Dedalus
Mercurial and fleeting
The only worthiness for a recording contract is the quantity of people likely to buy your stuff.
The quantity of people likely to buy your stuff substantially increases when your marketing team pimps the product to the masses sitting at the table - waiting for you to put something on their plate.
Newsflash: unsigned bands do not have marketing teams.
Name me one crap laundry detergent that doesn't say it washes whiter than the rest?
The detergent with the most commercials wins - whether it is truly better than the rest or not.