How do you get a record deal in the UK?

Do you need a record deal?

A label does three things for you. It pays money up front, it pays for recording and marketing, and it brings a team and its contacts. In return it owns or controls your recordings for years.

Getting your music into the shops and streaming services no longer needs a label. A distributor does that for independent artists too. So the real question is whether you need money and people at a scale you can't reach yet, and whether it's worth what you'd give up.

For most emerging artists the gap is an audience, and a label rarely fills that gap first. When the artists in our community ask each other for help, record deals barely come up. The questions are about getting heard, finding people to work with and how to release.

What does a label give you, and what does it take?

The Musicians' Union says an advance should be non-returnable and only recoupable from future record royalties. Paying it back from your royalties is called recouping. Most labels send statements twice a year, within 60 or 90 days of the end of June and December, and a payment comes with the statement only once you've recouped.

What kinds of record deal are there?

An exclusive recording deal. The label pays for the recordings, owns them, and signs you for one album with options to ask for more. This is what most people mean by "getting signed".

A licence deal. You make and own the recordings, and the label licenses them for a set time and set countries. If you paid for your recordings yourself, the MU says it generally advises licensing them and keeping the copyright, unless there's a very good reason to sign them over.

A production deal. The MU describes these as deals where a studio owner, or someone with studio access, signs an act with the plan of selling the act or its recordings on to a bigger label. Free studio time can come with one. The MU has a short studio agreement to cover you until the real terms are agreed.

A distribution or label-services deal. You usually keep your recordings. The company gets them into the shops and services, sometimes with marketing on top, for a fee or a share. Our music industry guide explains how a distributor differs from a label.

A 360 deal. The label shares in more than your recordings. More on that below.

When artists tell us on first calls about deals they've already signed, the most common story is one that did very little for them. A share taken for distribution alone, with no promotion behind it. Royalties that didn't arrive. Recordings they no longer controlled. Music taken down when a subscription lapsed. Fewer told us a deal had worked well.

What is a 360 deal?

A 360 deal gives the label a share of your income beyond the recordings, such as live shows and merchandise. Which other income it reaches depends on the contract. The Musicians' Union puts it this way: "a 360˚ deal sees record companies looking after everything from management to live shows and merchandise. This is comfortable for some artists, but others might take the view that the label is taking a cut of lucrative revenue streams."

Of the money music brings in for the artists we speak to, live fees come up most often. So a share of live can be a share of the part that's already working. If you're offered a 360 deal, get these answers in writing:

• Which income does it take a share of, and how big is each share?
• What will they actually do for each one? A share of your merch with no merch plan behind it is just a cut.
• Before or after costs? And whose costs?
• For how long, and does the share carry on after the deal ends?

What do labels look for before they sign someone?

Think about what a label is buying. It puts money into you hoping to get more back, so it looks for signs that will happen, ones it can check without meeting you:

• Songs that are finished, and that sound like the same artist from one release to the next.
• A release record: releases spaced out, each one planned, rather than one track every year or so.
• Listeners who stay. Saves, follows and a listener count that keeps climbing after release week. A spike that drops straight back down tells them very little, and bought streams can count against you. Our paid promotion guide has more on that.
• A crowd in your own city: shows people come back for, and a list of fans you can reach.
• A clear identity, so they know who the music is for.

None of this guarantees a deal. It's also exactly what you'd build if you never signed one, which is why the work is worth doing either way.

How do you get your music in front of a label in the UK?

With the artists we work with, we put the label question after the work a label would look at. Once that's in place:

1. Find the labels that already release music like yours. Look at who released the records of artists a level or two above you in your genre and your city. A label that never puts out your kind of music won't start with you.
2. Get to A&R through people. Producers, promoters, radio presenters, other artists and music conferences all know A&R people. A track passed on by someone they trust gets heard in a way a cold email often doesn't.
3. If you do email, keep it short. One line on who you are, one private link to your best two or three tracks, the numbers that show growth, and where people can see you play next.
4. Keep releasing while you wait. Labels often watch an artist for a while before they get in touch.
5. If an offer comes, slow down. Ask for time to have it read by a music lawyer before you answer, and don't let a deadline rush you.

What should you check before you sign a record deal?

The Musicians' Union's page on record label contracts sets out what to look for. Among its points:

• How and when you're paid, and the royalty rate for streaming and downloads, with no reductions hidden in it.
• The advance: non-returnable, and only recoupable from your record royalties.
• Deductions. The MU's view is that only recording costs and personal advances should come out of your royalties. It says never to agree to cross-collateralisation of advances against non-royalty income such as PPL, or income from other contracts. That means the label taking its money back from your other income.
• Length. The MU says to aim for as short a deal as possible, especially with small labels that can't guarantee enough advance each year.
• A release commitment. A clause saying the label must release what you record. If it doesn't, the MU says you should be able to get the unreleased recordings back, usually by repaying the unrecouped recording costs or letting the label keep a royalty on them.
• Who owns the recordings. If you already own some, are you signing them over or licensing them?
• Re-recording. How long after the deal you can't record those songs for anyone else.
• Exclusivity, and what happens if a band member leaves or the band splits.

This page is general information about how record deals work, not legal advice on your situation. Before you sign anything, ask a music lawyer or the Musicians' Union. The MU's Contract Advisory Service gives members up to an hour of a specialist solicitor's time on a music contract at no extra cost.

Checked against the Musicians' Union's record label contracts page and its Contract Advisory Service page, 28 October 2026.

Where does HyperTribe fit?

We're a development team for independent artists. The artist decides and signs everything; we give options and take no commission. We do the groundwork with you every week, with a Monday check-in and live sessions, and tell you the one next step. The aim is that if a label conversation ever comes, you know what you want from it and what you'd give up. We don't promise you'll be a star. We help you do the work, built around you.

Not sure where you are yet? The free stage check places you at one of the five stages, with what to do this month.

Where this fits

Choosing who to work with, and on what terms, sits under every stage of artist development. The pillar guide has all five stages, and the music industry guide explains who does what before you meet any of them.

• Artist development: what it is, what it costs, and how to tell it's working
• How does the music industry work?
• What is a split sheet? The paper independent artists skip
• How do you copyright your music in the UK?
• How do independent artists make money?
• How to grow as an independent artist: the next 90 days
• Should you pay for music promotion? A decision rule
• Artist development stage checkfree tool

Questions artists ask