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Why Joint Ventures Beat Traditional Label Deals · Clone Wars: The Spinoff

• 0:00
  Yo, welcome back to Clone Wars: The Spinoff.
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  I'm Dandy Market, and today we're getting into something that actually changes how a
• 0:11
  young artist can come up without signing their whole life away.
• 0:15
  DJ Universe in the building.
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  We talking about 10K Projects linking up with this new label Runway Records,
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  run by Ben Bijur over at Atlantic.
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  First artist out the gate already doing eight hundred thousand streams a day off one
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  song.
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  Calvin Blingwell here, and that number got my attention quick.
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  Eight hundred K a day, three months in, top of the Spotify Viral chart.
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  That's the kind of buzz that usually gets an artist a real bad contract pushed in
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  front of them fast.
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  And that's exactly why we doing this episode.
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  I'm Dangerous Zygos.
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  This ain't a regular signing, it's a joint venture.
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  Different math, different paperwork, different outcome for the artist if it's
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  structured right.
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  Let's get the definitions straight first.
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  A straight record deal, the label owns the masters, fronts the advance,
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  recoups it from your royalties, and you get a royalty rate after they're made whole.
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  A joint venture is different -- the artist and the label form an actual shared
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  entity, splitting ownership, splitting profit, and ideally splitting control over
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  decisions.
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  See that's the part the young ones skip past.
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  Ownership ain't a feeling, it's a percentage on a piece of paper.
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  Back in my day we signed deals where you didn't own a single master you recorded.
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  A JV at least puts your name on the asset, not just your voice on the record.
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  From the sound and branding side, a JV usually means the artist keeps more creative
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  control too.
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  Runway sounds like it's built as a developmental hub -- early identification,
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  internet-native growth.
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  That tells me they're not trying to flatten the artist's sound into a label formula,
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  they're investing in what's already working.
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  Real talk, that matters when you're the one on the road.
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  If a label owns everything and just wants a hit, they'll push you to chase trends.
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  If you got equity in the joint venture, your brand and your merch and your touring
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  identity stay yours, and that's what fans actually buy into.
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  Right, and that equity piece is the generational wealth piece.
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  A royalty check ends when the song stops earning the way the deal says it earns.
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  An ownership stake in a venture can pay you on the company's value,
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  not just on stream counts.
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  That's the difference between income and an asset.
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  But don't get it twisted -- a JV ain't automatically a good deal just 'cause it's
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  called a joint venture.
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  You still gotta read the operating agreement.
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  What percentage is the split, who controls the bank account,
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  how long is the term, what happens to your catalog if you wanna leave.
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  Facts.
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  I've seen JVs where the label calls it a partnership but still holds majority
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  control and decision-making power.
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  Naming it different don't mean the artist actually got leverage.
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  You gotta look at the voting rights, not just the title of the deal.
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  And for an artist building off viral streams like that first Runway signing,
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  the leverage is right now, while the numbers are hot.
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  Lawyers, a real manager, and somebody who understands publishing splits before you
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  sign anything -- that's non-negotiable at that stage.
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  This is also a publishing conversation, not just masters.
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  Make sure your publishing administration and your songwriting splits are spelled out
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  separate from the recording side.
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  Too many artists sign the master deal, forget the publishing,
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  and lose half the actual long-term money.
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  Let's bring it back to knowledge of self for a minute.
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  Supreme Mathematics teaches Equality as the fourth degree -- balance,
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  fairness, everybody getting their rightful portion.
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  A real joint venture is supposed to be Equality applied to a business contract.
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  That's deep, because Equality ain't just splitting a check fifty-fifty.
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  It's making sure both sides bring something real to the table and both sides got a
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  real voice.
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  Culture and branding from the artist, infrastructure and reach from the label --
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  that's a true exchange, not charity.
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  And on the ground, Equality looks like an artist who can still go tour,
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  sell merch, and build direct with the fans without the label taking a cut of every
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  single revenue stream.
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  If the venture respects that lane, the artist eats too, not just the company.
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  So the takeaway for anybody listening with a deal on the table -- don't get blinded
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  by the buzz or the streaming numbers.
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  Read the structure, understand the equity, protect the publishing,
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  and make sure Equality is real in the paperwork, not just in the press release.
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  Know yourself, know your worth, and know your math before you sign anything.
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  That's the discipline.
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  We'll keep tracking how this Runway situation plays out for the artists coming up
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  under it.
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  Appreciate y'all rocking with us.
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  This been Clone Wars: The Spinoff.