Major contracts

[Lord Rosemount]

Hi all! Very much enjoying this game, which I found thanks to Colonel Failure on Youtube. He's making a highly entertaining series that I can very much recommend. I have a band that's mostly based on the great movie 'Casablanca' and the European theatre of World War 2, called, naturally, 'Beautiful Friendship'.

My question is, can anyone shed any light on the criteria for being offered a major/international recording contract? I've done just about everything there is to do in this game besides that, but considering I'm getting at minimum tens of thousands per gig and only bother writing 100-point songs, I think I'm ready, coach. Put me on the team!

I've been doing tours outside my region for a while, but I wondered whether there might be a threshold - or a formula for a threshold based on manager skill - involving popularity in the other region, or my own region, or both. I need to know where I should be directing my efforts to get that done, and ideally what I should be looking for before I can expect it to be offered.

[thelamaknows]

I second this question. I'm not quite as far as the OP but I expect my next release to be top 10 if not number 1.....in Europe (Brussels based Manager) but I have nothing released in the US. If I tour the US the band still gets 'theater' size gigs mostly with only a few bars.
Is the country of release tied to the manager's home the way 'local gigs' are? Do I need a US based manager to release in the US?

[Bohemian Rap City]

I was offered my first multi-region contract after my 2nd contract release. I advise you to look at each contract offer fully, since the only differentiation in the contracts is at the bottom of each where it tells you which regions. It is easy to read the offers criteria and skip the bottom of the contract when a multi-region contract is slipped in with single region contracts offering the same basic terms and conditions.

[Lord Rosemount]

Thanks: yes, I've been looking at that section of the contract offers and it's very clear that they're only for the one region. Also I'm not sure what level of marketing expenditure I should expect for a major contract, but the levels in the latest batch of offers were on a par with what I was offered the last time, which I know can't have been a 'major contract' because aside from them being for one region only, I don't have the achievement yet.

[Lord Rosemount]

Originally posted by thelamaknows:

I second this question. I'm not quite as far as the OP but I expect my next release to be top 10 if not number 1.....in Europe (Brussels based Manager) but I have nothing released in the US. If I tour the US the band still gets 'theater' size gigs mostly with only a few bars.
Is the country of release tied to the manager's home the way 'local gigs' are? Do I need a US based manager to release in the US?

I do know that if you want to release a record in the other region besides your home one without having a multi-region deal, yes, you would have to sack your manager and pick one up who's from that region. Presumably you'd also struggle to get as good a contract there, because you wouldn't be as popular. That's why I'm looking for a multi-region deal with enough marketing money behind it to give me a good chance of a top 10 or number 1 release.

[OldGamer]

So I got a multi region contract on my 5th album (Death in the city) which was also a 2 album release contract.

I had never been to US/Canada before getting that contract but was very popular in Europe and had 100 rep in my home city and around 20 in others.

However, I tour...a lot, so not sure if it was this that made me get the contract.
This is also on easy.

My medium save, I managed to have a multi region contract on my 4th album with my Jazz Duo "Allman Original"'s free jazz album "King of Wellington".

My hard save, I am on my second album "Enter Avernus" with Queen of Dungeons, which was part of a 2 year deal which is only region based (EU).

[Bohemian Rap City]

I never sign 2 year contracts, and have had dual region contracts at all levels. I like the downtime between contracts to record singles and eps and then write new material before taking a new contract.

I know not everyone agrees with me on the value of hits on an album, but I make sure I have 2 hit songs before taking a contract.

[OldGamer]

Originally posted by Bohemian Rap City:

I never sign 2 year contracts, and have had dual region contracts at all levels. I like the downtime between contracts to record singles and eps and then write new material before taking a new contract.

I know not everyone agrees with me on the value of hits on an album, but I make sure I have 2 hit songs before taking a contract.

If I like the royalty percentage I tend to sign it, just so happens I had 2 year deals with quite good royalties (25% on one of them)....

Yeah I go for 2 hits, my last album had 5 in EU and 5 in US haha
I write a lot of songs though and just picked the ones with the "toe tapping" comment and tried to be varied in my attitudes (2 of each).
I say 2 of each as there are some I never go for, the opposites of the ones I choose.
aka 2x Hatred not Love for the Deathseekers
Whilst Queen of Dungeons is straight edge, celibacy and Christianity not their counterparts.

[Bohemian Rap City]

Well that is only one of the reasons I love the game. So many ways to win w/o needing a cheat mod.

[Mattrock607]

My strategy, largely after reading comments from Bohemian and others, is to write until I get two hits, then gig locally in NYC to build them up, launch the album, gig locally for a month, then tour for two months, and by then I've got enough songs written in hotels for the next album. I should aim for more hits though. On my current playthrough I have six albums released and my best chart position has been #40.

[Bohemian Rap City]

Originally posted by Mattrock607:

My strategy, largely after reading comments from Bohemian and others, is to write until I get two hits, then gig locally in NYC to build them up, launch the album, gig locally for a month, then tour for two months, and by then I've got enough songs written in hotels for the next album. I should aim for more hits though. On my current playthrough I have six albums released and my best chart position has been #40.

There is no reason to change your strategy, unless you just wanna try the "what will doing this do?" strategy to tweak your own.

[Mattrock607]

I just want to be more like you guys, getting hit records faster than I do lol. Six albums to get to #40 was maybe bad luck though. On a previous run I had a #1 record in three releases. My next playthrough I want to take my time, release a low grade demo early, and then gig/ tour/ write and not release my first proper contract album for two or three years, and see if that helps.

[Bohemian Rap City]

Well hit songs are totally chance, but they are the main reason I play the game. I never name a song unless it is a hit, and I only add song files to named songs. I really get a kick out of that, for some reason. I guess at my age you have to take pleasure in the little things.

[Mattrock607]

I try to name all but my earliest songs. Those just end up being numbered lol. But when I'm finally putting out songs with 70+ quality I name them. Often poorly lol. "For Those About to Yacht" never became a hit. Realism 1/10 lol

[Bohemian Rap City]

Its as good a title as "I'm in Love w/ My Car"