We have been planning a rip- off warning page in the last year. The reason why we have not put the page together before now, is that we have had some serious doubts about the whole rip off concept. We still harbour these doubts. The situation is far from one- dimensional and there are some aspects we want to discuss in this feature.
Rip -off is something we call a person or a company who do not pay for the goods they have obtained on credit from another person or company. Rip- offs has been bleeding the scene for money as long as it has existed (actually; rip- offs has been a plague since the Egyptans built the pyramids, some years before Venom unleashed their "Welcome To Hell" opus on the world……..). In many cases; rip- offs are the major or only factor when a band, record label or distributor are closed down.
There is no excuse for record-labels/distributors/private customers who rip off other record labels. This is theft and the shameless bastards who commit these crimes, should be severely punished. Let there be no doubt that. But in many cases; jealousy and envy are also the main factor in branding labels as rip- off labels. It is so damn easy to brand other as rip- offs. It is also very destructive towards the underground scene. Those who really care about the underground metal scene, should be very careful about branding others as rip- offs or spreading such rumours. We do not attack honest persons in the scene who has been ripped off by dishonest persons and want to warn other persons about the culprits. That is an honourable action. Our problem is to see the difference between honest and dishonest persons.
We have got a lot of e-mails during the last eighteen months, branding major underground record- labels and distributors as rip-off labels/distros. We have to ask us self why the sender of the e-mail spread these
e-mails. Is there any truths in these rip- off warnings ? Or are the e-mails result of a failed blackmail, part of a hate campaign, pure fantasy or based on the sender's deplorable moral standards ? We do not know.
That is why this feature do not include any rip- off warnings.
When it comes to bands branding their labels/ex labels as rip- off labels; the picture is even more complicated.
Sometimes; bands are very eager to brand their labels or their ex labels as rip-off labels for various reasons.
We do not support labels who rip their bands off with intention of earning some extra bucks. But there are also labels who has not been able to pay royalities because their running costs are higher than their income or they have been ripped off by other labels or distributors. Most underground labels are started and run by naïve, young men. Their childhood dream is to start a record label and they use their savings (or rather; their parent's savings) to get together a label and pay the production of a CD. The childhood dream quickly turns into grim reality and too often; a nightmare. It is a fact that running an underground metal label is a financial nightmare with sky- high costs and very little, if any, profit. Most people believe that it is damn easy to produce and sell CDs. Unless you are producing and selling bootlegs (which is illegal); it is damn hard business where you have to fight very hard for every sold CD. The costs quickly eat up any profits and all your invested money.
Most labels also sign bands on net contracts. That means that bands get paid royalities after the release has gone over break- even. Break- even means that the production and promotion costs has been covered by income from the sales of the CDs. For example: It cost a record label $ 1000 to produce and promote the CD. The record label get $ 1000 in income from sales from the CD. That is break- even. It seems like most bands has not read their record contracts because they seems to believe that they will be paid a fortune in royalities from Day 1 of the contract.
Should the record label be blamed for the band's lack of ability to read their record contract ?
Where the hell does that bring us ? Most bands, signed on a underground label, are living in a fantasy world and they have an incredible, naïve belief in their own musical abilities. But to be fair; most of the fantasies the bands are living on, has been fuelled by the underground label's promises. In their naivety; the underground label makes a lot of promises they cannot keep unless they have direct access to USA's gold reserve in Fort Knox. Talk is cheap in the music industry and that is very true in the metal scene.
The golden rule for all underground labels are:
Do not promise anything you cannot keep
If you (the label manager in a underground metal label) stick to this rule; you should not have any problems with your band. Unless the band are completely nutters, but it is the label owner's responsibility to make sure that they do not sign nutters…..
In our views; a record contract with an underground label are close to being worthless when it comes to economic gains for the band. Consider yourself extremely lucky if you get paid royalities. It is only when you are on medium- size labels like Music For Nations and Nuclear Blast you can expect to be paid royalities.
Based on the amount of the amount of rip-off warning e-mails we have received in the last eighteen months; we have decided not to name and shame any companies on this page. If we did publish our list; the list would had been a "Who's Who" list over all or most underground record labels and distributors on this planet. We cannot sit down and decide who's rip off warning is valid and who's rip off warning is crap. We are not FBI.
Rules you can follow to protect yourself against rip- offs:
As a band:
Register your songs in a mechanical copyright organisation. You will be ripped off big time if you do not do so. Be carefull with record labels which operates with record contracts where you are not allowed to be a member of such an organisation. These labels are not serious, in addition to the fact that they are breaking international law when they issue such contracts.
Always ask for trade and bank references. If the references are not satisfactory; the label are not serious.
If the label promise you that they will do things that are too good to be true; it is exactly that. Too good to be true. The label is not honest or living in the real world and should therefore be avoided.
Always ask for 100 - 200 free CDs. At least; you will then get something out of your hard work if you get ripped off.
As a label:
Always ask for trade and bank references if you do sales on consignment deals. If references cannot be produced or the references are not satisfactory; the distributor are probably a rip- off.
If your business are mostly in Europe; go on an Inter-rail trip around Europe and meet the distributors and potential distributors face to face. The Interrail ticket will be a very cheap investment compared with the money you save because your Interrail tour has been able to weed out potential rip- offs.
Never, NEVER sign exclusive distribution contracts for one territory with underground distributors. An underground distributor would never be able to cover the whole territory, unless the territory is the Vatican, San Marino or Monaco. Sell your stuff to those who want to buy them/distribute them and earn some decent money.
If you trade:
Always ask for packages sent as registered packages or insured packages. Do the same yourself with your package. Too many rip- offs warnings and broken business relationships are direct results off the postal service's inherent inability to deliver letters and packages to the right addresses.
Finally
We hope that this page has given you a lot of food for thought. If you have any comments to this page and our views; please contact us. We want to start a debate about the whole underground label and rip- off warning situation. We have set up a discussion forum for those who want to join the debate.
Please note: Although we do not name and shame companies/bands/private persons in this page based on other's information; we reserve the rights to use this page to name and shame those who rip us off. Only when we are 100 % convinced that we have been ripped off; the rip-offs name and address will be published in this page + other places in this magazine and in our flyers.