 It's the network I'm gonna be real with y'all. I didn't originally plan to make this video and I know I haven't dropped in a minute I've been dealing with some stuff on the back end Bremen network country brand but trust and believe I'm gonna come back with a vengeance Once it's time, right? but I was reading through my general music business music industry websites and I came across this article that is interesting to say the least and it's interesting because it is a Modern case study of just how innovative the music industry is willing to be when it comes to finessing artists, right? and The article has to deal with live nation if you don't know who live nation is live nation is like the biggest Promoter company in all of the music industry they damn their control of venues and like every artist from like Post Malone to Billy I'llish to pretty much any artist that makes it to like a certain mainstream level have to go through live nation at That's just how much of a monopoly they have on the touring industry and I want you to remember that while we're talking about this They damn near have a monopoly on the touring entry, right? so what the article is talking about is a memo leaked from their office that details their Policy updates so that changes to their contracts for artists touring for festivals and shows moving forward into 2021 And it's a lot of red flags in here, bro Like there is a whole new level of finessery that has been brought up Thanks to this like this really makes you think that there are people who go to school to get degrees and finesse Just to come out and like apply that shit to the real world as fast as possible. That's how crazy this is So I'm not gonna get into the whole thing. I'm not gonna read the whole thing I'll link to it in the description below if you want to go and check it out But what I want to do is go through some of the red flags that just like popped out to me So I'm going to take off my market hat right when I put my promoter hat on And we can dive into some of this stuff now before we get into this come and follow me on Instagram I'll put my ad name in the description below come talk to me come engage with me come give me some video ideas All that good stuff. Also, make sure you like share and subscribe this video It helps it out. We need to get this out because people need to see That major labor artist get finesse to you know sound like we always think of finessing is like the DJ Cheating the RSI like $50. No, bro finessing comes from all sides of the music industry and people need to be careful So like I said, I'm not gonna read the whole thing But I will at least read the first paragraph because I feel like this sets up Where their mind was that why they was making these new rules, right? So it says the global pandemic has changed the world in recent months and with it the dynamics of the music industry We are in unprecedented times and must adequately account for the shift in market demand the exponential rise of certain costs and the Overall increase of uncertainty that of uncertainty that materially affects our mission in order for us to move forward We must make certain changes to our agreements with the artist the principal changes for 2021 are outlined below Now I will say this out of all sides of the music industry that have really taken a hit because of COVID Touring has probably taken the biggest hit right like no one's trying to go to a show Like I'm not trying to go to a little Uzi first show and have some 16 year old coughing on me And I go home and I got the wrong. I know if I'm thinking that it's probably other people that feel the exact same way So I will say this touring has definitely taken a big hit because of all of this And I can't even begin to imagine the amount of money that has been lost From live nation and other touring sectors like them But the shit that's outlined is memo, bro. The shit that's outlined is memo unacceptable, bro So out the gate very first line artist guarantees Which if you don't know what the artist guarantee is it's pretty much the bare Minimal amount of money that you would get for doing the show if you negotiate that right? So it says artist guarantees will be adjusted downward 20% from 2020 levels. You may be thinking Corey What's wrong with that? We are hard times man Everybody got to make sacrifices so we can make this work and you're right We do need to be working together making sacrifices so this can work But once I get deeper into this you will understand a little bit more Why this is fucked up right so out the gate artist guarantees mean the amount of money they're going to That they are willing to negotiate for guarantee money to each act is going to be down on average 20% from the 2020 levels Out the gate red flag right the next red flag is the payment term line 3 Artists will receive a deposit of 10% one month before the festival contingent on the executed agreement and fulfillment of marketing Responsibilities the balance minus standard deductions for taxes and production costs will be paid after the performance now Let me tell you why this is fucked up, right? Most of the time when you go to book it act Typically they ask for a 30 to 50% of the overall like booking fee up front And then you usually pay them the rest After the show or like once we usually pay them like once they walk off stage some you pay like right before you walk on Stage if you trust them enough, but we usually like pay them once they're off, right? So out the gate it is saying that artists will receive 10% of their deposit One month before the festival say don't even get the entire deposit They get 10% one month before the show at the festival But they are still required to fulfill a