Did record deals ever pay the bills? Or just entrap artists in a debt scheme?
Are record deals relevant in 2025?
The only thing record companies ever really had to offer was distribution and possibly access to merch people (which realistically was always cheaper if the band had their own people).
Maybe now record labels are offering their clients botted likes or follows or plays though. Who knows. The internet is a mystery!
Record deals by major labels are an absolute trap. They no longer offer upfront bonus and even if they did, their recoup clauses guarantee you wont see any money in your pocket for years if you can survive that long. They'll chew you up, make you sound like everyone else, and spit you out with nothing to show for it. Don't like what they're doing? They'll just shelve your music and put you on hold until you're old and irrelevant.
We are trying to be different and rebuild the industry with an artist-first mentality. Our label focuses on artist career/music development, connecting artists with people who can move the needle, guiding them down the right path and watching their backs. A major part of that is v4v. Artists need to be empowered so they can focus on making good music, not being social media experts, marketing gurus, or elite mcdonalds burger flippers.
You're 100% right that modern labels are just glorified distribution companies. They are nothing more than gatekeepers.
V4v tears down those gates. V4v is the sound of freedom.
Just playing devil's advocate here: what's to stop a glorified gatekeeper from recruiting artists onto a so-called v4v platform?
Nothing really but imo it's all about tradeoffs, choice and ethics. The nuance being an ethical split (arguably a FAIR v4v exchange), something that artists grinding on the traditional side have no chance of obtaining. For most the artists on the traditional side, something like this is scary and daunting. We are offering a bridge for those wishing to unshackle themselves and for those ppl, we think there's value in such a service.
If the artist wants to be fully self sovereign, we are here to help and offer advice, for free. But the tradeoff is the artist has to put in the time and effort to do the work/learning themselves and take responsibility over their assets.
We offer a "gatekeeper" solution for lack of a better term where the artist does very minimal work and we handle and host everything for them. We also add value through promotion and connections. They save time/effort but the tradeoff is they aren't fully self sovereign and to a degree, rely on/trust us. In return for our time we ask for a fair split.
The nuance is in the ethics and transparency. We aren't here to gouge artists. Our primary focus is furthering this ecosystem as a whole by onboarding more artists and fans to push the flywheel along. Maybe we don't maximize our profits but it's better that way because everyone wins in the long run and it creates a sustainable income model. We are fully transparent about the value we give and the value we take. Even using a "gatekeeper" model, boosts still go straight to the artist if they wish to hold Bitcoin or we offer USD payout alternatives if they don't want to deal with Bitcoin at all.
It's your choice as an artist which path to take, like anything in life. We offer a service with clear terms and like to think we're a positive force in this ecosystem. Yes, we do ask for a bit of trust but I think our actions and reputation in this space speak for themselves.
