When you get offered a stupid deal.

You can see it on the layout of the message. Those offering that you know already from the start that it would even work. If you read a car ad saying this:

Rent my car. You get the chance to rent my kind of old car. You pay me a monthly fee and you get access to my car if it is available. Of course when you drive it you have to fill it up with full gas even how much the tank is empty when you start.

That is not a good deal for you. It’s a good deal for me. If you really need a car and can’t get it in another way. Well then it could be a kind of a good deal. It’s not perfect but I’m so desperate that I need it. Right now though I think you can just go down to the nearest car rental and get one on a better deal.

Also, the access, you only gets it when I’m not using it. You never know maybe I use very often so you are paying rent for a thing you can’t use.

Of course this is quite clear as a stupid deal. The thing in the music industry you get offerings like this from artists on a quite regular basis. Sure it’s another terminology, but the principals are the same. You should work for free, don’t get any security or rights and I can kick you out anytime I want.

Okey the artist really not understand that they are saying this. They just thinking mainly what is best for them.

I got this deal on the table a week ago. We want you to find a record label for us. You can borrow or songs, you don’t get any rights in them. And if you find a deal with a record label you get 10%.

I was most wondering 10% of what?

10% of the upfront payment from the label was the answer.

This actually not coming from an artist, this came from a manager, a pretty know manager. So in reality I should do the mangers job and maybe get paid for it. Most deals actually don’t have a prepaying so the reality is that I would with 90% don’t get paid.

If this band was very famous then it’s another story. A bit same as if I need the car. Now it was totally unknown and the manger has been around to all labels and I guess no one really had an interest for this project.

Even more funnier is that I thought it was amusing so I actually said we could take a meeting in the city since I had 2 hours to kill between two meetings (read I try to get a cup of free coffee). But they were scheduling around and in the end they couldn’t meet me up on normal office hours, just in the evening. I never got back with a new time.