I had done some thinking about the whole situation since Saturday. I was under the impression I was looking at a similar deal to what I had with M Records. So the real question to me seemed to be what they were going to do, and what I was going to give up. She called at noon and we talked for about 45 minutes. There’s a lot of information, I took notes, but I won’t repeat it all here, it’s a bit dry for the most part. There’s one thing, though, which it all sort of boils down to for me, and seems to say, there really isn’t any reason to not sign.
I made it clear that I wasn’t looking to be reimbursed for the money I’ve spent so far. When I spent it I did it with the expectation that it was money lost. It’s not the most sound business plan, but it seemed the most realistic. So what they are interested in doing is a licensing deal, for a certain amount of time. Normally they still look to be recouped in these deals, but Amy was thinking in this case she would just split the money made 50/50 and not include recouping the costs as part of the deal. Her reasoning was that, the amount of money they’ll spend on manufacturing and releasing and promoting will equal the amount of money I’ve spent on recording and mastering. So she sees no reason why everything shouldn’t be simply split down the middle.
That’s a really big deal.
She also said it would be an easier deal to get out of should someone else come along and want to release it, which she seemed to think it has the potential for. They don’t do tour support but would sit down with me to help plan a strategy for playing out of state and also provide any contact info they have. She talked about scheduling a few dates with them out of town, opening for them, because they’d be able to pay, which would mean I could do the show full-band. That would also give me an infusion of money to do some other out of town dates that otherwise I might have to play solo. She also suggested that I should shop around for a publishing deal, that it was something that could actually free me up somewhat and give me time to actually be a musician for a while. To be able to develop. That honestly seemed to be her main concern, she seemed convinced that I could really get somewhere with this CD, and genuinely seemed to want to help. Obviously the goal is that the label benefits as well, but it’s hard to ignore that she wants to structure the deal in a way that backs up what she says.
There are people around me who are confused because I don’t seem as excited as they are. Part of it is just me, I’m always like that. But part of it is also just not wanting to let myself get unrealistic about it. Daemon has a name in town, and with Indigo Girls fans, I suppose, but outside of Atlanta I don’t know what it means. They have US and Canada distribution. They have relationships, certainly ones that I don’t have. The deal is really favorable. She also seems to be geared towards my longevity. It seems like it’s really very good.
But it’s still hard for me to give into it completely. I am excited, though, I promise.
I need to meet with Andrea again to talk about more specific things, and I suppose officially say “yes” at some point. I need to go to the office and meet with them. I need to figure out what my goals are, for the sake of these talks. I need to look into the publishing aspects (I created my own early on, to cover my ass). Most importantly I need to work even harder to head back towards doing freelance work and quit this job. Touring would start smallish, I’d just have to take some Fridays off to play out of town shows over the weekend. But eventually, if this is going to be serious, I’d need to be able to do longer stints. And being freelance would make that so much easier.