CLEAR ANCES | By Wendy Day (www.RAP-COALITION.COM)
You are an unknown struggling artist. Rick Ross is in town performing and you have the ability to offer him a few thousand dollars to come by the studio and drop a quick 16 bars. Your cousin knows Akon and said for $80k he’ll sing the hook on your song, you just have to send him the money and the ProTools session. Lil Boosie went to jail and his manager has some verses for sale to keep money flowing to him while he’s locked down. You’d like very much to have Rick Ross, Akon, or Boosie on a song with you. But it’s not as simple as just having the money to pay for that feature… Anyone who is signed to a record label is technically OWNED by that label. This means even if a rapper is my friend and I want to feature him or her on a song, I MUST get the permission of the rapper AND his or her record label to use the song IN ANY WAY. Whether that song that the artist is featured upon is my single, album filler, on a mix CD, or just featured on my MySpace page for free. Legally, JUST TO RECORD the song, I must have the permission of the artist and the label to which the artist is signed. If I plan to use it commercially (even for free promotion or on my demo to get a deal), I need the permission of the artist and their label. That permission is called a “clearance.” I am giving you the legal, raw explanation here! But what’s legal and factual rarely happens in the underground music business where everyone is struggling to be heard or stand out. All those songs that you hear floating around the internet by rappers you’ve never heard of, but that feature known artists like Gucci Mane or Lil Wayne, were probably never cleared. So this is where every signed artist is about to get really pissed off at me, because doing features is one of the ways rappers make money…but without a clearance from the rapper and the rapper’s label (business affairs department or lawyer) you legally can NOT use the feature…even if you paid for it. That little piece of paper (the clearance) means everything!! It gets worse. In order to CLEAR the feature, you must submit the completed song. It doesn’t have to be mixed and mastered, but it does need to be relatively tight. So, you ask, how do I get a Lil Wayne verse on the record without paying him money to be on the song—a song I might not be able to use? You pay him half upfront to record, and half when it clears. Now, I can’t speak for Wayne, but I can speak for most artists. If you don’t pay them in full for the song upfront, they aren’t stepping into the studio to record with you because they know there is a good chance the song will never clear. This is a gray area that has plagued the music business forever. Most rappers will tell you that’s why they charge indie artists so little, because you might not be able to use it “commercially.” If a signed rapper charges another signed rapper $25,000 for 16 bars, but you’re getting a verse for $7,500, it’s not hard to figure out that there’s a catch. But what does a local label do that has NO connections to the industry or the major labels? The real answer: You don’t feature their artist. Now here’s where the line gets real murky, because often the more savvy street labels (like CTE, Grand Hustle, Slip N Slide, Big Gates, etc) want their artists performing along with the hottest local artists, but the major label does not. Let’s use Jeezy as an example because he does so few features anyway because he’s smart about retaining his value. A new artist would want Jeezy on a song because he’s well known, has street credibility, and
it’s instant name recognition for an unknown artist to say he has Jeezy on a song. It makes the newer artist look well-connected, and it might even make it easier to get radio spins. Jeezy may want to be on a song with whoever is the hottest up and coming artist from an area because it reaffirms his connection to the streets. But for Jeezy to appear on a song, you need a clearance from CTE (which is Jeezy’s label that he owns with his partner, Kinky B) and Def Jam. Most new indie labels don’t have access to a label like Def Jam to clear a song, so they pay the artist to get on the record and then they throw it out on the streets hoping that is blows up. Their mindset is that they will cross that clearance bridge when they come to it. They are hoping that the noise the uncleared song will make for their artist will outweigh the bullshit they are going to suffer. And let’s be real—if it’s a hit record, the major label won’t complain about Jeezy being on it. Protecting their investment in Jeezy only really matters to them when the songs don’t blow up, or are garbage, because it makes their national artist look bad. Imagine if Jeezy had been on that hit Drake record. Def Jam would have happily cleared that! That’s what I mean by murky… Most smaller labels don’t have the budgets, or the proper connections, or even the experience to make a hit record blow up. The major labels know this, so they are reluctant to allow their artists to perform on a feature. On the flip side, some major labels look at clearances as a come up. Their attitude is ‘if you want to use our national artist that we’ve invested millions of dollars into building, pay us too. You can use our artist and we’ll clear the usage, but it’ll cost you $30,000.’ So, if you are paying the artist and the major label, you can see where this gets a little costly, right? Plus you need radio money, promotion money, DJ money, promo tour money, marketing money, etc….and you’re on your own to market and promote it. I rarely encourage features on my client’s music until they have a record deal. And if we do a feature, I make sure I can clear it using my connections, my clout, or my experience in clearing features. Having said that, if you absolutely need to feature Lil Boosie on your record, you will buy the feature, record the song, and then submit the song to both Trill Entertainment and Warner for clearance (unless Trill owns the masters, then just Trill—Warner’s legal department would inform you of that). Or, you will do what so many others in this industry have done before you: record the song and put it out and say “fuck it!” I don’t believe in doing business that way, but many can’t afford the money, or time, or possible “no you can’t use the song.” If you are buying a Boosie feature in hopes of using it as a radio single for your unknown artist, and you have no connection to Boosie, Trill, the industry, or powerful lawyers, you are an idiot trying to use someone else’s artist to benefit your own pocket. Why would any established label in their right mind want to help you do that? Look at it from their point of view. This is a business. Now maybe, with someone with power in the industry on your side you could get it cleared, but it’s still a risk and you’re asking a lot. Lack of knowledge in this industry is the #1 killer of artists’ dreams. Trying to make moves that connected and experienced people make, when you aren’t either one, is #2. Making bad decisions (for example, pissing off the person with power who’s trying to help you) is #3. I see these mistakes being made everyday... Welcome to the music business and have a nice day. //
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