Gaga's Recording Contract

[TortureMeOnReplay 5,867]

Since Gaga's business legal documents have leaked, some have taken a look at some legal work Gaga has. The documents that leaked included Gaga's recording agreement and amendments made since. I've read through the documents. I don't claim to be a lawyer and as such do not claim I am 100% correct with my interpretations of various language in the contract, but here's things I've found interesting in the May 2007 agreement and various amendments. I won't type out what each part says word for word but I will cite where one can find it. All cited information comes from the May 2007 agreement unless cited otherwise.

 

-Gaga initially signed for up to 5 albums (1.02). It is up to Interscope to let Gaga know if they will exercise the right for an additional album within 6 months of the U.S. release date. If Interscope does not give Gaga written notice that they are extending within that 6 month period, Gaga is allowed to request termination via written request. Interscope has 10 days to respond after receipt of the termination request and if there is no response, Gaga is let out of her contract on the 11th day (1.02).

-Gaga is obligated to hire and pay her producers unless Interscope hires the producers, in which case it comes out of the production fund and Gaga's royalty rate (2.02a-b).

-Gaga may only use songs intended for a specific album it was written for unless Interscope approves otherwise (3.03)

-There is an obligation for her to get approval from Interscope before recording any music. She must advise Interscope on the contents of the music before it is recorded (4.01a2). Additionally, this section dictates that Interscope chooses the lengths of her albums.

-She is not allowed to begin recording a new album for 5 months after turning in her last album (4.01a3).

-Gaga is not required to perform with any other royalty artist, and she may refuse such performance for any reason (4.04).

-Gaga does not own her own masters, artwork, or website material (7.01). This part of the contract also states that Gaga gives Interscope power of attorney when it comes to certain works she could be considered "author" of and allows Interscope to trademark her works on her behalf.

-When Gaga turns in Album Artwork, she must also provide 2 (or more if mutually agreed) additional artwork designs to be used (7.05). Within this paragraph Interscope also claims the right to merchandise including "t-shirts and other clothing, posters, stickers and novelties".

-Interscope has no right or obligation to secure work for Gaga (7A.08).

-Gaga must cooperate with Interscope, as it reasonably requests, in photographing and otherwise promoting Gaga (8.02a).

-Gaga is consulted for approval on promotional material. She may object and present alternative promotional material that Interscope could approve. If Interscope uses material Gaga objected to, they will put in reasonable effort to "cure such failure", but failure to fix any issues in relation to this will not constitute a breach of contract (8.02b).

-Interscope has a right, but no obligation, to release her music (8.03a). This section also states that Vincent Herbert will be credited as an Executive Producer on each album.

-Interscope must have Gaga's consent to release outtakes (8.03e).

-Gaga must give consent for Interscope to license master recordings for anything other than the direct promotion of Gaga (8.03f).

-Interscope must release a turned in album in the U.S. within 120 days of receiving the album. If this is not done, Gaga may request to terminate the contract within 60 days after the 120 day period. Interscope must then release the album within 60 days of receiving this request and this period is referred to as "the Cure period" (8.06a). If the album is not released within the Cure period, Gaga has 60 days in order to send a termination notice that will end the contract. Failure to send a termination notice within 60 days after the Cure Period will waive her right to terminate the agreement for this album period. 

-Interscope must release each album outside of the U.S. within 120 days of it reaching the Top 50 albums on the Billboard 200 (8.06b1). These territories include Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. If Interscope fails to do this, Gaga may invoke an option for her to designate and Interscope approve a licensee to manufacture and distribute the album in those territories. In this case, Gaga will receive 50% of Interscope's entitled royalties for those territories.

-Interscope is not obligated to create Covered Videos (8.08).

-Interscope and Gaga must agree to the selection of Covered videos (8.08a). Gaga and Interscope agree on a date for the shooting of such videos (8.08b). The producer, director, concept, and script are all mutually agreed upon by Interscope and Gaga (8.08c). 

-Gaga's royalty rate on a "picture disk" is half the normal royalty rate (9.02c3).

-Interscope cannot stop Gaga from completing her commitment without clause (15.02). 

-Interscope has the right to obtain insurance on Gaga's life (19.02).

 

Artist Inducement Agreement:

-Gaga has re-recording rights for songs 5 years after the master is submitted to Interscope and their agreement ends (4).

 

Acquisition Masters:

-Beautiful, Dirty, Rich was written and or recorded by Gaga before she signed her agreement.

 

October 2009 Amendment:

-The Fame Monster was established to not count towards her commitment albums (2). This was changed with the December 2009 Amendment.

 

December 2009 Amendment: 

-The Fame Monster does count towards her commitment albums (5a).

-If The Fame Monster didn't sell at least 775,000 units in the U.S. by November 24,2011, Interscope would have a 6th album option (5bi). The next album would then also be considered the second album (5bii).

