Selling Your Soul: Music Industry

If you have ever had any interest in the music industry, you may have heard the term of “selling your soul”. The term is chilling within itself, however what does this mean necessarily? Does it mean you literally have to sell your soul to another entity for success? Does it mean you will lose control of yourself?

What. Does. This. Mean?!

Well, the answer may not be as simple as you think.

Depending upon what you believe spiritually/religiously, the answer could be yes to both questions. For Christians, the “devil” is in all forms of sin and the music industry can certainly be proclaimed as evil. But if you do not consider yourself religious, then the answer may ring a different tune. This article will answer these questions as objectively as possible.

Does it mean you literally have to sell your soul to the devil?

Throughout this blog series, we have talked about the dangers of signing major record deals as well as the advantages/disadvantages that accompany them. Based upon that information, it can be considered “selling your soul” to sign a contract in which you relinquish your creative, financial, and managerial control over your art. The act of “selling your soul to the devil” can be literal if you consider record labels “the devil”. If you were to consider major record labels — who frequently use manipulative contracts to place artists into helpless situations — “the devil”, then you would not be fanatic. Record labels have proven to continuously place employees in compromising situations through confusing contracts.

Taylor Swift is an infamous example of a superstar caught in a common, yet unfortunate situation most major recording artists face. Swift has achieved worldwide commercial success with over 50 million albums sold. However, since she signed a major record contract, she does not own any of her masters. In 2020, Scooter Braun was able to sell her masters for over $300 million. Taylor Swift received nothing from this sale. It can be said that she had, in fact, “sold her soul” because she had no ownership over her most personal possessions: her written songs.

The music industry can be beautiful when art is created with freedom and peace of mind. But the industry can be filthy when the art is created by pained artists caught in different forms of prisons.