I'm an independent recording artist/composer/producer/engineer, and I have pretty much zero experience with the business part of the music industry. In fact, I'm still working on my first serious album, and have never sold anything.

I was recently approached by an international company that licenses music for compilation CDs for a style of dance, [="http://www.nianow.com/niasounds"]Nia[/]="http://www.nianow.c…"]Nia[/], and they wanted to license [[url=http://="http://music.relicp… one of my songs[/]="http://music.relicp… one of my songs[/] for their upcoming compilation. I agreed to the terms ($500 advance + 10¢ per CD/DVD sold), simply because the exposure of being on these compilations alone would be worth it. Keep in mind, I've never played a show before, had zero promotion, and minimal exposure, so this deal was a no-brainer.

Here's where I need serious help. Or even just a frame of reference dollar-wise for what artists generally make off of tracks/albums.

The president of the company has now been pressuring me for another deal of a buyout of the track.

Ownership, in exchange for:
- $1500 advance in royalties
- a music video for the song

I'm hesitant to do this, initially, because I am entirely naive of the workings of the music business. I've heard bad stories about artists getting ripped off, and I don't want to be a fresh fish who gets hoodwinked into a terrible deal. Secondly, the track is going to be a cornerstone of my upcoming album, and I'm really not keen at all at having to license that same track back from someone else in order to use it on my own album.

The exec is citing the benefits of having a music video and getting exposure from selling the track, but the company has already licensed the track for their upcoming compilation album... so I will already be getting international exposure from that. So basically it's $1500 advance in royalties (which I would get anyways by waiting a few years) and a music video, in exchange for my track. The guy is no dummy, and he does have connections (has licensed many songs in the last 5 years... check out the track lists on the compilations). And he does know the business, and could be a very valuable person to work with.

Is there anyone out there that has experience with buyouts? Or can give me some sort, any sort of reference for the details of what a standard buyout usually runs for? I have absolutely no frame of reference right now, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Or even, can anyone tell me a rough estimate of what the average independent label pays the artist for an album (or a general average per track)?