1st August 2019 to 1st September 2019
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Beezi + Shawn Goyer
The second signing for Disrupción came in when the album “The
Pause Collection” was discovered accidentally. Brian Zani is a Berklee
student who approached Disrupción’s team with the intention of joining
the label’s team of collaborators as a producer. When the A&R team
listened to his work, the album was discovered, and instead of taking
him as a volunteer, it was decided to sign him. “The Pause Collection” is
a collaboration between two North American
producers, recorded with friends as an
experimental project in which “each singer would come and improvise” and they would compose
melodies around it, and as a result, obtain great material that portrays an interesting mix of R&B
and rap. The album was released on April 24th.
Contract Termination: 1st August 2019
Accounting Date: From 1st August 2019 to 1st September 2019
Swave
Mayani Swave is Disrupción’s first third-party artist, originally
from the Dominican Republic. His signing was a huge achievement for the
label in terms of this year’s biggest goal of trying to reposition the brand so
it’s no longer seen as just a “student run record label that releases Berklee
projects”. Swave’s signing marks a precedent in the label’s history, just on
its five years anniversary. Disrupción’s A&R team learned about him
through its business manager, and after long negotiations the contract was finally signed for the
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licensing of his 5 tracks EP called “Pink” and 1 single. His latin beats include lyrics in spanish
and english, an uplifting and danceable melody, and modern sound. The single was released on
May 3rd, and the EP is yet to be released.
Contract Termination: 1st February 2020
Accounting Date: From 1st February 2020 to 1st March 2020
Autumn Jones
A study abroad student from Berklee Boston that arrived in
Valencia in January and joined the label in March. Autumn was found on
the Berklee online roster in February, with the original aim to have her as
a backup artist in the record practicum. Since the record practicum team
decided to move forward with the first choice, Autumn was then available
and signed to the label. She is an R&B singer, that creates melodies with
some shades of reggae, funk and blues. Her lyrics are one of her stronger assets, she writes about
love, self discovery and acceptance, woman empowerment, all in all, she is an honest and
transparent artist. A three tracks EP called “Neapolitan” is going to be released through
Disrupción. Autumn was also part of the Women in Music album with her single Confident.
Contract Termination: 1st September 2019
Accounting Date: From 1st September 2019 to 1st October 2019
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Earlybird + Celestine
Celestine and Dana (Earlybird) are two Master students
from Berklee. Dana is a producer and Celestine a singer
songwriter. Both of them became friends when they came to
Berklee. Even though they had their separate projects, Celestine’s tracks were not that powerful
before Dana came in the picture. They got together and performed one of Celestine’s songs
publicly, with Dana adding her beats to it and turning it magical.
The A&R team from Disrupción, was in that performance and propose them immediately
to work on a collaborative EP to be released through the label.
As a result, four electronic alternative tracks came to life, and they are still left to be
released.
Contract Termination: 1st February 2020
Accounting Date: From 1st February 2020 to 1st March 2020
Retrovyzor
Retrovyzor came to Disrupción as a suggested project since he is a
hardworking artist with a strong vision. Going from Venezuela to the
USA, Retrovyzor’s journey has been quite intense. Forced to move away
from his country for political reasons, his music got strongly influenced
by this experience. Retrovyzor defines his music as “Jazz Punk”.
Interesting combo that combines his rock & roll spirit and his academic
background studying Jazz at Berklee. The outcome is quite impressive with catchy melodies,
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explosive guitar solos and riffs and unexpected jazzy sounds. Retrovyzor talks about chasing his
dreams, through songs written in both Spanish and English. Through Disrupción we decided to
release four singles starting from March 2019 until July 2019. His first single, Azul, came out the
29th of March.
Contract Termination: 1st February 2020
Accounting Date: From 1st February 2020 to 1st March 2020
Sara Neal
Sara is Disrupción’s second third-party artist signing. She is an
artist from New York with an indie pop sound. Sara was found by
Disrupción’s Product Manager, and was introduced to the rest of the team
during a meeting. After Skyping her in and listening to her material, it
was decided to sign her and license her work. Sara is a very bold and
honest artist, who expresses her real self through her music and visuals.
She has a clear identity and she is very open about her story, who she is and where she wants to
go next. Two singles will be released through Disrupción.
Contract Termination: 1st August 2019
Accounting Date: From 1st August 2019 to 1st September 2019
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Rosewood
Stephen Bailey-Heelan, a Global Entertainment & Music
Business student that goes under the name of Rosewood, was signed
in March to Disrupción. Rosewood is a 23 years old songwriter from
Hamilton, Canada. He writes and produces all of his material and he’s
part of the new wave of DIY musicians that had their origin in lo-fi
music, mixing different elements of rap, alternative pop, and indie
music. What distinguishes rosewood’s music are his poignant lyrics and his incredible
production which combines melodic and chill sounds.
He recorded and produced everything in his bedroom with the A&R team being involved
in the development of his sound. The EP was brought to life during his months in Valencia. The
first single, City, came out the 30th of May. His eight tracks album, More Time, will come out
the 5th of July.
Contract Termination: 1st February 2020
Accounting Date: From 1st February 2020 to 1st March 2020
8. CONCLUSION
After a year of having worked as an A&R Manager for Disrupción Records, the job
turned out to be much more useful than just reading about what being an A&R means in the
books. There is knowledge that is hardly transferable if a person does not go through an
experience and a process.
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In regards to the general objectives set for Disrupción Records to achieve: the team has
found a better way to structure the catalog by creating different imprints; artists external to the
Berklee community have been signed, and more key personnel has been incorporated to the label
in order to start separating the brand from the idea that it is a “student run record label”; and a
method to have a smoother transition between one team and the other has been created. For this
last matter, a google drive folder will be handed on to the next team. It will include all the
contracts (artists license agreements and distribution deal), user and password to every single
platform in which Disrupción has an account, summary and specifications on what to do with the
artists signed until February 2020, other supporting materials like logos, and available resources
like contacts.
On the other hand and on a more personal level, the goals set in 2018 were achieved
along the year by learning which sources worked best for scouting; which way to approach
artists; how to talk them into the benefits of signing a deal with a label instead of self releasing,
and how to explain to them the deal; signing not one but two artists from outside Berklee;
building a relationship with the artists and learning to work with those artists that were overseas;
being part of the creative and recording process of the development projects of Evlve; working
closely with the marketing team, with the label manager and the product manager in order to
learn their tasks better; and finally, signing a consistent roster in which there are artists whose
contracts terminate in February 2020 with the option to keep it rolling until a written notice is
sent to the label, so that the new team does not need to start building the roster again from
scratch.
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Coming from a live entertainment background, the main intention of becoming an A&R
was diving in the recording industry world and extracting as much knowledge as possible from
an insider’s perspective. All in all, it has been a great opportunity and experience with all of the
objectives achieved.
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9. APPENDIX
How to understand and explain Disrupción’s contract to an artist, clause by clause.
1. The first part clarifies the parties involved in the agreement.
2. Territory: Expresses in which territories the agreement stands. If it is the world, it
means the company holds the exclusivity of exploitation throughout the world, for as long as the
contract stands. If the license covers only Europe, some other company could license it in the rest
of the world EXCEPT Europe.
3. Master Recording/s: How many master recording/s are agreed to be delivered to the
label by the artist, and when is the delivery deadline.
4. License: It further clarifies that the artist is providing the label the right to distribute,
communicate and reproduce the master recording/s. An appealing part of the clause for the artist
is the synchronization right, meaning that the label’s services will include synch efforts.
