Artists and managers frequently believe that music attorneys have special powers to get the artist signed by a major record label. In reality, especially today, most music attorneys have no better luck at getting an artist signed than a non-attorney. A music attorney will only have success in getting an artist signed if (1) that attorney has a pre-existing relationship with a record label’s artist and repertoire ("A&R") representative, (2) the music is amazing, and (3) the A&R representative is in a position to make an offer to the artist, depending on the financial situation of the particular label.

While Crumpton Law has relationships with several A&R representatives, the firm focuses its efforts on providing legal services to artists, rather than becoming involved in the promotion of the artist. With the exception of a few genres, most A&R representatives of major record labels are looking to sign artists who have already had success, independent from a major record label. Many A&R representatives consider total albums and songs sold, MySpace and iLike plays, and the number of dates booked on an artist’s concert calendar, just as much as they consider the music and ability of the artist. In other words, in today’s music business, demo shopping would be a waste of time and money, unless you were already doing really well, in which case, you may not even want to be on a major label.

The firm believes that artists are likely to be more successful if they strive to achieve independent success first, and then major label success, depending on the individual artist’s goals. Crumpton Law provides more cost-effective and higher quality representation to its clients by focusing on legal matters and assisting artists in developing their own small business. For those reasons, Crumpton Law does not offer demo shopping services.