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The real math
of a record deal.

Move the sliders. The label sells the advance and the co-sign. Here is what the deal actually pays you, when you actually see a dollar, and what the same success pays you as an independent who owns their masters. No spin, just the arithmetic they'd rather you not do.

Deal type major

Total streams 50,000,000

Advance $150,000

Your royalty rate 18%

Recoupable costs (recording, video, marketing) $400,000

-streams before you see your first dollar

Reaches the master side-

Your royalty share of that

You must recoup first-

Your total cash on this deal-

Same streams, independent-

Independent advantage-

Who owns the master-

There's a free way to sound like a label record →

The whole studio, given away. That's the point.

Where these claims come from

The figures in this calculator model publicly documented mechanics: statutory rates, disclosed streaming payouts, and standard recoupment structure. The primary sources:

Read on 2026-08-15. If one of these has changed and this page is now wrong, tell us and the correction is dated.

The real mathof a record deal.

Where these claims come from

The real math
of a record deal.