Nov. 11, 2025

What To Do If Your Record Label Closes but You’re Still Under Contract

Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode of the Music Business Newsletter with Matthew Rix, I read an email from a rapper from Birmingham, Alabama, who’s been carrying the weight of a bad record deal for more than a decade.
Back in 2011, he signed with a small indie label that promised him the world. The problem? They never paid for studio time, marketing, or production he made all his music at home on his own. By 2013, the label shut down completely, but no one ever sent him his release papers.
Now in his 30s, he has been releasing music independently for over 12 years, collaborating with other artists and building a solid catalog; however, he still doesn’t have that one piece of paper stating he’s officially free.
To make matters worse, the old label’s name is now being used by a European company that doesn’t even do rap music. He is worried that someday they might discover his contract and attempt to claim ownership of his work.
In this episode, I break down:
-What to do if your record label no longer exists
-How to prove your independence legally
-When to get a lawyer involved (and when you might not need one)
-How to protect your music from being claimed by anyone else
If you’ve ever been trapped in an old music contract or just want to make sure you never end up in this situation this one’s a must-watch.
Got a question or story about the music industry?
Go to https://MatthewRix.com and send it in.
The more details you share, the better advice I can give and your story might help other artists too.

#MusicIndustry #RecordDeal #IndependentArtist #MusicContracts #MattrixMinute #MatthewRix #ArtistAdvice #MusicBusiness #LabelIssues #MusicLaw #IndependentMusic #RapperLife

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Hey, and this is Matthew Ricks with the Music Business

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newsletter and today's email. We got a rapper from Birmingham,

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Alabama who signed a record deal back in twenty eleven,

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then the label shut down in twenty thirteen, but twelve

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years later, he still doesn't have his release papers. So

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let's see if we can help him. But before we

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dive into this emails that you like and leave a comment,

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subscribe to this channel, make sure you share it with

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your friends in the music industry. And if you have

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a question on the music industry that you want my

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help with, just go to Matthew Ricks dot com click

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submit your question. I don't need you to become a

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member or to buy a book or join my Patreon.

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Just go to Matthew Ricks dot com. Give me as

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many details as possible, and we will answer your email

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here on the channel. So let's dive into this email

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and see if we can help him. Hi, my name

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is Bob and I'm a rapper from Birmingham, Alabama, he says, Uh,

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I'm hoping you can give me a little guidance on

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a situation that's been hanging over my head for more

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than a decade. More than a decade. Man carrying the

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burden for more than a decade, carrying their water. Okay,

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let's continue, he says. Back in twenty eleven, when I

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was in my early twenties, I signed a deal with

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a small independent record label here in the South. I

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was young, hungry, and honestly didn't know much about the

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industry or how it works. I thought it was my

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big shot. The crazy part is the label never paid

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for anything. No studio time, no advancements, no marketing, nothing.

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I was making all my own music at home, on

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my own setup. I handled my own recordings, mixings, and

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even started collaborating on tracks with other local artists. So

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they didn't pay for anything. You signed a deal, you're

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still in your home studio, which nothing wrong. Nothing wrong

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with that. Most great rappers have the home studio. Anyways,

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there's no marketing. They didn't release anything, so there was

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nothing to market. You're making everything at home, you're mixing yourself,

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collaborating with other artists. He continues. By twenty thirteen, the

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label basically disappeared. They stopped put out any music. The

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website went dark, and nobody responded to my emails or calls.

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It was like the whole thing just shut down overnight.

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It probably did. I actually worked for a label in

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two thousand and six that was a sub of Sony,

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and these guys lived here in Nashville, had the giant

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mansions in Brentwood, if you know anything about Nashville, and

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they had offices, they had employees besides me, and one night,

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just you wake up in the morning and you drive

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to the office and there's a padlock on the door.

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They closed without telling anybody. Artists din't know what was

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going on. We had to fight like and then all

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of a sudden, I started because I was out of

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a job. I started helping the artists at that moment

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get out of their contracts and get their masters. This

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situation is different because you were doing everything yourself and

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they weren't. They weren't paying for anything. And a lot

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of indie labels if they do put money up and

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it doesn't look like you you didn't mention you paid

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anything up front or anything, and they were releasing other music.

