Manager of Grimes and BloodPop launches record deal simulator app

The CreatOS.app was announced by Leonard last night (24 September) as a free resource for "artists, managers and industry executives who want more transparency in understanding how the finances of deals work."

A statement on the site reads, "Many artists sign record deals they don’t fully understand. We’ve created a deal simulator to help artists, managers, and labels model deal options and forecast profits. It’s a rough guide to better understand the finances of how record deals work."

View this post on Instagram

The @createos.app Record Deal Simulator is now available for free to artists, managers and industry executives who want more transparency in understanding how the finances of deals work. #createsafe #linkinbio

A post shared by Daouda Leonard (@daoudaleonard) on Sep 24, 2020 at 4:42pm PDT

The app currently provides a breakdown for three deals including royalty, net profit and distribution, and allows users to include the split between artists and label, the advcance amount and recording and marketing costs.

Once the numbers have been put in by the artist/manager/label, the app then breaks down how many streams the artist will need to pay back the advance before seeing a profit.

The app has received support from artists including Grimes and Questlove, with Grimes writing, "These kind of things will make music less hierarchical and more artist friendly." Questlove wrote, "everything needs to be rebuilt from scratch."

My manager @daoudaleonard made this app!!! It helps you navigate a record deal without a lawyer (or spend less on legal). These kind of things will make music less hierarchical and more artist friendly. More to come. Congrats to D and his team : https://t.co/T2FuL69ji6 https://t.co/HIuqW6D9sK

— FEYD2020 (@Grimezsz) September 24, 2020

A Twitter thread on the app by journalist Cheri Hu includes some interesting examples, one of which is Kanye West's sixth album deal. Hu revealed that with "no marketing costs, Ye still needs to generate 3.2B streams to make $1 in royalties."