5. Term: One of the most important clauses, which states how long the contract stands
for. In Disrupción’s case, there were two predominant agreements: one ending in August 2019
and one ending in February 2020. The one ending in August was mainly used for Berklee
students and gave Disrupcion just a few months of marketing and exploitation of the masters,
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whereas the one ending in February gave Disrupción almost a year window of marketing and
exploitation. It is important to keep in mind when the accounting will be done and who will do it
when deciding the termination date. Finally, all of Disrupción contracts include in the Term
clause the fact that in the case that the artist does not notify the label the desire of terminating the
contract, it would keep on rolling past the termination date, until the artist sends written notice.
Once an agreement is terminated, the master’s rights will return to the artist 30 days after.
6. Ancillary Rights: It basically says that the label has the right to use the artist’s name
and biography.
7. Trademark Search: This search is for the purpose of deciding an artistic name for the
artist, which is not trademarked already. For example, a Disrupción artist could never be
commercialized under the name of Beyonce.
8. Competing Recording/s Compositions: In this clause the artist commits to not record
the same compositions involved in the masters licensed by the label, to be commercialized by a
third party different than Disrupción.
9. Consideration: The consideration clause might seem overwhelming at first but
actually what it means is that there is going to be a 50/50 split of the net receipts. It is from the
net and not from the gross, because from the gross receipts The Orchard’s 20% fee is deducted.
This means that it is actually a 40/40 split. In other words, The Orchard takes 20% of the total
27
earnings, and the rest is split in two equal parts, one share (50%) for the artist and the other share
(50%) for the label. In this clause it is also stated when the accounting will take place.
10. Video: Disrupción can decide to make a music video out of one of the masters.
Creative decisions will be taken in agreement between the label and the artist. The truth is, there
is hardly going to be a budget available for making a video.
11. Release Commitment: It is the label’s commitment to release the masters in a
determined period of time, after the masters have been delivered. It is highly advised to set a
longer period of time than it might actually take. This is because even though the Product
Manager uploads the masters to The Orchard, first of all, they can be rejected due to mistakes
done along the upload and this may require a new uploading, and secondly, The Orchards takes
an average of six weeks to release the material. Sometimes it can be reduced to four weeks, but
having a further away release commitment date, avoids the possibility of the label finding itself
in breach.
12. Communication Commitment: How often Disrupción’s team communicates with
the artist’s team in regard to the progress made by the label.
13. Marketing Commitment: Disrupción commits to make available to the artist a
marketing plan including what efforts will be done in order to promote and market the artist. In
this clause, it is very important to not commit to more than the label can actually do.
28
14. Artists Warranties, Representation & Indemnities: The artist assures to own the
copyrights of the composition/s and master recording/s, that these are original, that there are no
samples uncleared and there is no infringement of any kind, and if there was, the artist must hold
Disrupción harmless and against any claims or damages arising of any breach by the artist.
15. Termination: If party A is in breach, party B should send written notice and party A
has 30 days to remedy it. If party A fails to remedy it, then party B is entitled to terminate the
contract by sending written notice.
16. Mediation; Arbitration: It clarifies that if a dispute arises, both parties will try to
solve it with the help of a Spanish mediator, and that both parties will share the costs incurred.
17. Governing Law: Disrupción is a Spanish company, and therefore the governing law
is Spanish. This one is a very simple clause.
29
EXAMPLE OF A DISRUPCIÓN RECORDS AGREEMENT
PALAU DE LES ARTS REINA SOFIA – ANEXO SUR
AVINGUDA PROFESSOR LOPEZ PINEIRO, 1
46013,VALENCIA,VALENCIA, ESPAÑA
Disrupcionrecords@gmail.com
+34 963 33 28 02
(hereinafter “We” / “Label” / “Disrupción Records”)
Date: XX XX XXXX
XXXX
(hereinafter “You” / “Artist”)
Re: License Agreement
Dear XXXX:
We are delighted that you (“Artist”) have agreed to deliver your recorded performances for our Label to
commercially release.
The following shall confirm the terms of this license agreement (the "Agreement") entered into between:
Label (hereinafter “Disrupción Records") and XXXX, performing as XXXX (hereinafter “Artist”). The
parties agree as follows:
Territory
The rights licensed to Disrupción Records herein are for the world.
30
Master Recording/s
Artist agrees to deliver to Disrupción Records a minimum of X (X) satisfactory recording (jointly and
individually, the "Master Recording/s”) to be listed with a title in the schedule hereto. “Satisfactory” shall
be determined by Disrupción Records in its reasonable good faith judgement. Delivery shall take place by
XX XX XXXX and shall include the artwork that the Artist wishes to use in connection with the
exploitation of the Master Recording/s hereunder. Disrupción Records holds the right, in consultation
with the Artist, to use different artwork than that provided by the Artist.
License
Artist hereby irrevocably licenses to Disrupción Records the exclusive right during the Term to
reproduce, distribute, communicate to the public, and generally exploit the Master Recording/s (including
associated supplied artwork) provided herein through any means and formats, physical or digital,
including by way of physical records and or streaming and/or downloading (on track by track and/or EP
basis) and including the right of synchronization (i.e. reproduction of the Master Recording/s with moving
images including in films and/or commercials to be used by Disrupción Synch, Fusión).
(a)
The
licensed rights shall include: the right of distribution, the communication to the public, and
making the Master Recording/s available to the public through the Internet, and also the mechanical
reproduction of such musical compositions so as to enable the aforementioned exploitation by
Disrupción Records (and/or its licensees) of the Master Recording/s without further payment or
reference to you or to any other party save as provided for herein.
Term
The License granted herein shall begin upon the date of this Agreement as set out above (the "Effective
Date") and shall continue on an exclusive basis until XX XX XXXX, and then shall continue thereafter
31
until written notice of termination is provided to Disrupción Records by Artist, after which all rights
herein granted to Disrupción Records shall revert to Artist within 30 day(s) of Disrupción Record’s
receipt of such notice. For the avoidance of doubt no notice of termination from Artist shall be effective
prior to XX XX XXXX.
(¨Term¨).
Ancillary Rights
Beginning on the date of the signature of this Agreement, subject to the Master Recording/s being
delivered to Disrupción Records, Artist also licenses to Disrupción Records all ancillary rights necessary
to ensure effective exploitation of the Master Recording/s including:
(a) t he right to use the Artist’s name approved likeness and approved biography solely in connection with
the exploitation of the Master Recording/s
(b)
the
promotion and development of the Artist or in connection with general Berklee promotional
materials.
*For the avoidance of doubt Berklee shall have no right to create or exploit general merchandise
embodying Artist’s name or likeness.
Trademark Search
Disrupción Records, in its discretion, may institute a search to determine whether there are any third-party
uses for the Artist’s name. If the search indicates that the Artist’s name cannot be used, Berklee and Artist
shall mutually agree upon a substitute name.
Competing Recording/s of Compositions
32
Artist represents and warrants that Artist shall not record any composition contained on the Master
Recording/s for commercial release during the Term of this Agreement.
Consideration
Artist and Disrupción Records acknowledge and agree that:
(a) As consideration of the rights granted hereunder Disrupción Records will pay to Artist fifty
per cent (50%) of "Net Receipts".
(b) "Net Receipts" shall mean all sums paid to and received by Disrupción Records directly and
identifiably from the exploitation of the Master Recording/s hereunder (excluding sales tax
{Gross Receipts} less any and all bona fide payments to any third-party and/or bona fide direct
costs payable paid or owed by Disrupción Records in connection with the exploitation of Master
Recording/s embodying them) including without limitation in respect of the following: the
mastering, manufacture, packaging, artwork, marketing, promotion, distribution, and sale of
Master Recording/s and/or records derived from such master Recording/s (including without
limitation Videos) including without limitation sums payable to a distributor or licensee in respect
of the manufacture, distribution, and sale of records embodying Master Recording/s and all legal,
accounting and other professional fees incurred directly in relation to the exploitation of the
Master Recording/s; but always specifically excluding Disrupción Records’ day to day office
overhead expenditure and salaries.