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They probably went broke overnight. That's just you know, okay,

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we can't we can't keep lying to ourselves. We can't

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do this anymore. His email continues now in my thirties,

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still doing music. Good for you. Have been releasing everything

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independently for the past twelve years with zero problems, okay like,

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he says. I've even done some collaborations with artists who

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are on different labels. He says, I've built a small following,

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dropped several projects, and the features have gotten me a

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lot of exposure. That's awesome. Good for you, man, what

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a way to bounce back you. How many artists I

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know who are signed to indie labels. Any label goes

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bust or somebody quits, and they're you know, guys are

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selling their gear on Facebook marketplace. Within a day, all

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the dream is over. But the one thing that still

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bothers me, he says, is that I never got my

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release papers from that old label. Who cares? Who cares?

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He says, I've tried reaching out to anyone connected to it,

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managers of other artists, producers, even old bandmates of bands

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that were signed to the label, but it's been total silence.

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Don't I hope you haven't spent too much time trying

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to track this down? He says. Nobody responds and most

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of their contacts are long gone. To make it more confusing.

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I recently found out that the same label name is

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now being used by a European record label that has

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nothing to do with hip hop but European death metal.

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But I can't help but worry that they might stumble

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across my old contract one day and try to claim

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ownership or cause problems. How are they going to find

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your contract? Is your is your Is your contract posted

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somewhere on the internet? That like, if if I google

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this name of the record label, I'm gonna find your

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contract that man. I hope all, I hope the these

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two things. You're trying to get your release papers after

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twelve years, and you're worried about a Norwegian or a

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European death metal black death metal record label who's got

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nothing to do with hip hop finds out about you.

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They're gonna hold you to the contract. There's no way

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they were one. They would have to even before Okay,

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it would never happen, first and foremost, but let's just

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say it did. They would have to produce the contract now,

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unless because you're worried, they're gonna stumble upon a contract,

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unless that contract is posted online and they're gonna find it,

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and they're so enthralled with your music that they're gonna

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come crawling back. I mean, if this label, okay, okay,

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if the label started last year and you've been putting

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music out independently for twelve years now, if it even

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went to court, which it would never go to court, never,

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when they're in Europe. You're here in the States with

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this label in twenty eleven, and you guys just started

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this label last year. It's not the same label. These

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two things. I mean, obviously you're googling because you're still

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trying to actively pursue to get a release paper. You're

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releasing music on your own. You're on other collapse that

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are with artists on labels, and for twelve years now,

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almost thirteen years, you haven't heard a peep from that label.

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I wouldn't I And now you're and I know you're googling.

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That's how you found the European label. You're spending way

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too much time on this, My guy, way too much time,

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he says, I don't have another label trying to sign

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me right now. But I just feel so much better

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having that release document officially in my hands, proof that

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I'm free and clear from that deal. Do the label

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closed twelve years ago. What are you wait? I mean,

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I hope, I hope You're not losing a lot of

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sleep over this. This would be a stupid thing to

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lose sleepover. You're never gonna get the release papers, dude,

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I bet right now if you were to track down

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the people from this label, they don't even have the

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function to get you the release papers. They probably don't

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even remember what's in the contract. So it continues. So

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my question is, what can I do to finally get

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my release papers if the original label doesn't exist anymore? Well,

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I like how you put the original label like it's

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like this new label's an offshoot of the old label. No,

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they just took a name because your record label never

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had it, probably copywritten or trademarked or anything like that.

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It's probably a cool name because it was an indie label,

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so they probably wentn't cool this label grabbed it because honestly,

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there's probably no recollection of the label that you were

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assigned to fifteen years ago, fourteen years ago, even on

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the internet. So when you put the original label that

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acts like this is a new offshoot, it's not. How

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do you finally get your release papers? You don't. I mean,

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if you're releasing music independently, you're on collapse. You've been

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putting music out for twelve years independently. You haven't heard

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a word from these guys. I want to worry about

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it because also, let's say they came crawling back tomorrow

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and like, hey, you're our artist, youos money. They've been

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dormant for twelve years. You will be able to prove

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that they abandoned the contract if it had to get

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to that point. But it won't because I think these

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guys started a label, they lost your shirt, and they

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moved on with their lives. That's it. He says. Is

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there a legal process or document I can create that

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proves them independent? Now? Why? Yeah? You know you know

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what that document is. Twelve years of you releasing music independently,

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you being on collapse with another label, and that record

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label didn't contact your current label looking for a Sideman clearance.

