Remix fees

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winston
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Remix fees

Post by winston »

i was reading about (house) Djs back in the late 90's getting huge sums, $5k-$10k, for their remixes and wondered what sort of levels they were at these days in techno. I know there are no concrete sources and can understand why people want to keep things private, but what sort of figures float around in the techno world as remix fees?

for different levels? any ideas what would be a rough estimate for say Ben Klock, Robert Hood, Surgeon? down to the (not by my standards lower, but i can imagine name recognition might get a lower fee) Slam, Prosumer, Porc level?

only curious how it compares to the historical heyday of House. with the lower record sales i would imagine it has taken a hit.

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Lost to the Void
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Re: Remix fees

Post by Lost to the Void »

Getting paid? Haha.

On a more serious note, I don't know.
Regis got paid a grand for the remix on my album.......
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Re: Remix fees

Post by Mono-xID »

A GRAND ???????????? :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

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Re: Remix fees

Post by winston »

if i were to guess, i would have said that DJs/producers that everyone who works in a record shop knows the name of would be at least £1000/$1500, but obviously that's pulling numbers out my arse. interesting to see it was around that.

Does that Regis fee (or others normally) conclude the payment or are there future royalty splits etc?

i can imagine a large majority of the remixes are done for almost nowt in the hope it brings more exposure.

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Re: Remix fees

Post by Mattias »

winston wrote:i was reading about (house) Djs back in the late 90's getting huge sums, $5k-$10k, for their remixes and wondered what sort of levels they were at these days in techno. I know there are no concrete sources and can understand why people want to keep things private, but what sort of figures float around in the techno world as remix fees?

for different levels? any ideas what would be a rough estimate for say Ben Klock, Robert Hood, Surgeon? down to the (not by my standards lower, but i can imagine name recognition might get a lower fee) Slam, Prosumer, Porc level?

only curious how it compares to the historical heyday of House. with the lower record sales i would imagine it has taken a hit.
All over the place, €100 - €1000.
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Re: Remix fees

Post by Mattias »

winston wrote:
Does that Regis fee (or others normally) conclude the payment or are there future royalty splits etc?
As far as I'm concerned, no one looks for royalties after charging for remixes in Techno. The fee is a one time thing unless agreed otherwise.
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Re: Remix fees

Post by Lost to the Void »

winston wrote:if i were to guess, i would have said that DJs/producers that everyone who works in a record shop knows the name of would be at least £1000/$1500, but obviously that's pulling numbers out my arse. interesting to see it was around that.

Does that Regis fee (or others normally) conclude the payment or are there future royalty splits etc?

i can imagine a large majority of the remixes are done for almost nowt in the hope it brings more exposure.

Future royalties??
We barely got a remix.
I got a sense of disappointment.
The label got taken for a ride.
If future royalties were requested I can be almost certain I would have done a short stint in prison.
The police would have got involved at the very least.
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Re: Remix fees

Post by juxtpose »

In Australian dollars seems to be about 500 for internationals that are good but not massive, and then the big names goes way up

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Re: Remix fees

Post by terryfalafel »

Lost to the Void wrote:
winston wrote:if i were to guess, i would have said that DJs/producers that everyone who works in a record shop knows the name of would be at least £1000/$1500, but obviously that's pulling numbers out my arse. interesting to see it was around that.

Does that Regis fee (or others normally) conclude the payment or are there future royalty splits etc?

i can imagine a large majority of the remixes are done for almost nowt in the hope it brings more exposure.

Future royalties??
We barely got a remix.
I got a sense of disappointment.
The label got taken for a ride.
If future royalties were requested I can be almost certain I would have done a short stint in prison.
The police would have got involved at the very least.
Why? Was the remix crap? Too much like the original? Or too slow to be delivered?

Fair enough if you don't want to get into it in public, but I'm curious.

A long time ago, me and a mate did breakbeat tracks. We had a few fairly small releases in a small scene. Selling 1k copies was a good run, and pressing and selling another 1k was really good unless you were the Plump DJs or Stanton Warriors. So pretty small time stuff.

But the thing that fucked me off royally and ultimately made me disillusioned enough to stop sending stuff out to labels altogether was chasing dickheads for money we were owed.

It was never huge amounts of cash, but I always felt like we should get what we'd been promised on principle more than anything, and the amount of shady shit that people would pull over 200 quid would make me so annoyed it was better for my temperament to fuck it off altogether.

I get the impression, reading between the lines on some of the things that you, Mattias and Monoxid have posted, that there's a similar amount of this shady bullshit in techno too.

Obviously if you're paying a grand for a remix and not getting what you asked for, then it can work both ways. Perhaps this is naive of me but I really don't understand what about the music industry makes it so difficult to just deliver what's been promised.

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Re: Remix fees

Post by Lost to the Void »

I don't want to get into it really, it's something I like to forget about.
Suffice it today it was one of the more depressing and discouraging occurrences of my years in techno.
They do say never meet your heroes......

Been through worse though, got stung for 20 grand early in my techno journey.... Something else I like to forget. There was a lot more money flying about in the business back then, and so a lot more ruthless assholes were about.

Music biz is music biz.

There is that famous Hunter S Thompson quote. (That he didn't actually say)

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”

It holds true.

Money ruins everything. I've been lucky, I got smart pretty quick (well not quick enough to not get ripped off for 20 grand). Friends of mine have some terrible war stories (gig troubles, promoters etc). I'm lucky, I've only had 1 bad gig experience with shitty promoters. However I stopped gigging to pay the rent when I got sick of the circuit pretty early on. So I pick and choose my gigs, exposing myself to less fuckwits.

But yeah, what irks me is that there is less money about now in techno, in sales terms. Gigs still pay well (theoretically). But people will still sell their own grandmother or climb over her corpse to get ahead.
In my opinion, if you are going to go full cunt and fight to the top of a pile a shit, at least make the payoff worth while. If it's for millions, maybe it's worth the scars on your soul and the shit in your mouth. But for techno pennies?

I think the music business has always been like this because. Well it's like any of the arts.
Artists are involved, fragile needy egos and the ego payoffs that come from performance are involved.
So it is easy for cut throat money cunts to prey on that. People will do anything to get that validation. Look at X Factor for example. Or reality TV.

The way I like to work is by mutual help. If I do a remix or release for someone, then it is an exchange. They do something in return. A remix for me or whatever.
Most of the time I turn down contracts if people offer to pay me, and barter some kind of exchange. Remix for remix, or skill swap.
I don't use an agent for gigs, I deal direct. If I feel things are Sharkey I don't do the gig. If I feel maybe a contract is required I send one. So far it has served me well. Stuff is fun and it never feels like a transaction, or worse, a job.....
Fuck money. I don't like reducing my passions to a capitalist transaction.
Obviously I'm not normal.
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Re: Remix fees

Post by terryfalafel »

Sounds like a good attitude to take to me mate, as abnormal as it might be in a business populated by cunty egotists.

Thanks for the thoughtful answer, and interesting to hear that your feelings about the business side of it all echo my own to some degree.

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Re: Remix fees

Post by Mslwte »

Fees? Royalties?? Money???

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Re: Remix fees

Post by Monreal »

There's a popular guy I know (7k+ likes on FB, evey weekend at least 2 gigs). He told me he never gets any fees unless it's for another big shot DJ.

Normally if he likes the track and it's a vinly release, he remixes for free for upcoming/semi famous producers.

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Re: Remix fees

Post by Lost to the Void »

That's about standard.
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