What does a £1m record deal mean?

This is a bit of fun and quite interesting! When you get round to signing your £1m deal after having won X factor (or similar) what do you actually get? A handy BBC page takes you through it.

The article launches with a quote from everyone’s favourite publicist, Max Clifford: “Everybody out there assumes that a £1m record deal means, basically, they sign a contract and there’s a million pounds, young man or lady.”

I for one am a bit disappointed to find that’s not true.

“What they’re basically saying is we’re prepared to back you in terms of studio time, musicians, producers, arrangers etc to that kind of money.”

A report released in March by international recording industry body IFPI, estimates that a typical record deal to try to break a new pop act in the UK or the US is worth about £625,000. The advance is the bit that the artist gets to pocket.

Given that only one in five or one in 10 new acts are successful the record companies are taking a big risk. Max Clifford again:

“What record companies are actually saying when they offer a £1m record deal is, ‘we’re going to pay the basic costs and, as long as you make it very quickly, then you can make a lot of money. But you’re going to have to make it very quickly.”

Record companies are very quick to cut their losses and ditch artists that don’t payback in a very short time….