first part of an article from Nashville Scene (I'll cite the reference and link after wards)

In a widely circulated essay titled "The Problem With Music," producer Steve Albini, best known for recording Nirvana's In Utero, describes the mental image he conjures when he thinks of a band about to sign a record deal. It's a trench 4 feet wide, 5 feet deep—and it's filled with shit. An industry shill stands at the end waving a fountain pen and a contract. Nobody can read the contract, but that doesn't stop anyone from clamoring for it:

The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there's only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the lackey says, "Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke." And he does, of course.

Some 20 years later, young rock bands are still swimming that trench. The old industry model of excess may have changed, but it's still a story of big promises, sold-out shows, famous meet-and-greets, six-figure advances. And then, inevitably, it is the story of silence. Phone calls not returned, a revolving door of executives, labels merged, records shelved, bands dropped—or sometimes, deals negotiated for months that fall apart before the band has even signed.

In Nashville, it seems, every band is always talking to a big shot. Word gets around fast that this band is showcasing for Warner Bros., while that band just sent their demos to Interscope. The cheap-seats perception is that if you can just get that deal, you can distribute your record, tour, win hearts and minds, etc. Ostensibly, the only problem is getting your music in the right guy's hands.

But if the Nashville curse used to be that no local rock band could snag a record deal, then perhaps now the curse is that they can. Because for each of the bands included here, the deals came easily—arguably too easily. In each case, it was staying afloat afterward that proved most elusive. Here are four cautionary tales of bands that for whatever reason, to paraphrase the old song, seemed to get everything they wanted—but lost everything they had.