(c) The Artist’s fifty per cent (50%) share of Net Receipts shall be fully inclusive of any and all
mechanical royalties payable in respect of the controlled compositions embodied in the Master
Recording/s hereunder (save for where Digital Platforms pay such mechanical license fees in
which event you shall be entitled to claim such fees)
33
(d) The Artist’s fifty per cent (50%) share of Net Receipts shall also be fully inclusive of any and
all royalties or fees payable to any producer and/or performer and/or other contributor to the
Master Recording/s.
(e) Accounting hereunder to the Artist shall take place within one (1) month of the end of June
2019 and thereafter every within one month of the end of each six (6) month period of the Term;
and upon the written request of the Artist, the Artist shall be given access to Disrupción Records’
statements and records of account solely in respect of the exploitation of the Master Recording/s
in order that the Artist may satisfy him/herself as to the accuracy of the accounts supplied.
Video
If Disrupción Records determines during the Term of this Agreement to produce a recording combining
the Master Recording/s with a visual image (the “Video/s”), Artist shall collaborate with Disrupción
Records for the production of such Video/s, and Disrupción Records shall be the sole owner of all
worldwide rights to each Video, including the worldwide copyrights.
(a) A
t the end of the Term, the Video/s will be automatically assigned to the Artist without charge or
formality.
(b) A
ll decisions regarding the production, distribution, and manufacture of Video/s, including but not
limited to schedules, locations, and production staff, shall be mutually agreed upon by Disrupción
Records and Artist, provided, however in cases of disagreement, a mutually agreed upon impartial
third-party will make a final decision (save that Disrupción Records shall always be able to approve
any costs to be incurred in respect of such Video/s).
(c) A
rtist grants to Disrupción Records the right to synchronize the Master Recording/s and embodied
composition/s with visual images in order to create Video/s. Disrupción Records shall not be
obligated to produce Video/s hereunder.
34
Release Commitment
Disrupción Records shall release the Master Recording/s within two (2) months from the date of delivery
of the Master Recording (the "Guaranteed Release Date”). If Disrupción Records fail to release said
Recording/s, by the Guaranteed Release Date, Artist shall provide written notice of warning wherein. If
after thirty (30) days from such notification, Disrupción Records has not released the recording, Artist
may terminate this Agreement. The format of release shall be Disrupción's sole decision.
Communication Commitment
Disrupción Records will provide communication with the Artist no less than once every two weeks
discussing progress made in the following:
(a) promotional, social media and press efforts
(b) Streaming and distribution metrics
(c) Sync efforts of Master Recording/s
Marketing Commitments
It is agreed that Disrupción Records, through the Marketing and Promotions Department, will make
available an in-house team to undertake reasonable marketing activities in respect of the commercial
release of Master Recording/s hereunder. For the avoidance of doubt the marketing commitment herein in
is with regard to making available significant team hours and expertise and is not any guarantee of
marketing budgets being made available.
Marketing activities will be made known through a specified marketing plan made available to the Artist
and the Artist will cooperate and contribute where reasonably requested by Disrupción.
35
The Artist agrees to participate in a release event in connection with the release of the Master
Recording/s.
Artist Warranties, Representation & Indemnities
Artist warrants and represents to Disrupción Records that
(a) A
rtist has the power to enter into and fully perform this Agreement
(b)
Is
the Artist and copyright holder of the Master Recording/s, and has obtained all necessary and
appropriate consents, rights and licenses to grant the license in this Agreement with respect to the
Master Recording/s (and the composition/s embodied therein) and shall promptly furnish copies of
such clearances to Disrupción Records at Disrupción Records’ request.
(c) A
rtist further represents and warrants that the Master Recording/s (and the compositions embodied
therein) are original to Artist except for material in the public domain and such excerpts from other
works as may be included with the written permission of the copyright owners and that proper
clearances or permission have been obtained from the artists of any copyrighted material, including
but not limited to any digitally reprocessed samples of material incorporated in the Master
Recording/s.
(d) A
rtist warrants that Artist's use of any name or moniker will not infringe on the rights of others and
that Artist's use of any musical composition or arrangement will not infringe on the rights of others.
(e) A
rtist further warrants that the Master Recording/s (and the compositions embodied with in them) do
not:
* infringe any trade name, trademark, trade secret or copyright
* invade or violate any right of privacy, personal or proprietary right, or other common law or
statutory right.
36
Artist will at all times indemnify and hold Disrupción Records harmless from and against any and all
claims or damages arising out of any breach by Artist of any warranty or representation made herein.
Artist shall notify Disrupción Records in writing of any infringements or imitations by others of the
Master Recording/s that may come to Artist's attention. Disrupción Records shall not be required to make
any payments of any nature for or in connection with the exercise of rights by Disrupción Records
pursuant to this Agreement except as specifically provided in this Agreement.
Termination
In the event that either party are in breach of their obligations hereunder and shall fail to remedy such
breach within a period of thirty (30) days following the service upon them by the other party of a written
notice specifying such alleged breach and requiring its remedy then in such event the complaining party
shall be entitled by notice in writing to terminate this Agreement.
Mediation; Arbitration
If a dispute arises under this Agreement, the parties agree to first try to resolve the dispute with the help of
a mutually agreed upon mediator in Spain. Any costs and fees other than attorney fees shall be shared
equally by the parties. If it proves impossible to arrive at a mutually satisfactory solution, the parties agree
to submit the dispute to binding arbitration conducted on a confidential basis by one arbitrator pursuant to
the governing laws as described below by the Tribunal Arbitral del Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de
Valencia. The prevailing party shall have the right to collect attorney fees from the other party incurred in
enforcing this agreement.
Governing Law
37
This contract has been entered into in Spain and its validity, construction, interpretation and legal effect
shall be governed by the laws of Spain applicable to contracts entered into and performed entirely therein.
General
Nothing contained in this Agreement shall be meant to establish either Disrupción Records or Artist a
partner, joint venturer or employee of the other party for any purpose. This Agreement may not be
amended except in a writing signed by both parties. No waiver by either party of any right shall be
construed as a waiver of any other right. If a court finds any provision of this Agreement invalid or
unenforceable as applied to any circumstance, the remainder of this Agreement shall be interpreted so as
best to effect the intent of the parties. This Agreement expresses the complete understanding of the parties
with respect to the subject matter and supersedes all prior proposals, agreements, representations and
understandings. Notices required under this agreement can be sent to the parties at the postal mail
addresses or electronic addresses provided above. In the event of any dispute arising from or related to
this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to attorney's fees.
By signing this letter where indicated, you are confirming your agreement to the foregoing. This letter
when signed by Artist and Disrupción Records shall constitute a binding agreement.
___________________________________________
Artist Name and Passport/ID
___________________________________________
Artist signature
___________________________________________
Disrupción Records Representative Name & Title
___________________________________________
Date:
38
Disrupción Records Representative Signature
Date:
The A&R diary: An outcome paper of a year of working as an A&R Manager
for Disrupción Records & guidance for future A&Rs of the label.
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of
Master of Arts in Global Entertainment and Music Business
Supervisor: Pete Dyson
by Camila Anino
Valencia Campus, Spain
June 2019
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Summary……………………………………………………………………………………….2
2.Task…………………….……………………………………………………………………….3
3.Objectives………………………………………………………………………………………3
4.Resources Utilized……………………………………………………………….……………..5
5.Outcomes…………………………….…………………………………………………………6
5.1.Gantt…………………………………………………………………………...………....7
5.2.Scouting………………………………………………………………...………………...7
5.3.Signing……………………………………………………………………...…..……….10
5.4.The Road Towards The Delivery of The Masters……………....………………….…12
5.5.Cohesiveness…………………………...……………………………………………….14
6.A&R & Mental Health…………………………………………………………….………....16
7.The Artists…………………………………………………………………….........................17
8.Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….........................22
9.Appendix…………..………………………………………………………….........................25
2
1. SUMMARY
Disrupción Records is the record label from Berklee College of Music Valencia.
