James Reid. Image: Instagram/@james
James Reid said he considers himself a hands-on leader of Careless Music, as he spoke about the importance of artists knowing their worth by paying close attention to their contracts.
In an interview with MEGA Magazine, Reid stressed that an artist’s contract is “overlooked in the entertainment industry” where he pointed out that there are some who “fall into the trap” of signing contracts without double checking what it stood for.
“I was very hands-on, especially when it came to contracts. I became the unofficial paralegal of Careless because I was very particular about contracts. There’s a lot to look out for. I think it’s overlooked in the entertainment industry,” he said.
The singer-entrepreneur then pointed out that some artists “signed away 20 years of their working life” which ignited him to be more passionate about the topic, although he didn’t disclose who had been through this certain trap.
Reid said since he began wearing his manager’s hat, he has become very passionate about the artist’s contract, seeing the failure to scrutinize such an important document as a “trap.”
One such trap, he said, was the duration of the contracts. “I think a lot of people just really overlook that and they end up falling into perpetual contracts and renewing contracts, and they don’t realize they’ve just signed away 20 years of their working life,” he said.
Reid recalled his earlier days in the entertainment industry where he had always been a “rebel,” but stressed that he always wanted to be a creative who did things “on [his] own terms.”
The “u & i” singer also stressed that artists should be given the room to take “more risks,” and that he wants to inspire them to be confident in doing so.
Reid, who founded Careless in 2017 with Bret Jackson, said in a Philippine Daily Inquirer interview in January 2024, that his label aims to create “progressive content” that aims to connect with more audiences outside the Philippines.
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