Opinion: Artists, look out for bad deals — learn from Ke$ha’s situation

When you sign your name, you always have to read the fine print. The issue with Kesha and her record deal, could have easily been avoided. If she had properly and carefully read the record contract before signing. But this is not the first time an artist has been in a similar predicament as Kesha has. There has been many precedents before, of artists who have had problems with their contract deals. Now from their  previous mistakes, some of those artists can provide advice for future artists and anyone signing their name away.

From the old thrash metal band Testament, vocalist Chuck Billy talks about in a interview on Full Metal Jackie. He recommends young artists to always stay in control of your music. He also mentions that many new artists are very desperate to get signed to a label. Once they’re signed, many artists end up regretting belonging to the label. Some artist regret signing with a major record label because they are compelled to do whatever the label wants you to do. In some cases, an artist may even lose their art to the labels.

That is why when ever you sign a contract, of any kind, always read the fine print. It is good to have a label behind you, however, it is not right for them to dictate you around. In Kesha’s case, she wanted to get out of a hole that is too deep to crawl out of. The hole representing her contract with Sony; when she couldn’t get out of her contract automatically, she then claimed rape from her producer, while it may have happened or not. For Kesha to not mention the incident until her predicament with her contract can be looked as a scandal. I mean why would you wait so long to talk about a serious mater? She claimed she was raped by her producer when she was 18 years old. Kesha is 28 now, for 10 years, this incident was not mentioned. I can understand why this did not help her case in the Manhattan Supreme Court.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich said Sony would suffer irreparable harm if Ke$ha was not compelled to abide by a contract that requires her to make six more albums with the company. Is this a threat to Sony? Don’t take my word if it is, but that is for you the reader to decide. To me, this sounds more like when a star does not get their way; they bring up issues to persuade the public to favor their side. The thought that immediately pops in my head is, why didn’t she just carefully read her contract in the beginning before she signed it or have a lawyer view it instead? That way, any problems that may come later are simply avoided. Well, some people have to learn the hard way. This is why if you are ever going to sign something, especially a contract, always read the fine print and do not pull off a Kesha or other artist who made the same mistake.