Under a licensing contract,the record label licensed a work that had already been recorded and packaged. It had the right to exploit that recording only for a predeter mined period of time ,typically to seven years. Unlike a contract to produce and own a master, a licensing contract obligated the label to pay the artist an up-front fee (advance), which was intended to defray some of the costs the artist had incurred in developing the album. Compass generally negotiated advaness of $3,000 to $5,000 if the artist sought a very large advance (i.e. $20,000 or more). Brown believed that it made more sense to own the master recording instead. Under a licensing arrange ment, additional costs included updates to the album's packaging (around $500) and touch-ups to the master itself, although generally not required. Marketing and promotional costs associated with the licensed recording were usually the same as those for the purchased master.