Throughout the years, Berklee projects and artists were released through the label. Five years
ago, when it was founded, Disrupción counted on a team of three people, which today has grown
to a team of eight people plus volunteers. The students of the Global Entertainment & Music
Business Master program have run the label from its beginning, presenting a difficult challenge
which is the fact that the team changes every year when the new students come. This
disadvantage makes the label lack continuity in its vision and mission, among other things, and it
also makes the different teams start from scratch every time they take over.
This past year, one of the main objectives was setting strong foundations and coming up
with a way of making the transition between each year a smooth one.
The project of being Disrupción Record’s A&R Manager for Berklee’s academic year has
been the perfect opportunity to dive in the record label world, extract insights and knowledge,
but also contribute to the label’s general objectives from an artistic and creative point of view.
In this paper, the journey of the past year working for the label as an A&R Manager is
described, together with the objectives, resources, experiences and learning outcomes. Its main
aim is to provide some guide lines for the next A&R Managers who will have written words at
their disposal, about what the previous person in charge of doing the job wished had known
before, what was learnt throughout the year, which artists still need to be taken care of, and how,
due to their agreement term.
3
2. TASK
Disrupción Records’ A&R team dedicated a year scouting artists inside and outside
Berklee by utilizing diverse resources, to release through the label. Musically speaking, the job
included polishing the sound to make it as attractive to the audience as possible, always in
agreement with the artist. For this matter and in order to take advantage of Berklee’s human
resources, as an A&R, producers and mixing and master engineers were also scouted to help
with the artist’s material.
Regarding the identity of the label’s artists, the idea was to make it cohesive with the
music, creating a full concept around it and working very closely with the marketing department
around the artist’s storytelling. In addition to this, the job also required one to build a trustful
relationship with the artist in order to achieve the best results for every party involved.
3. OBJECTIVES
When the news of who will take over Disrupción Records on ‘18-‘19 were received, the
team first got together and had a long discussion about where the label was at and where the new
team wanted to take it.
On a general point of view, Disrupción Records needed:
+
a better structure that would allow the label to have a more organized catalog;
4
+
a strategy to separate the brand from being “a student run record label” in order to
make it look more serious to the public;
+
more staff to be able to analyze the artist’s data or take care of synchronization
+
and coming up with a solution in order to make the transition to the next team, a
efforts;
smoother one.
On a personal level and in what regards an A&R Manager, goals were set in order to
make the best out of this job and acquire as many skills, experience and knowledge as possible.
These objectives include:
+
finding and learning to work with reliable sources of information to scout artist;
+
creating a strong network;
+
encouraging the artist to release through the label instead of self releasing;
+
signing at least one artist that is external to the Berklee community;
+
building strong and trustful relationships with the label’s artists;
+
accompanying the artist throughout the creative and recording process;
+
learning as much as possible from the other areas of the label in order to get to
know their working methodology, tools and resources;
+
come.
and setting the foundations regarding the A&R department for the next team to
5
4. RESOURCES UTILIZED
As for the resources utilized for this position, studio time was needed as well as
producers and engineers. Other Master programs have students who are trained and experienced
in producing, therefore, it was not hard to find someone who would donate their time and dive in
the studio with the artist. The problem came when finding mixing and mastering engineers at
Berklee. The reason why the A&R team was pushing to work with engineers from Berklee or
who were in Valencia, was because specially mixing, but also mastering are two arts that the
team together with the artist wanted to supervise. The only two engineers found in Valencia that
would charge an affordable price were the ones to work with Disrupción in two different
projects. It is worth mentioning that the label should not take care, and did not take care, of any
of the recording costs of an artist because both parties worked under a license deal.
Moreover, the label got a grant of €1000 to support mainly marketing and promotion
efforts. The budget for each artist was different according to the stage of development they were
in, but an estimated €100 per artist was used for these matters. This number included
photoshoots, videos and social media campaigns. Nevertheless,Disrupción team came up with
events meant to raise money to increase the budget available for the label, and it dedicated one
person for the search of sponsors.
In addition, the label started operating with an A&R Manager, a Marketing & Promotions
Manager, a Product Manager, and a Label Manager; and today that team has increased to a team
of nine, adding one A&R, one person fully dedicated to promotions, a Synch department which
added two people, and one person in charge of Data & Analytics. In addition, Disrupción also
6
worked with volunteers for each area, therefore, this year there has been a considerable
incorporation of human resources.
Finally, Disrupción counted with external legal advice from an expert in entertainment
law, for the making and signing of the contracts.
5. OUTCOMES
After a year experience as an A&R at Disrupción Records, it has been concluded that the
job at the label consists mainly in a four step process. On the first place it comes the scouting of
an artist. Secondly, once an artist has been spotted, the signing step begins. The third step, and
the most creative one, is the road towards the delivery of the masters, which varies depending
on the nature of the legal agreement and in the case of Disrupción, the label works under license
deals. Finally, the fourth step will be called cohesiveness. It is the step in which the A&R helps
the artist find and shape its identity and craft, and contributes to the marketing and promotions
team to make sure that what is being communicated to the audience, makes sense with the
artist’s identity, the music, and the vision.
7
5.1 Gantt
5.2 Scouting
When the new team took over Disrupción Records, different imprints were created with
the intention of having a coherent way of releasing the signed projects. Therefore, the label has
three imprints: Evlve, the imprint in which all the development projects fall in; Common Chord,
the imprint mainly destined to Berklee’s jazz musicians; and Fusión, the imprint through which
the label signs artists with the intention to synchronize their songs to moving images. Hence, the
most important artists signed were released under the name Disrupción Records, with the
criteria of having a considerable strong fan base and promising masters to distribute.
8
Disrupción Records imprints.
Every student working for the label’s team needed artists signed in order to start working
on completing their culminating experience at Berklee. For this reason, there were signings
meant as marketing projects, A&R projects, and synchronization projects. The marketing
projects had a commercial vision and most of them were released under the name Disrupción
Records; whereas the development projects were the ones in which the masters were not ready to
be delivered and a creative process had to take place, giving more work to the A&R team.
Regarding the scouting of artists, there are many online platforms that facilitated it, but
Spotify and Instagram resulted as the most useful ones.
Spotify is not only the most used DSP but it is also the strongest one in regards of
playlisting. The increasing user interaction and sort of social media platform that Spotify has
become, has facilitated the sharing of content and the cumulation of artists in just one list. This
means that the surfing and scouting through Spotify normally leads towards discovering new and
interesting talent.
9
Something that was very important for the A&R team to keep in mind when checking on
DSPs if an artist was unsigned, was distinguishing the following two symbols:
Copyrighted song
Registered Phonogram
The song and the phonogram are two different pieces of work and therefore require
separate registration. Sometimes the “C” and the “P” might appear as owned by the artist and not
by a label. In that case it can mean that it is a DIY artist either wanting to remain unsigned or
looking to be signed. Another useful thing for spotting talent on Spotify is following curators
profiles and their playlists.
Regarding Instagram, ears and eyes must remain wide open. People tend to share the
music they like, new discoveries, and live shows they have attended. It is also recommended to
follow accounts with online music news, influencers, and again, curators. Music blogs are also
very useful in terms of scouting.
Live shows must not be forgotten since they can provide a different perspective of the
artist’s talent, who they are, their stagecraft (if any), and even their soul and passion. The essence
of the artist can get fully uncovered when performing live. For this purpose, it was very
important to go to different venues and events, and not only rely on what the scouting behind the
computer screen can provide.
