How is it that some singers/artist are appeared to be signed to more than one record label?

Question

For example, 50 cent I think is signed to Interscope, Shady, and G-Unit! Does he get paid by all three companies? And wouldn't he make 3 times more albums than normal? And also, why doesn't he just drop from Shady because he makes a lot more money with G-Unit because of shoes, cloths, and records.

Answer 1

Interestingly enough, most artists aren't signed to more than one label at a time. What at first appears a 'confusion of labels' depends on: times-of-recording; varied and various management of the band; and, of course, multiple contracts. This seems to be happening more and more within the genre of rap. Mostly it seems to occur because the band's personnel is fluid: they work with different producers and help each other out. Still... it does happen sometimes.

A really good example is UK band The Kinks. At one point in their lives as musicians, The K were owned by at least three managers and three organizations/labels. The '60s into the '70s were a time when confusion reigned. Ray Davies indicated that his songwriter's royalties didn't start arriving until the '90s!

OK. This is a short answer and open to debate. But, the music bizz is littered with unusable and often illegal 'bits of paper': spurious contracts. Hope this helps, at least partly, to explain your query.

"Don't be denied",

Paul

Answer 2

Maybe he was signed to one company (Shady for example) and then he signed with Interscope or vice versa.
Or maybe he's doing different things with each one, different records.
Or maybe even Shady and G-unit are under Interscope too!
That's all I can come up with!

Answer 3

Thats not 3 labels - they are all owned by one guy - 3 different companies. seperated for the reasoning if one goes bankrupt the owner doesn't lose everything he owns. Enron did the same thing Enron had atleast 10 other companies noone ever heard about.
But yes 50 cent does get various checks from each entity.

Answer 4

G-Unit is kind of like G.O.O.D music whereas all of 50's protoges (Like Kanye's) are members of that label. Shady records is a part of Interscope, much like Def Jam is a part of Universal.

Answer 5

plenty much less confusing than installation your person record label. What radio channel could prefer to play a band no ones heard of who launch their own documents ? not many shops could even prefer to sell your record. It in simple terms sounds unproffessional ... Im not asserting it cant be achieved a lot of bands have set up successfull labels nickelback and the bluetones spring to techniques not that im partial to the two band