Always Know What You’re Signing For
By: Kim Rosenbaum
Tags: Production, Music, Record Label, Rap, Deal

Written By RezonEnt, Edited By Kim Rosenbaum

You may have heard of the new song “Ransom” by Lil Tecca, “Freestyle” by Lil Baby, and “Fuck Love” by xxxtentacion and Trippie Redd. The grammy nominated producer behind these hits is Taz Taylor, the CEO of Internet Money Records. Internet Money Records is a record/production label responsible for providing beats with a unique aesthetic. They have signed a few upcoming artists like Trevor Daniel, Iann Dior, and Chelji.

However, these people are also examples of why it’s never good to sign a deal too early. While every one of them has a story, Chelji is my focus for this message.

Chelji is an artist from the UK. In December of 2018, she signed a deal with Internet Money Records in hopes to help her family financially. Unfortunately, this choice was just the start of her problems to come.

Before even considering signing anything, Chelji made it clear to Internet Money Records and Taz Taylor that she wanted to retain everything about her personal style and fashion. Taz and the team agreed to her conditions but immediately went back on their words once her name was down on paper. They tried to make her change the things about herself that she held dearly in an effort to make her more marketable.

Their attempts fell short when Chelji refused. While her ability to stand up for herself seemed to be a victorious move into control of her as an artist and person, her actions backfired when she was blackballed from the label and everyone in it.

Internet Money Records now refused to fulfill the requirements of their contract, including the provision of all the resources that would let her generate revenue for herself. Now, she was put into a tough situation. Chelji couldn’t release her music or be paid.

And Chelji didn’t have a work visa. Internet Money Records signed Chelji through many loopholes. When she came to the USA, Chelji has an ESTA (Electronic system for travel authorization). This document states that a contract cannot be signed in the USA without a work visa. However, Internet Money hired a lawyer for $25,000 to make the deal look legal and sign her on. While this was a bit of a saving grace to Chelji, it also sunk deep when they decided to take everything away knowing she couldn’t get work elsewhere.

As terrible as this story is, there is some light to it. First, Chelji got by through selling studio time in her home as well as features in other songs. Additionally, despite everything Taz Taylor did to make it look fine, the deal Chelji signed was illegal. It held her back for a while to release music, but essentially the invalid contract was her one-way ticket to artistic freedom — she got out of her deal.

Overall, Chelji signed a deal with Internet Money Records without much knowledge of what that deal would do. She also signed without knowledge of how that label was going to fall back on their words and try to screw her over (almost literally thanks to Taz Taylor). She got lucky, but not everyone does.

According to Chelji “ I don’t want to speak badly or ignite bad blood with my label, but signing was one of the worst things I’ve ever done… if there is one thing I could say to people who find themselves in my position, it’s simple: DO NOT SIGN.”

The moral of this story is: READ YOUR CONTRACT. If you can, also have a lawyer read the contract. If you don’t want to sacrifice your creativity and uniqueness, make sure that your deal gives you FULL ARTISTIC FREEDOM. If you get an offer that doesn’t fit all your needs, it’s okay to wait for the better deals that have yet to come.

https://underviews.com/cheljis-bruises-with-alamo-internet-money-and-the-horrible-reality-of-signing-deals-early/