Finally, and in regards of Berklee artists, there is something called “The Berklee Roster”
to which musicians submit their work so that other Berklee students may find them. Sort of a
10
“vocalist looking for guitarist” that can also turn into “label looking for artists”, and it fact, it did.
Working with Berklee artists brought interesting opportunities for the A&R team to work with
cross collaborations like the one done this past year between Celestine and Earlybird.
5.3 Signing
Once an artist has been spotted, the road towards the signing begins. Disrupción’s typical
selling points to approach an artist were:
1.
The label offers a very a rtist-friendly deal.
2.
The artist gets to keep the ownership of the masters and the label licenses it
exploitation for a s hort period of time.
3.
Disrupción has a distribution deal with The Orchard.
4.
There will be m
arketing and promotion efforts, with a budget destined for it.
5.
Berklee has recording studios that could be used for free, making the artist save
the highly expensive recording costs.
6.
A&R guidance will be given to the artist.
7.
The label has a small team and the relationship with the artists are very
personalized.
Although this doesn’t seem as much of a commitment, especially from the artist’s
perspective, it was still very hard to get artists outside Berklee to sign a deal with Disrupción
Records. A lot of times people got quite frightened by a written agreement and it was very easy
11
for them to distrust a brand without successful records and little budget. Some other times, they
felt like they would miss out on other opportunities if they signed with the label. The best way
that the A&R team found to address these concerns was to explain the agreement to the artists
clause by clause, strongly recommend them to seek for external legal advice before signing, and
also highlight that they would be getting into a very artist-friendly deal that lasted for a very
short term. Nevertheless, the third parties that were most likely going to say yes to the proposal
were those who had never been offered a deal by a label before, or those very niche artists.
In regards to Berklee students, they were more open to see what Disrupción could offer
them.
The next step was to present and negotiate the agreement with the artist. Disrupción’s
agreements were very straightforward. It was very important for the A&R team to understand
what an artist-friendly agreement is, and that the most important things to focus on while reading
or explaining a contract to an artist were: term, territory, how many master recordings are
involved, delivery deadline, consideration, the marketing commitment, and termination.
Another important aspect regarding the signing was when to introduce the team.
Normally, the A&R team that did the scouting would come first in the process of contacting,
getting to know, and talking the artist into the proposal of licensing their project. Then, the Label
Manager was introduced to help give Disrupción more credibility in the eyes of the artist. After
that, the Marketing team would be introduced. For the first signings, the Marketing team was
introduced way too early, especially in the development project in which the A&R team needed
some time to work with the artist in order to come up with a vision. The fact that the Marketing
team started to be introduced later on in the process of the signing, allowed a stronger coherence
12
between the work of the A&R people and the Marketing people. Finally, the Product Manager
and the Synchronization department was introduced.
5.4 The Road Towards The Delivery Of The Masters
First of all, let’s clarify that when a label works under licensing deals and ask for masters,
they really mean masters, not raw recordings, not mixes, but masters. When a label licenses and
does not cover recording costs, there is no such ownership of masters, there is only a license for
exploitation, and in Disrupción’s case it was for a short period of time. Therefore, it would be
nonsense for the label to incur costs for mixing or mastering.
It is crucial to understand the difference between producing, mixing and mastering
because it helps to not be flexible and to understand what one gets when asking for masters:
Producing
It is the process done during the recording sessions. The producer oversees the entire
process, coaches musicians if needed, and sometimes also controls studio time.
Mixing
It means taking all the recorded parts and putting them together, deciding which
instrument will be predominant in every single second, adjusting volumes, adding effects.
13
Mastering
Masterting is basically a process about unifying the sound of a record and maintaining
consistency across an album, it is the final polish to a mix.
Mastering is an art too, so it is highly advised for artist to pay for this service instead of
using free of charge websites that provide mastering services like Landr.
Keep in mind that these are all very expensive services. During the past year, the A&R
team has come across engineers that charged artists for the hour, and others that budgeted the
whole project. It is important to know that no mix or master will be done at Berklee by
engineers, for less than €50 with this number being an extremely cheap and friendly price.
As previously said, if the artist was in Valencia, or if it was a Berklee artist, the studio
facilities from the school could be used. This was a huge asset because they would be saving
recording costs. Usually, GEMB students cannot book more than two hours straight, so if more
studio time was needed, the solution was to team up with another GEMB student working for the
label, and book slots together. Also, studios were normally very busy and fully booked, so if the
idea was to record in one of the Berklee studios, one had to remember to book it very much in
advance.
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5.5 Cohesiveness
This step is a very creative one and where one can very much explore one’s skills as an
A&R. Yes, spotting a promising talent is a crucial part of the job, but developing the artist’s
narrative across every form of communication is equally as important so that the final product
makes complete sense and it does not becomes a challenge to sustain in time. When talking
about cohesiveness it is important to take some concepts into consideration and know them by
heart to deliver a better job as an A&R. In the case of Disrupción Records artists, the most
important concepts in this step were: the artist’s identity, stage presence and craft, and artwork.
Artist’s Identity
Even though this is mainly how artists express themselves and what is shown to the
public, it is also not far from how artists perceive themselves. What is communicated to the
audience cannot be much distanced from who an artist really is, and what the artist feels
comfortable with communicating in order to make it sustainable across time. For example,
Michael Bolton struggled along his career because he wanted to express his gayness instead of
keep on giving the image of the very straight man.
Identity refers to: gestures, postures, opinions, values, voice, sensitivity, causes artists
choose to fight for, their upbringing, sexuality, ethnic heritage, body, clothes, colors, aesthetics,
brands, moods, among many other things that define who an artist is. At the end of the day,
identity involves everything.
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Stagecraft & Presence
This is a sensitive area for an A&R because it is strictly speaking outside of the record
zone, but for Evlve’s development projects, helping the artist develop a stagecraft and find a way
to strengthen their stage presence was a crucial part of the job.
In an artist’s live performance the stage craft represents a sort of choreography done
across the stage. How the musicians are positioned is the first important part to consider: how
many are in the front? is the singer in the middle? are we talking about a band or a solo artist?
Then, stagecraft is also about how the artist moves on stage, how the microphone is
handled, how the instruments are handled, if there is a distinguishable posture. An example of
this is Liam Gallagher and his unique hands behind the back and lean to the front posture.
Stage Presence is about the charisma, the energy, or the appeal that an artist has when
performing, but it is also about the soul of a person and how much you decide to open up on
stage, to connect with the audience and to be present. One cannot take the eyes off an artist with
good presence; their performance is not a boring one.
Artwork
The artwork is the result of a lot of collaboration from different actors, and the resources
available (especially money). It is a strong piece of communication in which one has to consider
the imagery, the logo and the typography. It is part of the identity since there a lot of things being
said about an artist in the result of an artwork. Nowadays, one should make sure that the artwork
should work on a smaller size than before, meaning that the visual content it includes should be
more simplistic than the ones from older days. Let's look at an example:
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Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles | 1967
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Billie Eilish | 2019
6. A&R AND MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health has been a sensitive issue lately among the artists community. Suicides,
panic attacks, depression, anxiety, and addictions too. The awareness and understanding of the
importance of mental health has increased considerably the past years in the industry. Dedicating
one’s career to music can turn into a risky decision, and in terms of artists, an A&R plays a
crucial role in taking care of them.
This year, one of Disrupción’s artists went through a very difficult break up in the middle
of the recording process. Her emotional state initially delayed the process, especially because her
ex-boyfriend was the band’s guitarist. After long conversations, it was decided to try to use the
difficult time to express sadness in a creative way and come up with new songs. Working in
music keeps one busy, but working with music heals.
