Week 8 EOC: 10 Legal Questions

AUDIO LEGAL QUESTION

1.      

1.  What are copyright laws?   The copyright holder licenses the work, or authorizes an agent to license work.    Some copyright holder use a creative commons license, giving up some rights such as payments for others such as attribution.

2.  How do I negotiate record deals and songwriter agreements?  There is a thing called musical clearance what that is there are any number of parameters that get factored into obtaining a formal music clearance quotes, such as specific rights and type of media required, term territory, number of units, unit price, step deals, bumps, options or rollovers, corporate policy of the licensor, length of usage, type of usage, profit or  non-profit status, project budget, type of project and subject matter, other composition/recordings within the project, multiple publishers, samples, copyright renewal and or ownership issues, popularity and licensing history of the song or recording, current artist management restrictions and guidelines.

3.  How do you calculate record royalties?  You need to know the AHRA, which is the recording artist royalties.  These are payments that were created from the enactment of the audio home recording act by US congress.  The AHRA imposes an obligation on importers and manufacturers of digital audio recording devices and media to submit a royalty payment set by the statute to the register of copyrights.  The AHRA provides that 66 2/3 /% of those royalties shall be allocated to a sound recording fund.  The act further provides that 2 5/8% of the sound recording fund shall be placed in a escrow account managed by an independent musician who have performed on sound recording distributed in the united states; and that 1 3/8% shall be similarly placed in a escrow  account  managed by an independent administrator appointed by AFTRA, and the record companies and distributed to non featured vocalists.

4.  What is a music manager? A music manager (or band manager) may handle career areas for bands, singers, and djs. A musician or band may hire a music manager, or the manager may discover the band, and the relationship is usually contractually bound with mutual assurances, warranties, performances guarantees, and so forth. The manager's main job is to help with determining decisions related to career moves, bookings, promotion, business deals, recording contracts, etc. The role of music managers can be extensive and may include similar duties to that of a press agent, promoter, booking agent, business manager (who are usually tour cpa, or tour manager, and sometimes even a personal assistant.

5.   Music attorney?  Do you need an entertainment lawyer on a one time only basis, or do you need to keep a lawyer on retainer? Do you need help with contract negotiation or dealing an intellectual property right violation?

Music lawyers are specialized entertainment lawyers, and within the world of music lawyers, many attorneys have further specialized in dealing with a certain part of the industry. Understanding what you need legal help with will make it easier for you to find a lawyer who is up to the task. Knowing whether you are looking to build a long term relationship with a lawyer will also impact the process.

6.   How do I protect my band or artist name through trademark protection?   The selection of a band name creates a host of legal issues.  Obviously, this brief article cannot touch on every legal and intellectual property issue that relates to a band name.  Instead, this article is primarily focused on trademark law.  The most vital and valuable trademarks in the music business are the names of bands and individual performers.  Band names serve the important function of identifying the artist goods and services.

7.  Developing an agreement among band members?    As viral media makes it easier for bands to spread and popularize their music without a record label, even garage bands must start taking the prospect of band agreements seriously.  Band contracts allow members to anticipate and prevent arguments over royalty distribution, song and image rights, band composition and any other problems that may arise during the bands lifespan, in order to avoid spending large sums of money on contract lawyers, band members can opt to sit down and create their own contracts.  These contracts are legally binding and when properly written, will be upheld in courts if a dispute does arise.

8.  Working with music publishers?  In the music industry, a music publisher or publishing company is responsible for ensuring the songwriter and composer receive payment when their compositions are used commercially. Through an agreement called publishing contracts a songwriter or composer "assigns" the copyright of their composition to a publishing company. In return, the company licenses compositions, helps monitor where compositions are used, collects royalties and distributes them to the composers. They also secure commissions for music and promote existing compositions to recording artists, film and television

The term originally referred to publishers of sheet music.. In the late 19th century sheet music was the primary commercial use of musical compositions. Today, the two businesses have diverged, and the large companies known as "music publishers" typically are no longer in the business of producing printed music.

The copyrights owned and administered by publishing companies are one of the most important forms of intellectual property in the music industry. (The other is the copyright on a master recording which is typically owned by a record company.) Publishing companies play a central role in managing this vital asset.

9.  What would I need to make a business plan?  Five steps 1. Executive summary 2. Products and services 3. Marketing plan 4. Management plan 5. Financial plan

10. what about those steps is important to my business plan?  They are crucial for a business to work in the industry.  To have a successful business those plans need to be fallowed to every word and elaborated in detail.

Copy right laws?

2.       In the state of Texas, is it legal to audio tape in the work place?

3.       Negotiating record deals and songwriter agreements

4.       Generating income from your songs

5.       Calculating your record royalties step-by-step

6.       Protecting your music through copyright law

7.       Hiring agents, managers and music attorneys

8.       Protecting band names through trademark protection

9.       Organizing your band or music-related venture as a business

1.   Developing an agreement among band members

1.   Working with a music publisher

Part One. Ownership and Copyright.

1. How a song differs from a sound recording
2. Obtaining copyright protection
3. Registering copyrights with the United States Copyright Office
   1. benefits
   2. application requirements
   3. poor man's copyright as an alternative to formal registration
4. What is a copyright?
   1. exclusive rights in songs
   2. exclusive rights in sound recordings
5. Forms of copyright ownership
   1. joint works
   2. works made for hire
6. Duration of copyright
7. Use of copyright notice
8. Copyright Infringement
   1. determining if a work has been infringed
   2. the fair use exception/how much can be copied?

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Part Two. Musical Groups.

1. Protecting the name of a musical group
   1. trademarks and service marks
   2. choosing a protectible name
   3. trademark registration
   4. conducting a trademark search
   5. maintaining a trademark
   6. if someone else uses the group name
2. Taking care of business
   1. partnership law
   2. what happens if the group breaks up
   3. written agreements among group members
   4. forming a corporation or limited liability company

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Part Three. Managers, Agents and Union Membership.

1. Roles of talent agent, personal manager
   and business manager
2. Selecting representatives
3. Common terms in agreements with talent
   agents, personal managers and business managers
4. The role of the music attorney
5. Union Membership

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Part Four. Recording Contracts.

1. Major record labels versus independent record labels
2. Common terms in a recording contract
   1. exclusivity
   2. duration
   3. recording costs, advances and renouncement
   4. creative control
   5. delivery of masters
   6. royalty rates
   7. warranties, representations and indemnification
   8. special provisions for musical groups
3. Step-by-step calculation of record royalties

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Part Five. Music Publishing and Songwriter Agreements.

1. Music publishing defined
2. Songwriting license royalties
   1. mechanical licenses
      1. compulsory licenses
      2. right of publicity
      3. controlled composition clause
   2. performing rights licenses
      1. performing rights societies
   3. synchronization licenses
   4. print licenses
3. Common terms in a songwriter agreement
   1. single song agreement versus exclusive term agreement
   2. duration
   3. ownership of songs
   4. creative control
   5. delivery of songs
   6. royalties and advances
4. Songwriter as his/her own music publisher
   1. pros and cons
   2. affiliating with a performing rights society
   3. setting up and running your company
5. Co-publishing Agreements and Administration Agreements

Closing