Tommy Shaw Quotes

I guess I've learned that there's really no such thing as a bad label, there is only a bad contract.

Make sure you know what you are signing when you sign a recording contract.

Well I know I was contracted to Polydor so they couldn't use my name.

When it came time to be a professional rapper, I wouldn't sign anything without reading it. There was no way I was going to have people make decisions for me or wake up one day and find that I was broke because I never bothered to read a contract.

I wanted out of my record deal with EMI. They wanted me to record one type of album; I wanted to record the type of music I wanted to make.

Record companies, I found out, can put out compilations without your permission.

I've signed with major labels, and I haven't had any control over the money.

The band cannot sign to another label or even put out its own material unless they are released from their agreement, which never happens.

Most artists have contracts directly with the record company, and when they do music, all of their music is owned by the record company. But I did mine through a production company.

Every musician in the known universe has signed a bad piece of paper, myself included. But it's really very simple. You're the artist. It's your picture that's going on the CD cover, nobody else's. Protect yourself. Get a good lawyer. You'll kick yourself later if you don't.

I don't agree with the way labels are set up. I don't agree that anyone should sign 360 deals or sign away their publishing or take most of the infrastructure that's included in a formal deal.

Our first manager really pushed that we not sell our publishing rights, which is one of the earliest things an artist will do: They'll sell in order to get a cash advance.

My strongest message is: 'Never give your songs away. Never sign a contract you can't get out of.'

When I was in N.W.A. and didn't get paid all the money I was owed, that's when the business side of showbiz hit me.

To set the record straight for the God knows millionth time, we certainly didn't sign to Atlantic just for the money.

We'll look at a bunch of deals that are being offered to us, and we decide where to go and continue on I guess. It's not too early to start considering our options with other labels.

So why sign your name in blood for more? It seemed like a sensible arrangement for me. I didn't sell large numbers of records and the record company paid advances they rarely recouped.

So you have to just be really careful and make sure that when a deal comes along, that it's like the right deal for you... not necessarily the most money, because you have to pay the record label that back in like record sales and stuff.

Get a lawyer to look at your contract or beware. Because no company - evil or not - is going to do it for you.

I am one day going to be working openly in the motion picture industry. When that day comes, I swear to you that I will never sign a term contract with any major studio.

Finally, my manager negotiated a deal where I got to produce my own records.

If the label presents them with a contract that the band don't want to sign, all the label has to do is wait. There are a hundred other bands willing to sign the exact same contract, so the label is in a position of strength.

In this age when people expect to get their music for free, we have to work out how we can protect the rights of creative artists so they are compensated fairly and that the record business itself remains sound and healthy.

I figured, 'If I ever get offered a chance to sign a deal, I'll only do it if I got to do it how I want.' So my contract is structured in such a way that I'm really protected.

I was initially signed to a German label a few years ago.