marketing agreement that is planned around the show Now, I don't know how many I have ever done shows or thrown the festival But no one is marketing a festival a month out from the date, right? So out the gate with that means is that these artists are essentially Working for free on a promotional end and then they get 10% of that money a month before which really ain't shit You know saying like we think about it's like it's really not anything 10% of your fee Bro, so if you're if you're an artist, let's say like a the baby or something that's charging like 50k to a show That means they're gonna give you 5k just to lock you in. That's not shit But I would get the baby 5k to make sure he pops up and he gonna promote for me for free ski over this shit, bro Red flag number two right and I mean most of the time the marketing responsibilities thing is like something you usually put into a contract You have to make sure these artists promote because they won't promote if you don't make them promote this crazy But the payment thing out the gate just isn't something that I could see a lot of them agreeing to me A lot of them won't have a choice, but to agree to it But it's something that I can see that they would never agree to if they didn't have to agree to it Right another red flag which may have already been here I've never seen like a live nation contract before this but they have a streaming requirement, right? So all artists will be required to allow their performance to be filmed by the festival for use in the live television broadcasts a live webcast on demand streaming Streaming or satellite a live satellite radio broadcasts out the gate. They're basically saying like yo We're gonna take this footage Make our own content out of it and we can do with it whatever we want to do which like I said most of these big festivals tend to do stuff like this, but Like I said, some of this stuff doesn't sound fucked up on his arm But once you stack it all together it gets fucked up, right? So the next line merchandise, right? Purchaser will retain 30% of artist merchandise sales and send 70% to the arts within two weeks following the festival So this is something that's new to me. I've never heard of this. I've never been in this situation I didn't know live nation did this but live nation is basically saying that We get 30% of your merch sales and we will pay you to rest two weeks after the festival So once they've had two weeks to count the money up make sure straight It don't even touch the artist hands, which is crazy to me. I never knew that I never knew artist would like signing to this You get paid your merch money Two weeks after the festival after giving them 30% while also only being paid 10% of your fee before doing show and doing all the work while also doing the work and Your guarantee is already down 20% from last year. So you're already out the gate making less money, right? Affair accommodations these expenses will be the responsibility of the artist now Yes, typically we negotiate these deal with these artists either you include their travel fee in the price or You know saying you pay for it. That's how it usually is So they're out the gate saying like no, bro You gotta pay for yourself this these next couple lines is when it really starts to get violated like really really really Violate right so they have a clause in here about insurance and it says the artist is required to maintain its own Cancellation insurance as a promoter is not responsible for the artist fee in the event of a cancellation of the festival due to weather or force Major right so cancellation insurance is pretty much what it sounds like it is my insurance that covers The event or covers you in the case that an event has to be cancelled for whatever reason force majeure Means that basically means like an act of God like something that you or I can't control so they're saying that the artist is responsible for Anything that is out of both of their controls that allows the event to be cancelled, right? Which makes the next line? So much more fucked up, bro So it says if an artist counsels this performance and breach of the agreement the artist will pay the promoter two times The artist fee so if I have to cancel the show and you were going to pay me $50,000 to come and do the show out the gate I have to pay you a hundred thousand dollars for a cancellation of the show However, live nation made sure to cover their own as by saying that if a show is Counseled due to poor ticket sales the artist will receive 25% of their guarantee 25% that guarantee if the show is counseled due to poor ticket sales Which isn't really the fault of the artist because live nation is the promoter It is live nations responsibility to make sure the asses are in the seat. That's the whole point of a promoter, right? Now they also have their own force majeure country Closing here that says if the artist performance is canceled due to an event of force majeure Including a pandemic similar to COVID-19 the promoter would not pay the artist is fee The artist is responsible for obtaining any Counselation insurance for us performance now you're understanding why this is fucked up, right? Because they're saying that yo you have to get your own insurance We're not gonna we're not gonna cover something canceling the event if you counsel for whatever reason you Double the money, but if we have to counsel for some reason as out of our control We feel like it's out of our control. We ain't got to give you shit. You know saying like we don't have to give you shit They follow into the next line by saying that if the promoter either because of orders of the venue or any governmental entity is not permitted to use the full capacity of the