One of
the easiest ways to free money is to find a way to license your record
to a label in another country/region. Not only is it lucrative to get
another label pushing your music in another country, it can also lead to
sucessful tour opportunities and an income stream that can last you for
years to come. With all that said getting this going can be more tricky
than one might think.
Finding A Label To License Your Music In Foreign Regions
The
first thing we need to do in order to get your music out in another
region is to find a label to license your music. One of the easiest ways
to find these labels is to look at other groups in your genre and see
who is releasing their records in other regions. This information will
often be found on website or MySpace pages and may take an afternoon of
investigating. Often times there are 4 – 6 regions each group can look
to do licensing in:
- North America (US/Canada)
- South America (Mexico or Brazil primarily)
- Europe
- Japan
- Australia/New Zealand
- Other (some genres will do exclusive licenses to specific countries in Europe and/or South America and Asia)
Once
you have found some labels to target in the various regions the best
thing to do is email them a sell sheet. Point out good reviews and other
groups you have toured with that can show the caliber of group that you
are and potential touring mates if the labor tries to bring you over on
a tour to promote the record they license.
Terms
Every
genre has different terms that are customary for foreign licenses. The
best thing you can do is get yourself a lawyer who knows your genre well
and have them look at the license. Standard contracts include:
- An advance payment
- A per unit fee
- Some sort of touring promotion