Cody Simpson reveals he's only just paid back record label cash advance after 15 years
Almost two decades after signing their first record deal, a huge star has only just paid back their cash advance.Cody Simpson, 29, has shared insights into his career and his sudden rise to fame.
Aged just 12, Cody and his dad, Brad, left their home on the Gold Coast, Australia, and headed to New York to meet with record label executives at Warner Music. On his 13th birthday, he attended meetings at the label's Manhattan office and later found himself singing for the CEO.
It was this trip that would change Cody's life forever. After his visit to New York, he returned to Australia for six months before being offered two major record-label contracts, eventually signing with Atlantic Records. His label later petitioned for a US green card for Cody, meaning he and his family moved to Los Angeles so he could work on the record, which produced his debut album, Paradise.
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"You know, but I think it was certainly more than my parents had ever seen in one go," Cody said of the financial aspect of the decision. Talking to Paul C. Brunson on , he went on to add: "It was big. At the time, they used to do these things called 360 deals, which, oh, great, like I'm kind of still at it in some ways. Like, they still own a lot of my early catalogue and all that stuff. But it's like they took a cut of everything."
Prior to 360 deals, the record label would take only a percentage of an artist's record sales. "Everything else was yours," Cody explained. He added: "Everything else, aside from the actual pure sale of the CD, was yours. And then once the birth of the internet came and pirating and all that stuff like CD sales and record sales alone started to decline a lot.
"And so, as often as they could, would sign you to these 360 deals in which they took a cut of anything to do with your likeness. Which, for a lot of artists, like you, don't really have a choice. If they're going to give you this massive cash advance. And if it's kind of like that or nothing, you know, a lot of people are going to take that."
The La Da Dee hitmaker went on to add: "And I think at the time we just didn't know any different and I was like, okay, this is just how it goes. You know, I now understand it's not always that way, but I think for them, taking the risk on this 13-year-old kid from Australia, it was kind of like, you know, it made the most sense for them and everyone involved."
When signing his deal, Cody was offered a cash advance. However, 15 years later, he has only just managed to pay it back. He explained that his label would spend $200,000 on a music video shoot, and that each day he worked in the recording studio would rack up a bill.
"I was under no impression that I had to pay it back," he told Paul Brunson. Cody went on to explain that aged 14, he would find himself in the studio at 3am, and despite him saying it "doesn't sound right," he "loved it," as he'd gone from waking up at 5am for swimming training to living in Hollywood.
After signing to Atlantic Records, Cody went on to achieve global success with hits such as I Wish U Were Here (feat. Becky G, iYiYi (feat Flo Rida), and Pretty Brown Eyes. He also joined global hitmaker Justin Bieber on his Believe Tour across the United States and the UK.
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