A common issue for artists of all disciplines and their
management is to understand the laws around protection of their work. Often, within the industry, in order to make
money early in their career, artists may sign away the rights to their
work. From an awareness perspective,
this is eye-opening both for the artist and managers to make sure that we do
not forget to read through all contracts and agreements and really understand
these laws before signing or agreeing to anything. Above all, it is a reminder that in these
matters, securing a legal resource can serve as a great protection.
Amazingly, prior to 1972 there had not been copyright
protection for sound recordings or related work. Then in 1976 a copyright act revision was
made to include a termination right allowing original content owners,
songwriters or authors to reclaim the copyright on their work, even though they
previously granted exclusive rights to publishers and major music labels. Under
this revision, these individuals can file a reversion on ownership 35 years
after the original copyright as long as the notice is filed within 2 years
before the end of the 35-year deadline.
This enlightening information was covered extremely well on the Lawyer2Lawyer
podcast under the topic of The New
Legal Battle over Song Rights and hosted by J. Craig Williams and Robert
Ambrogi.
The reason why this topic is so important now is that based
on the 35-year window would apply to any records coming out in 1978 and every
year after that, meaning that fairly significant recordings are soon coming up
for consideration.
From the perspective of major labels, catalog sales are a
major revenue source and accounts for a large number of their sales. There is a lot of music out there that
provides the labels pure profit, specifically if the sales occur
posthumously. In situations where the
label advanced the artist a great deal of money during their career, there is
no recoup for the artist or their estate on this music. Whenever a purchase is made, the label is
able to collect all the profits on that sale.
So the impact of the artist or their estate being able to reclaim
ownership on their music, this could cut revenues to the labels considerably. This legislation was after all, not put in
place to protect the labels, but to protect the authors. It demonstrated advanced thinking on the
behalf of congress that understood the plight of a new artist who will likely
be held to a fairly strenuous contract by the labels and created a way out down
the road.
There are so many considerations for artists who desire to
reclaim their work in this digital age because distribution can now be done
online with little or no overhead costs.
While some labels can still provide marketing and distribution on their
catalogs with an improved payoff to the artist or author, in many cases digital
distribution will create a perfect storm form for artists who decide to reclaim
their catalog or work.
Another area of consideration around copyright law also
brings the subject of blogs into analysis.
From the same podcast, Lawyer 2 Lawyer, the topic of The Legal Issues of Blogs, Fair Use and
Attribution, which is a very sensitive subject because often we consider blogs
to be a safe place to express our opinions, thoughts and business positioning
within the digital business place.
However, there are now some legal and ethical obligations that bloggers
and authors may not be aware of.
Unfortunately because of the lack of clear definitions provided through
the Fair Use laws, often bloggers don’t actually properly reference the sources
of their information. While it’s often not done intentionally, there is an
ethical obligation to give credit to the originator of the information and it
is difficult to police on the Internet, but this activity contributes to the
lack of credibility amongst bloggers and dilutes the quality of the
content. While there are no laws in
place that govern this activity on the Internet, it is up to each blogger to be
more responsible in how they handle information. This is an important element for my business
because part of my overall business plan is to feature content that will
provide guidance to unsigned and independent artists to help guide their
career, so I will need to make sure that always reference my sources properly
and give credit where it’s due.
Lastly, in the podcast review the Lawyer2 Lawyer hosts take
on the subject of Entertainment Law &
the Challenges of Celebrity. This is
of particular importance for me to make sure that I educate the artists that I
manage in terms of the development of their brand and image. In recent years, we have seen a number of
cases where artists and celebrities appear in the news for the issues they are
experiencing in their personal lives. In
some cases, we have witnessed them battle addictions, broken marriages and the
resulting decline in their popularity.
It is incredibly important for artists to understand that in this new,
very visible position, they must be well aware of the legal ramifications of
their actions because it can cost them, literally.
Listening to these blogs have provided a great deal of
insight for me in areas that I was not well educated it, but has definitely enlightened
me into things I need to be aware of for myself and the artists I manage.
It serves as a great reminder that we should all be
creatively minding our business…
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