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What was learned from this experience is that an A&R should be highly empathetic with
the artist, but also be one step ahead. They must be able to understand when it is time to stop or
move forward, when to get help and when they can actually handle things alone.
7. THE ARTISTS
Nathan
Nathan was found at a small gathering, where he was playing guitar
and showing his new material. A study abroad undergraduate student with
an interesting concept in his mind for the release of an EP. Nathan was
Disrupción’s first signing. His EP Circus wants to portray the way he feels
with the transition of moving from Brazil to the USA, building a new life
there, being accepted, many times rejected and some other times seen as a
weird species that comes from the jungle. Nathan mixes jazz and funk with his musical south
american background. He sings in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
The recording of the EP was done in 5 studio sessions, it has three tracks and it was
released on May 24th. Nathan also released a single called “Amor Hi-Fi” through the label on
March 30th.
Contract Termination: 1st August 2019
Accounting Date: From 1st August 2019 to 1st September 2019
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Beezi + Shawn Goyer
The second signing for Disrupción came in when the album “The
Pause Collection” was discovered accidentally. Brian Zani is a Berklee
student who approached Disrupción’s team with the intention of joining
the label’s team of collaborators as a producer. When the A&R team
listened to his work, the album was discovered, and instead of taking
him as a volunteer, it was decided to sign him. “The Pause Collection” is
a collaboration between two North American
producers, recorded with friends as an
experimental project in which “each singer would come and improvise” and they would compose
melodies around it, and as a result, obtain great material that portrays an interesting mix of R&B
and rap. The album was released on April 24th.
Contract Termination: 1st August 2019
Accounting Date: From 1st August 2019 to 1st September 2019
Swave
Mayani Swave is Disrupción’s first third-party artist, originally
from the Dominican Republic. His signing was a huge achievement for the
label in terms of this year’s biggest goal of trying to reposition the brand so
it’s no longer seen as just a “student run record label that releases Berklee
projects”. Swave’s signing marks a precedent in the label’s history, just on
its five years anniversary. Disrupción’s A&R team learned about him
through its business manager, and after long negotiations the contract was finally signed for the
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licensing of his 5 tracks EP called “Pink” and 1 single. His latin beats include lyrics in spanish
and english, an uplifting and danceable melody, and modern sound. The single was released on
May 3rd, and the EP is yet to be released.
Contract Termination: 1st February 2020
Accounting Date: From 1st February 2020 to 1st March 2020
Autumn Jones
A study abroad student from Berklee Boston that arrived in
Valencia in January and joined the label in March. Autumn was found on
the Berklee online roster in February, with the original aim to have her as
a backup artist in the record practicum. Since the record practicum team
decided to move forward with the first choice, Autumn was then available
and signed to the label. She is an R&B singer, that creates melodies with
some shades of reggae, funk and blues. Her lyrics are one of her stronger assets, she writes about
love, self discovery and acceptance, woman empowerment, all in all, she is an honest and
transparent artist. A three tracks EP called “Neapolitan” is going to be released through
Disrupción. Autumn was also part of the Women in Music album with her single Confident.
Contract Termination: 1st September 2019
Accounting Date: From 1st September 2019 to 1st October 2019
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Earlybird + Celestine
Celestine and Dana (Earlybird) are two Master students
from Berklee. Dana is a producer and Celestine a singer
songwriter. Both of them became friends when they came to
Berklee. Even though they had their separate projects, Celestine’s tracks were not that powerful
before Dana came in the picture. They got together and performed one of Celestine’s songs
publicly, with Dana adding her beats to it and turning it magical.
The A&R team from Disrupción, was in that performance and propose them immediately
to work on a collaborative EP to be released through the label.
As a result, four electronic alternative tracks came to life, and they are still left to be
released.
Contract Termination: 1st February 2020
Accounting Date: From 1st February 2020 to 1st March 2020
Retrovyzor
Retrovyzor came to Disrupción as a suggested project since he is a
hardworking artist with a strong vision. Going from Venezuela to the
USA, Retrovyzor’s journey has been quite intense. Forced to move away
from his country for political reasons, his music got strongly influenced
by this experience. Retrovyzor defines his music as “Jazz Punk”.
Interesting combo that combines his rock & roll spirit and his academic
background studying Jazz at Berklee. The outcome is quite impressive with catchy melodies,
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explosive guitar solos and riffs and unexpected jazzy sounds. Retrovyzor talks about chasing his
dreams, through songs written in both Spanish and English. Through Disrupción we decided to
release four singles starting from March 2019 until July 2019. His first single, Azul, came out the
29th of March.
Contract Termination: 1st February 2020
Accounting Date: From 1st February 2020 to 1st March 2020
Sara Neal
Sara is Disrupción’s second third-party artist signing. She is an
artist from New York with an indie pop sound. Sara was found by
Disrupción’s Product Manager, and was introduced to the rest of the team
during a meeting. After Skyping her in and listening to her material, it
was decided to sign her and license her work. Sara is a very bold and
honest artist, who expresses her real self through her music and visuals.
She has a clear identity and she is very open about her story, who she is and where she wants to
go next. Two singles will be released through Disrupción.
Contract Termination: 1st August 2019
Accounting Date: From 1st August 2019 to 1st September 2019
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Rosewood
Stephen Bailey-Heelan, a Global Entertainment & Music
Business student that goes under the name of Rosewood, was signed
in March to Disrupción. Rosewood is a 23 years old songwriter from
Hamilton, Canada. He writes and produces all of his material and he’s
part of the new wave of DIY musicians that had their origin in lo-fi
music, mixing different elements of rap, alternative pop, and indie
music. What distinguishes rosewood’s music are his poignant lyrics and his incredible
production which combines melodic and chill sounds.
He recorded and produced everything in his bedroom with the A&R team being involved
in the development of his sound. The EP was brought to life during his months in Valencia. The
first single, City, came out the 30th of May. His eight tracks album, More Time, will come out
the 5th of July.
Contract Termination: 1st February 2020
Accounting Date: From 1st February 2020 to 1st March 2020
8. CONCLUSION
After a year of having worked as an A&R Manager for Disrupción Records, the job
turned out to be much more useful than just reading about what being an A&R means in the
books. There is knowledge that is hardly transferable if a person does not go through an
experience and a process.
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In regards to the general objectives set for Disrupción Records to achieve: the team has
found a better way to structure the catalog by creating different imprints; artists external to the
Berklee community have been signed, and more key personnel has been incorporated to the label
in order to start separating the brand from the idea that it is a “student run record label”; and a
method to have a smoother transition between one team and the other has been created. For this
last matter, a google drive folder will be handed on to the next team. It will include all the
contracts (artists license agreements and distribution deal), user and password to every single
platform in which Disrupción has an account, summary and specifications on what to do with the
artists signed until February 2020, other supporting materials like logos, and available resources
like contacts.
On the other hand and on a more personal level, the goals set in 2018 were achieved
along the year by learning which sources worked best for scouting; which way to approach
artists; how to talk them into the benefits of signing a deal with a label instead of self releasing,
and how to explain to them the deal; signing not one but two artists from outside Berklee;
building a relationship with the artists and learning to work with those artists that were overseas;
being part of the creative and recording process of the development projects of Evlve; working
closely with the marketing team, with the label manager and the product manager in order to
learn their tasks better; and finally, signing a consistent roster in which there are artists whose
contracts terminate in February 2020 with the option to keep it rolling until a written notice is
sent to the label, so that the new team does not need to start building the roster again from
scratch.
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Coming from a live entertainment background, the main intention of becoming an A&R
was diving in the recording industry world and extracting as much knowledge as possible from
an insider’s perspective. All in all, it has been a great opportunity and experience with all of the
objectives achieved.
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9. APPENDIX
How to understand and explain Disrupción’s contract to an artist, clause by clause.
