MusicRadar

Donald Passman says you can still make money in the music business - if you know the facts

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Donald S. Passman has been a music business attorney for over thirty years. Currently he practices law with the firm Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, Inc. - their clients include Green Day, Pink, REM, Radiohead, Tom Waits, among many others - and he's just published the seventh edition of his top-selling book, All You Need To Know About The Music Business.

"I can honestly say that the music business is still fun," Passman says. "But I have to qualify that by saying it's a different kind of fun.

"It's not fun in the 'ha-ha' way it used to be when you signed a band to a deal and watched them sell 10 million records. Those days are pretty much over. The fun is trying to figure where we're headed, figuring out the different ways to break artists and trying to make sense of the delivery systems which are changing all the time."

While readers intent on a career in the music business would be well served by picking up the updated copy of Passman's book, MusicRadar managed to extract a few morsels of advice from rock's top legal eagle in the following interview:

What are the main differences between this seventh edition from previous ones?

"The biggest changes are what's going on with 360 deals and the enormous update needed to explain what's happening with music in the digital realm. Three years ago, there was very little precedent and we were all groping around in the dark. Now we're still groping around in the dark but at least we can feel the contours of the furniture.

"Both of these aspects have become the biggest and hardest to understand components of the music business today, and they're areas musicians should absolutely familiarize themselves with, whether they have an attorney or not."

"Unless you have some sort of enormous bargaining power, it's almost impossible to get a deal these days that isn't a 360" Donald Passman on labels participating in all aspects of artists' revenues

As far as 360 deals go, has the business figured out a general paradigm?

"These kinds of deals are still works-in-progress, and surprisingly variant from label to label and artist to artist. The percentages vary, and the way they compute their percentages vary. Some labels take what's known as 'active rights,' meaning that they want to own the publishing and merchandising versus 'passive rights' where they just get a percentage of the income."

For artists, what's the upshot of a 360 deal?

"The upshot is that you get a record deal. [laughs] Unless you have some sort of enormous bargaining power, it's almost impossible to get a deal these days that isn't a 360. It's become the reality of the world, not just with majors but with independents as well.

"Obviously, if you're an established artist, you can reduce or eliminate the percentages the label takes to where things work in your favor. If you're a new or mid-level act, you're going to have to settle for a deal where things are stacked more in favor of the label."