Negotiations

So, I get emails from Fox Broadcasting with news about tv shows and stuff like that. I guess it's one of the "perks" of being part of the Fox family. But I just got an email from Fox talking about the 2 hour Prison Break...that I watched 5 hours ago. Doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose to send out a "news" email AFTER the news has happened.

Anyway, moving on from that rambling.

I felt like I had a pretty solid grasp of the way record deals worked because of my experience before the show. I had had label interest and had built relationships for years. I thought I had been really close to record deals int he past, but now that my deal is a lawyer's once over and my signature away from being official, I realize how far I was from being actually signed. It's interesting...I was closer than most people ever get, but so far away.

Basically, when I finally decided what I wanted to do with a label (and decided to go with a label instead of doing my own thing), I then decided which label I wanted to be a part of. Once I made that decision, my management went to said label and began more formal discussions (when you're courting, you talk in general terms). At this point, the formal discussions talk about deal terms: production budget, personal advance, promotions budget, how many records, etc. Then, once the label gets an idea of what we're looking for, they send over a deal.

The label I'm signing with literally does 1 page deals. To put it in perspective, the deal I signed with 19 Entertainment after Hollywood week was close to 90 pages...and that wasn't even an actual record deal. Anyway, the 1 page deal basically breaks down the 90 pages to what's important. Anyway, the label sent over a deal outlining everything. They started off on the low side of things, knowing that we would negotiate up.

Over the last couple of weeks, the deal was negotiated, and I can honestly say that everything I've asked for in this deal, I have gotten. I got the production budget I wanted. I got the advance I wanted. I got the number of records I wanted. I got the promotions promise that I wanted. Literally, my label has come through in spades!

The deal I'm signing is a 3 record deal. It guarantees 2 with the label's option for the 3rd. So, America will definitely get 2 albums from Chris Sligh. I'm hoping that the 3rd is a no-brainer, because that will mean that we have been successful from a sales and/or touring standpoint. The thing that is nice about this kind of deal is this: most major label deals are 1 + 5 deals...this means, you're guaranteed to make 1 record and the label has the option for 5 more. Basically, you're tied up for what equals to about 10 years. With my deal, I'm tied up for about half that time. Now, you may ask why that's important.

Well, it's a double edged sword, of course, but like I said if I make it to the third record, it means we've seen some success. If we see enough success, it may be in my best interest 5 years from now to form my own indie label (or sign to my own label, if I already have one). Or I can possibly sign with a larger company. Or sign to a deal with the same label again, but this time with even better terms (and believe me, I don't know that the terms of the contract could get much better). So, it simply gives me options earlier in my career than a major label deal.

Anyway, I hope you can tell: I'm excited. I was in Wal-Mart with Sarah today (we were getting the oil & battery changed on Sarah's car) and I checked my email on my iPhone and saw the final deal...I was very excited. One of the things that is very exciting is that there is a budget for a documentary and different video stuff. A friend of mine named Ash Grayson will be coming in to film the recording process. Ash did all of Hanson's video stuff throughout their careers till now...and he did some really great stuff. I just watched a couple of documentary's he filmed and directed and got very, very excited about how cool this video stuff could be. Ash will also be directing my music videos.

So, I will be meeting later this week with the producer of my record (Brown Bannister) to decide when we will actually begin recording. We will actually be using a lot of my demos as the outlines for the actual recordings, so I've been making sure the tempos are right, the arrangements are right and the songs are right. Right now, a big thing I'm doing is going through and making sure every lyric is as great as I can get it right now. I'm taking each lyric and rewriting what needs to be rewritten.

I'm excited about this record. I think that we have a great possibility to sell a lot of records. Obviously, nothing is promised, but I couldn't have a better team around me, from my management, to players to producers. I'm pumped.