1. The first part clarifies the parties involved in the agreement.
2. Territory: Expresses in which territories the agreement stands. If it is the world, it
means the company holds the exclusivity of exploitation throughout the world, for as long as the
contract stands. If the license covers only Europe, some other company could license it in the rest
of the world EXCEPT Europe.
3. Master Recording/s: How many master recording/s are agreed to be delivered to the
label by the artist, and when is the delivery deadline.
4. License: It further clarifies that the artist is providing the label the right to distribute,
communicate and reproduce the master recording/s. An appealing part of the clause for the artist
is the synchronization right, meaning that the label’s services will include synch efforts.
5. Term: One of the most important clauses, which states how long the contract stands
for. In Disrupción’s case, there were two predominant agreements: one ending in August 2019
and one ending in February 2020. The one ending in August was mainly used for Berklee
students and gave Disrupcion just a few months of marketing and exploitation of the masters,
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whereas the one ending in February gave Disrupción almost a year window of marketing and
exploitation. It is important to keep in mind when the accounting will be done and who will do it
when deciding the termination date. Finally, all of Disrupción contracts include in the Term
clause the fact that in the case that the artist does not notify the label the desire of terminating the
contract, it would keep on rolling past the termination date, until the artist sends written notice.
Once an agreement is terminated, the master’s rights will return to the artist 30 days after.
6. Ancillary Rights: It basically says that the label has the right to use the artist’s name
and biography.
7. Trademark Search: This search is for the purpose of deciding an artistic name for the
artist, which is not trademarked already. For example, a Disrupción artist could never be
commercialized under the name of Beyonce.
8. Competing Recording/s Compositions: In this clause the artist commits to not record
the same compositions involved in the masters licensed by the label, to be commercialized by a
third party different than Disrupción.
9. Consideration: The consideration clause might seem overwhelming at first but
actually what it means is that there is going to be a 50/50 split of the net receipts. It is from the
net and not from the gross, because from the gross receipts The Orchard’s 20% fee is deducted.
This means that it is actually a 40/40 split. In other words, The Orchard takes 20% of the total
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earnings, and the rest is split in two equal parts, one share (50%) for the artist and the other share
(50%) for the label. In this clause it is also stated when the accounting will take place.
10. Video: Disrupción can decide to make a music video out of one of the masters.
Creative decisions will be taken in agreement between the label and the artist. The truth is, there
is hardly going to be a budget available for making a video.
11. Release Commitment: It is the label’s commitment to release the masters in a
determined period of time, after the masters have been delivered. It is highly advised to set a
longer period of time than it might actually take. This is because even though the Product
Manager uploads the masters to The Orchard, first of all, they can be rejected due to mistakes
done along the upload and this may require a new uploading, and secondly, The Orchards takes
an average of six weeks to release the material. Sometimes it can be reduced to four weeks, but
having a further away release commitment date, avoids the possibility of the label finding itself
in breach.
12. Communication Commitment: How often Disrupción’s team communicates with
the artist’s team in regard to the progress made by the label.
13. Marketing Commitment: Disrupción commits to make available to the artist a
marketing plan including what efforts will be done in order to promote and market the artist. In
this clause, it is very important to not commit to more than the label can actually do.
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14. Artists Warranties, Representation & Indemnities: The artist assures to own the
copyrights of the composition/s and master recording/s, that these are original, that there are no
samples uncleared and there is no infringement of any kind, and if there was, the artist must hold
Disrupción harmless and against any claims or damages arising of any breach by the artist.
15. Termination: If party A is in breach, party B should send written notice and party A
has 30 days to remedy it. If party A fails to remedy it, then party B is entitled to terminate the
contract by sending written notice.
16. Mediation; Arbitration: It clarifies that if a dispute arises, both parties will try to
solve it with the help of a Spanish mediator, and that both parties will share the costs incurred.
17. Governing Law: Disrupción is a Spanish company, and therefore the governing law
is Spanish. This one is a very simple clause.
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EXAMPLE OF A DISRUPCIÓN RECORDS AGREEMENT
PALAU DE LES ARTS REINA SOFIA – ANEXO SUR
AVINGUDA PROFESSOR LOPEZ PINEIRO, 1
46013,VALENCIA,VALENCIA, ESPAÑA
Disrupcionrecords@gmail.com
+34 963 33 28 02
(hereinafter “We” / “Label” / “Disrupción Records”)
Date: XX XX XXXX
XXXX
(hereinafter “You” / “Artist”)
Re: License Agreement
Dear XXXX:
We are delighted that you (“Artist”) have agreed to deliver your recorded performances for our Label to
commercially release.
The following shall confirm the terms of this license agreement (the "Agreement") entered into between:
Label (hereinafter “Disrupción Records") and XXXX, performing as XXXX (hereinafter “Artist”). The
parties agree as follows:
Territory
The rights licensed to Disrupción Records herein are for the world.
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Master Recording/s
Artist agrees to deliver to Disrupción Records a minimum of X (X) satisfactory recording (jointly and
individually, the "Master Recording/s”) to be listed with a title in the schedule hereto. “Satisfactory” shall
be determined by Disrupción Records in its reasonable good faith judgement. Delivery shall take place by
XX XX XXXX and shall include the artwork that the Artist wishes to use in connection with the
exploitation of the Master Recording/s hereunder. Disrupción Records holds the right, in consultation
with the Artist, to use different artwork than that provided by the Artist.
License
Artist hereby irrevocably licenses to Disrupción Records the exclusive right during the Term to
reproduce, distribute, communicate to the public, and generally exploit the Master Recording/s (including
associated supplied artwork) provided herein through any means and formats, physical or digital,
including by way of physical records and or streaming and/or downloading (on track by track and/or EP
basis) and including the right of synchronization (i.e. reproduction of the Master Recording/s with moving
images including in films and/or commercials to be used by Disrupción Synch, Fusión).
(a)
The
licensed rights shall include: the right of distribution, the communication to the public, and
making the Master Recording/s available to the public through the Internet, and also the mechanical
reproduction of such musical compositions so as to enable the aforementioned exploitation by
Disrupción Records (and/or its licensees) of the Master Recording/s without further payment or
reference to you or to any other party save as provided for herein.
Term
The License granted herein shall begin upon the date of this Agreement as set out above (the "Effective
Date") and shall continue on an exclusive basis until XX XX XXXX, and then shall continue thereafter
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until written notice of termination is provided to Disrupción Records by Artist, after which all rights
herein granted to Disrupción Records shall revert to Artist within 30 day(s) of Disrupción Record’s
receipt of such notice. For the avoidance of doubt no notice of termination from Artist shall be effective
prior to XX XX XXXX.
(¨Term¨).
Ancillary Rights
Beginning on the date of the signature of this Agreement, subject to the Master Recording/s being
delivered to Disrupción Records, Artist also licenses to Disrupción Records all ancillary rights necessary
to ensure effective exploitation of the Master Recording/s including:
(a) t he right to use the Artist’s name approved likeness and approved biography solely in connection with
the exploitation of the Master Recording/s
(b)
the
promotion and development of the Artist or in connection with general Berklee promotional
materials.
*For the avoidance of doubt Berklee shall have no right to create or exploit general merchandise
embodying Artist’s name or likeness.
Trademark Search
Disrupción Records, in its discretion, may institute a search to determine whether there are any third-party
uses for the Artist’s name. If the search indicates that the Artist’s name cannot be used, Berklee and Artist
shall mutually agree upon a substitute name.
Competing Recording/s of Compositions
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Artist represents and warrants that Artist shall not record any composition contained on the Master
Recording/s for commercial release during the Term of this Agreement.
Consideration
Artist and Disrupción Records acknowledge and agree that:
(a) As consideration of the rights granted hereunder Disrupción Records will pay to Artist fifty
per cent (50%) of "Net Receipts".
