Advance funding is a payment that an artist or songwriter can receive when signing a contract with a record label, publishing company, or partner like Too Lost. This payment is recoupable, meaning that your royalty earnings will be collected by the funding company until the advance is fully repaid.
Too Lost has partnered with chordCash to provide advance payments to artists directly through your Too Lost account. This partnership allows you to access up to 8 years of future earnings from your music catalog and upcoming releases, all while retaining 100% ownership of your music and choosing from flexible financing options.
Benefits of Advance Funding
- Get paid early: Receive a portion of your upcoming royalty payments in advance, giving you the freedom to invest in your career or personal projects.
- Retain control: Once your advance is recouped and your term ends, you go back to receiving 100% of your earnings. Unlike traditional label deals, the amount you owe will never increase, and the deal is not permanent.
- Flexible options: Choose from customizable deal terms that suit your career goals and financial needs.
Eligibility for Advance Funding
Not every artist will qualify for an advance. Factors that may reduce your eligibility include:
- Consistently having fewer than 10,000 monthly listeners on Spotify
- Earning less than $80-$100 per month from Too Lost
- Having a higher proportion of free listeners versus paid listeners
Artists with 10,000-10,000,000 monthly listeners and engaged fanbases across streaming platforms are most likely to qualify.
How Advance Amounts Are Determined
The size of your advance depends on three main factors:
- Your data: Streaming data and historical earnings help estimate future revenue.
- Contract terms: You control the scope of your deal, including whether it covers your catalog, upcoming releases, or both, and how many years of revenue you want to include.
- Income retention: You choose how much of your streaming income you keep even before your advance is fully repaid.
The combination of these choices determines the amount of your advance.
Funding Details
- Payment timing: Most of your advance is paid within a week of signing. Remaining funds may be released as you publish new music if included in your deal. Any income due before your advance is recouped will be paid within 7 business days of Too Lost sending earnings to chordCash.
- New releases: You don’t need to release new music to receive funding, though advances may be larger if you plan to release music in the next 6-12 months.
- Loans and credit: Advances are not loans and will not affect your credit score. They are structured as the purchase of a portion of your revenue for a limited time.
- Buyouts: If a major label offer arises mid-term, your contract includes a buyout clause, allowing you to exit your agreement. The buyout amount is pre-determined based on your earnings, repayments, and remaining term.
- Recoupment: Most artists repay their advance by the end of the term. If your music doesn’t generate enough income within the term, collections continue until repayment, without additional fees, interest, or penalties.
Customizing Your Advance Deal
While advance amounts are pre-calculated by our system, you can customize several aspects of your deal:
- Term length
- Scope of works included (e.g., catalog only, new releases, or both)
- Percentage of income retained before repayment
These options give you flexibility while keeping repayment schedules realistic.