A Valid Question & Concern
As a supporter, you want to make sure that the money you spend reaches the artist that you want to support. Abrasive Monologues is not a traditional label. We’re not about pocketing the money supporters spend with the artists that they love. A few pay case scenarios are demonstrated below.
Artist Direct
In an artist direct pay agreement, Abrasive Monologues sends 100% of the money a supporter spends with an artist to that artist. The only money they lose is the money we can’t help because it is getting absorbed by fees from third party payment systems on the way to the artist. These fees are usually minimal, but they must be paid.
Once the funds reach the artist, they can decide how much, or if, they want to contribute back to label operations.
Artist Split
In an artist split agreement, money paid by a listener is split between Abrasive Monologues and the artist based on a predetermined percentage. This allows the artist to contribute back to Abrasive Monologues without have to pay a third party processing fee multiple times. The artist is still in control of their contribution.
Artist split would also apply if there is more than one artist on a song and each needs to split the royalties from streaming or purchases. In that case there will be a split agreement between the label and the artists or between the artists themselves and pay systems will be set up to automatically honor that split agreement.
Label Direct
From time to time, we will collaborate on projects, compilations and merch that will be available through services like Bandcamp. In those cases if the artists is specified as Abrasive Monologues, or various artists, those releases were built specifically to fund the label. All of the artists on the release have agreed to contribute 100% of the funds from those sales to the continued operation of the label.