(b) "Net Receipts" shall mean all sums paid to and received by Disrupción Records directly and
identifiably from the exploitation of the Master Recording/s hereunder (excluding sales tax
{Gross Receipts} less any and all bona fide payments to any third-party and/or bona fide direct
costs payable paid or owed by Disrupción Records in connection with the exploitation of Master
Recording/s embodying them) including without limitation in respect of the following: the
mastering, manufacture, packaging, artwork, marketing, promotion, distribution, and sale of
Master Recording/s and/or records derived from such master Recording/s (including without
limitation Videos) including without limitation sums payable to a distributor or licensee in respect
of the manufacture, distribution, and sale of records embodying Master Recording/s and all legal,
accounting and other professional fees incurred directly in relation to the exploitation of the
Master Recording/s; but always specifically excluding Disrupción Records’ day to day office
overhead expenditure and salaries.
(c) The Artist’s fifty per cent (50%) share of Net Receipts shall be fully inclusive of any and all
mechanical royalties payable in respect of the controlled compositions embodied in the Master
Recording/s hereunder (save for where Digital Platforms pay such mechanical license fees in
which event you shall be entitled to claim such fees)
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(d) The Artist’s fifty per cent (50%) share of Net Receipts shall also be fully inclusive of any and
all royalties or fees payable to any producer and/or performer and/or other contributor to the
Master Recording/s.
(e) Accounting hereunder to the Artist shall take place within one (1) month of the end of June
2019 and thereafter every within one month of the end of each six (6) month period of the Term;
and upon the written request of the Artist, the Artist shall be given access to Disrupción Records’
statements and records of account solely in respect of the exploitation of the Master Recording/s
in order that the Artist may satisfy him/herself as to the accuracy of the accounts supplied.
Video
If Disrupción Records determines during the Term of this Agreement to produce a recording combining
the Master Recording/s with a visual image (the “Video/s”), Artist shall collaborate with Disrupción
Records for the production of such Video/s, and Disrupción Records shall be the sole owner of all
worldwide rights to each Video, including the worldwide copyrights.
(a) A
t the end of the Term, the Video/s will be automatically assigned to the Artist without charge or
formality.
(b) A
ll decisions regarding the production, distribution, and manufacture of Video/s, including but not
limited to schedules, locations, and production staff, shall be mutually agreed upon by Disrupción
Records and Artist, provided, however in cases of disagreement, a mutually agreed upon impartial
third-party will make a final decision (save that Disrupción Records shall always be able to approve
any costs to be incurred in respect of such Video/s).
(c) A
rtist grants to Disrupción Records the right to synchronize the Master Recording/s and embodied
composition/s with visual images in order to create Video/s. Disrupción Records shall not be
obligated to produce Video/s hereunder.
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Release Commitment
Disrupción Records shall release the Master Recording/s within two (2) months from the date of delivery
of the Master Recording (the "Guaranteed Release Date”). If Disrupción Records fail to release said
Recording/s, by the Guaranteed Release Date, Artist shall provide written notice of warning wherein. If
after thirty (30) days from such notification, Disrupción Records has not released the recording, Artist
may terminate this Agreement. The format of release shall be Disrupción's sole decision.
Communication Commitment
Disrupción Records will provide communication with the Artist no less than once every two weeks
discussing progress made in the following:
(a) promotional, social media and press efforts
(b) Streaming and distribution metrics
(c) Sync efforts of Master Recording/s
Marketing Commitments
It is agreed that Disrupción Records, through the Marketing and Promotions Department, will make
available an in-house team to undertake reasonable marketing activities in respect of the commercial
release of Master Recording/s hereunder. For the avoidance of doubt the marketing commitment herein in
is with regard to making available significant team hours and expertise and is not any guarantee of
marketing budgets being made available.
Marketing activities will be made known through a specified marketing plan made available to the Artist
and the Artist will cooperate and contribute where reasonably requested by Disrupción.
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The Artist agrees to participate in a release event in connection with the release of the Master
Recording/s.
Artist Warranties, Representation & Indemnities
Artist warrants and represents to Disrupción Records that
(a) A
rtist has the power to enter into and fully perform this Agreement
(b)
Is
the Artist and copyright holder of the Master Recording/s, and has obtained all necessary and
appropriate consents, rights and licenses to grant the license in this Agreement with respect to the
Master Recording/s (and the composition/s embodied therein) and shall promptly furnish copies of
such clearances to Disrupción Records at Disrupción Records’ request.
(c) A
rtist further represents and warrants that the Master Recording/s (and the compositions embodied
therein) are original to Artist except for material in the public domain and such excerpts from other
works as may be included with the written permission of the copyright owners and that proper
clearances or permission have been obtained from the artists of any copyrighted material, including
but not limited to any digitally reprocessed samples of material incorporated in the Master
Recording/s.
(d) A
rtist warrants that Artist's use of any name or moniker will not infringe on the rights of others and
that Artist's use of any musical composition or arrangement will not infringe on the rights of others.
(e) A
rtist further warrants that the Master Recording/s (and the compositions embodied with in them) do
not:
* infringe any trade name, trademark, trade secret or copyright
* invade or violate any right of privacy, personal or proprietary right, or other common law or
statutory right.
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Artist will at all times indemnify and hold Disrupción Records harmless from and against any and all
claims or damages arising out of any breach by Artist of any warranty or representation made herein.
Artist shall notify Disrupción Records in writing of any infringements or imitations by others of the
Master Recording/s that may come to Artist's attention. Disrupción Records shall not be required to make
any payments of any nature for or in connection with the exercise of rights by Disrupción Records
pursuant to this Agreement except as specifically provided in this Agreement.
Termination
In the event that either party are in breach of their obligations hereunder and shall fail to remedy such
breach within a period of thirty (30) days following the service upon them by the other party of a written
notice specifying such alleged breach and requiring its remedy then in such event the complaining party
shall be entitled by notice in writing to terminate this Agreement.
Mediation; Arbitration
If a dispute arises under this Agreement, the parties agree to first try to resolve the dispute with the help of
a mutually agreed upon mediator in Spain. Any costs and fees other than attorney fees shall be shared
equally by the parties. If it proves impossible to arrive at a mutually satisfactory solution, the parties agree
to submit the dispute to binding arbitration conducted on a confidential basis by one arbitrator pursuant to
the governing laws as described below by the Tribunal Arbitral del Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de
Valencia. The prevailing party shall have the right to collect attorney fees from the other party incurred in
enforcing this agreement.
Governing Law
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This contract has been entered into in Spain and its validity, construction, interpretation and legal effect
shall be governed by the laws of Spain applicable to contracts entered into and performed entirely therein.
General
Nothing contained in this Agreement shall be meant to establish either Disrupción Records or Artist a
partner, joint venturer or employee of the other party for any purpose. This Agreement may not be
amended except in a writing signed by both parties. No waiver by either party of any right shall be
construed as a waiver of any other right. If a court finds any provision of this Agreement invalid or
unenforceable as applied to any circumstance, the remainder of this Agreement shall be interpreted so as
best to effect the intent of the parties. This Agreement expresses the complete understanding of the parties
with respect to the subject matter and supersedes all prior proposals, agreements, representations and
understandings. Notices required under this agreement can be sent to the parties at the postal mail
addresses or electronic addresses provided above. In the event of any dispute arising from or related to
this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to attorney's fees.
By signing this letter where indicated, you are confirming your agreement to the foregoing. This letter
when signed by Artist and Disrupción Records shall constitute a binding agreement.
___________________________________________
Artist Name and Passport/ID
___________________________________________
Artist signature
___________________________________________
Disrupción Records Representative Name & Title
___________________________________________
Date:
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Disrupción Records Representative Signature
Date:
Media of
