[1] For many other artists, though, for the millions to become tangible, hit albums meeting or exceeding their previous sales figures must follow.
Recording time, manufacturing, packaging, photos, distribution, marketing, and music videos are just some of the areas where the label must spend money on an act it has signed.
Advances (upfront money that is paid directly to a recording artist) are normally always owed back to the label.
She continued to tour partly to pay Capitol back for her 1960s deal, and a string of hits in the mid-1970s allowed her to finally clear the debt.
[citation needed] Record companies expect to make a profit, and do not tend to concern themselves with a given performer's lack of business or financial savvy, as artists such as George Michael have discovered.
The Mamas & the Papas were forced into a reunion, years after their 1968 breakup, by the letter of their Dunhill Records contract, which required one more album to be completed – which became 1971's People Like Us.
[citation needed] Record companies will generally increase royalty rates or give artistic freedom to get acts to re-sign contracts with them once the original deal has been fulfilled.
Motown, believing Ross's solo career was too up-and-down, and not seeing any reason to now compensate her for her earlier Supremes work, offered $3 million.
to be as much as $20 more million and she has remained currently signed with them for over 30 years and has produced many more successful recordings internationally including her multi-platinum 1991 release, The Force Behind the Power and an even greater success with a greatest hits compilation, One Woman: The Ultimate Collection that sold over 1.5 million in the United Kingdom alone, spending several weeks at #1.
[citation needed] There are plenty of examples of recording contracts available in music business guides, legal texts and also online.