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I mean, you couldn't get a lawyer involved to track

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them down to get papers. But you're going to spend

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thousands of dollars to do this because you know, if

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they're not in Birmingham, then you're gonna have to find

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a lawyer who you know who does law in whatever

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state they're in. You don't even know what state. I mean,

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they could have moved over the last twelve years. Then

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you're gonna have to get a process or a server

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to serve them the legal documents. You're gonna have to

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get a lawyer to write these letters. If you can't

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find an address or if they don't respond in time,

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then you got to take it to litigation. You got

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to take it to court. You're talking thousands of dollars

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to get a piece of paper you don't need because

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you're worried that some European death metal black death metal

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label is gonna be like, hey, you hip hop artists,

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you're ours now. They if you contacted that record label

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out in Europe today and you are like, hey, guys,

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have you ever heard of blah blah blah artists? I'll

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tell you no, you're this. I truly hope you're not

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losing sleep over this. He continues, It's been over twelve

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years since that contract became expired by them closing, and

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I've moved down with my career, right, so why are

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you looking back? This is like you know you will

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a guy, you know you have a guitar player who

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left the band ten years ago, and the band still

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like stalks his Instagram page to see what he's up to,

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like let it go, move on. And you've said you've

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moved down with your career. You kind of have. I mean,

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you're releasing music, but you're still stuck in this you.

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I mean, go write yourself a piece of paper and

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say I've released you from the label, you know, like

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you just put like, Hi, I'm Bob, I released myself

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from Bob's label, sign Bob. That's all you're gonna get anyways,

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especially after this point, he says, I just want this

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old ghost from my past to stop hanging over my head.

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It shouldn't be. It's been twelve years. You've heard nothing

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from these guys, and if they really were looking, they

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would have saw that you've been releasing music for twelve years. Okay.

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They don't have your masters. I don't see anywhere. I mean,

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you're doing everything yourself. They don't have your masters, releasing

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music on your own. You're collabing on other artists to

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our sign. Why are we being so dramatic and saying

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this old ghost from your past, why is it hanging

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over your head. I would not even think about this,

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He says, thank you for an advice you can give me. Matthew,

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You've helped a lot of artists get clarity, and I

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could really use some right now, here's your clarity. Stop

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thinking about this, Stop stop worrying about this, because this

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is just like paranoia right here. And I don't mean

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to like trash you, but we're worried about a record

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label that expired twelve years ago or the close twelve

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years ago. And I've been releasing all this music. But

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what if and then what if this label who took

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the name and just started finds out about my contract

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and they honor it. That doesn't even make that that

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does That doesn't make any sense at all, any I mean,

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that's you know, what if my neighbor just tells me

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I'm in charge of their mortgage? Now what do I do? Like,

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doesn't make any sense? Like I Like I said, I

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hope you're not losing a lot of sleep over this.

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Your label closed twelve years ago, It doesn't sound like

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it was. I mean, I don't know. You didn't say

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anything about it being toxic or them locking you out

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or they just disappeared overnight and you've been releasing music

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on your own. Just go on with your life. To

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have this old ghost hanging over your head, like that's stupid,

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Like let's just be real, that's stupid, that's like really dramatic. Yeah,

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I would just move on with my life. I wouldn't

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even think about this. I wouldn't think about the label.

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I want to keep trying to reach out to people.

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I would just move on with my life. They're not

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bothering you. You're not bothering them. You don't have a label.

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You don't have a label interested in you. Which even

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if you did, I'd still sign a contract. I'd get

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a lawyer, but I'd still sign a contract. I would

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just want to worry about this anymore. Like focus on

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the things you can control, focus on the things that

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you can can grow from. This is not one of them.

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This is you stalking an X, This is you stocking

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an ex band member, an old boss for twelve years.

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But good an email. Thank you. It was entertaining. And

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if you have a question on the music industry, go

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00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.879
to Matthew Riggs dot com click submit your question, give

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you as many details as possible, and until next time,

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I will talk to you later.