 

August 2010 Amendment:

-Interscope changes the amount of album options to 6 (1).

-Interscope initially gave album 3 a recording fund of $575,000 to $1,150,000 but changed this to $14,000,000 (2.01).

 

September 2012 Amendment:

-Interscope is granted the option to extend the contract to 7 albums (1d).

-Again the recording funds were amended, this time giving album 4 a fund of $20,000,000 (2a).

 

June 2014 Amendment:

-Cheek to Cheek will not count towards Gaga's album count (1a).

-Her royalty rates for Cheek to Cheek were still the "fourth Option Period of the Recording Agreement", or the same rate from ARTPOP (3).

 

January 2017 Amendment:

-The recording fund for the fifth album was set for $6,522,418 (1a).

-Acting and Cameo Services will be excluded from Other Entertainment Services when it comes to non-record royalties that Interscope collects (3d).

 

 

[Ghost Face 6,236]

 

I understand that contracts like this are necessary, but I still find it sad to see how full of rules and laws they are. To me it indicates how little humanity (can) trust each other.

 

[Suuus 5,632]

This must be so frustating for gaga to have to follow so many rules

[Suuus 5,632]

14 minutes ago, Alice 911 said:

 

I understand that contracts like this are necessary, but I still find it sad to see how full of rules and laws they are. To me it indicates how little humanity (can) trust each other.

 

It seems so restrictive to me

[Bonkers 28,354]

This part most concerned me:

Gaga must participate in dark ceremonies with the Royal Family and bring praise unto the Illuminati in all it's greatness.  Every music video must play homage to Baphoment and all live performances must clearly allude to the duality.  

It's actually not really in there, but I'm concerned that the hackers didn't leak that part.  Either that or I made it up, but why would I do that?  

[gfarabello 559]

I honestly think she is in good terms with Interscope since Joanne/Super Bowl.

She's probably happy she can live her life, have long periods to write and produce, and then release with a certain freedom that only major artists get.

 

Also, she had trust issues when it comes to her label team in the past, so now she's in a good place I doubt she would risk it all just to change her label. Interscope finally treats her like a human being, I doubt she would find that so easily in Capitol, RCA or Republic, for an example.

[Suuus 5,632]

1 minute ago, gfarabello said:

I honestly think she is in good terms with Interscope since Joanne/Super Bowl.

She's probably happy she can live her life, have long periods to write and produce, and then release with a certain freedom that only major artists get.

 

Also, she had trust issues when it comes to her label team in the past, so now she's in a good place I doubt she would risk it all just to change her label. Interscope finally treats her like a human being, I doubt she would find that so easily in Capitol, RCA or Republic, for an example.

I hope she will renew her contract after this one ends

[gfarabello 559]

2 minutes ago, Suuus said:

I hope she will renew her contract after this one ends

I bet she will. We all know how she is a "family person". 

[chun li 2,752]

Imagine the stress ugh  I'd forget how to write songs or even get any inspiration under the pressure of so many rules

[Suuus 5,632]

2 minutes ago, gfarabello said:

I bet she will. We all know how she is a "family person". 

After all she said in an interview that she is not gunna quit music any time soon so there is that

[numb the flame 7,319]

At least we know we'll get an album in 120 days of her turning it in

[LaLa 19,225]

Thanks for writing this all out, my eyes were going crossed from reading everything yesterday. 

[Killa 16,077]

That was great job

[TortureMeOnReplay 5,867]

22 minutes ago, gfarabello said:

I honestly think she is in good terms with Interscope since Joanne/Super Bowl.

She's probably happy she can live her life, have long periods to write and produce, and then release with a certain freedom that only major artists get.

 

Also, she had trust issues when it comes to her label team in the past, so now she's in a good place I doubt she would risk it all just to change her label. Interscope finally treats her like a human being, I doubt she would find that so easily in Capitol, RCA or Republic, for an example.

It's just kind of weird that they haven't added more album options since 2012. Most amendments since then were to change royalty rates, so I wonder if she wants to add more options at all. And whether it's because it'll give her more freedom on release dates or because of royalty rates or other things. 

9 minutes ago, LaLa said:

Thanks for writing this all out, my eyes were going crossed from reading everything yesterday. 

Mine too, I didn't sleep until 7am because I wanted to find certain things and ended up reading through the first 50 pages of the agreement 

[TortureMeOnReplay 5,867]

46 minutes ago, Alice 911 said:

 

I understand that contracts like this are necessary, but I still find it sad to see how full of rules and laws they are. To me it indicates how little humanity (can) trust each other.

 

I agree, and I'm sure in the beginning recording contracts were much more simple. I feel like her only being able to use songs on the albums for which they were recorded was in direct response to Michael Jackson, who trashed Sony during a performance/appearance once and said he only had 1 album left, and that he could give them any song he previously recorded.