venue then the promoter may terminate the agreement and the artist will refund any money previously paid so The reason that that particular clause is like extra super duper fucked up is that because like we haven't all the way Opened up right like most states are in wet like phase two like opening up like like coffee shops and shit Most of these live shows I feel like are gonna get counseled over the next couple of months Like all these places like live nation are trying to do shows They're being like really hopeful for the future and shit. No, but they're gonna shut that shit down Like I said, no one's trying to get sneezed on about 16. Oh that might have crumb I ain't trying to deal with that But they're basically putting all of the risk all of the damn near guaranteed risk that comes with doing the show during the COVID-19 pandemic and they're putting that off on the artists why basically taking none of the wrist themselves because if you feel like you need to Counsel the show. Let's say your manager gets sick or your road agent Your road agent gets sick or something comes up to where you can't do it out together You owe them double the money Right, but if they feel like that you're not gonna be able to sell tickets because of COVID Which a lot of these artists are not going to be able to do their usual capacities because people are not trying to go to large-scale events Right now, this is live nation pushing people to get back into shows not the artist like all the artists I've heard talking or spoke to like their height, but they're learning about internet money and merch sales and twitching shit But they're not trying to do shows and risk themselves At harm and risk their fans at harm. That's not the fans trying to do that. That is live nation So live nation is basically like yo, we want you to Get your thousands of fans to come into this venue ignore all the social distancing laws put their own health and their lives at risk while also taking the full blunt of the responsibility if the show has to be counsel for some reason and That is fucked up especially when you consider the fact that they're taking a percentage of their merch fees only paying them 10 percent of their fee a month out and And making them get their own insurance bro Now, I don't know about y'all, but it doesn't sound right to me now the 10% thing a month before I Kind of understand because that's them saying like yo We need to see if she's gonna get counsel before we do it But once again, that's a risk that the promoter takes bro when you book a show when you book a act You are booking it knowing that yo fucking lightning can strike tomorrow burn the whole building down and I could I could be Ass out which luckily, you know saying you're able to work out agreements with some artists that does make Both of you kind of take the blunt force of what happened, right? Like we've negotiated like certain refund policies if something isn't met So for example, we had one show one time We thought we got the council because it was like I think like a hurricane or something was coming through Atlanta And we had to work out to where the show gets counseled We were still going to pay to act like 30 or 40 percent of that fee because you know like we couldn't control that they can control that We understand they had certain like money that they put into getting here that we didn't want to fuck them over because it Was ruined the relationship, right? So we're like we get it. This isn't your fault So we don't want to take the full blunt of the force and completely lose out on all the money But we feel you too. You're doing the job you plan for this money So we're not gonna leave you all the way ass out too, which I personally feel like it's fair My nation doesn't think that's fair. So I don't know man. Like I said, I think that This is just opening the door For a lot of people to use Covid as a reason to just get over on artists like they're going to discuss about the fact of like Oh, I'm just trying to protect myself. What if we have to cancel this show? What if something happens? It's like you're not the only one taking that risk. This is my fans coming to the show You're relying on me my social media marketing to get these people out Which are requiring me to do after you take my merch sales And you won't even protect me or protect my pockets in the case that both of us get fucked over by the government shutting This down or the city shutting this down or another disease or a pandemic like COVID shutting this down That's not fair, bro. You can't tell me that's fair like no one can tell me it's fair I don't know man. I'm interested to know what y'all think man Let me know what you think in the comment section below Do you feel live nation? Do you feel like they're just protecting themselves and they have the right to do this? Or do you think they're fucked up and these bigger artists need to fight back in some way? Like I said, luckily this isn't going to affect like 90% of artists because live nation is usually reserved for like artists We reach a certain tier or a lot of like label artists a lot of label artists about he's blowing this shit and get fucked over But once again curious to know what you think read the article in the description below below before you comment But let me know what you think do you agree with live nation or do you agree with me other than that once again? Come and follow me on Instagram at Kory save your link will be in the description below If you feel like you're learning thing today, please like and share this video hit those post notifications as well I wouldn't want you guys to miss anything once again. My name is Kory and I'll see y'all Whenever next month I drop in the video