A music lawyer is a specialized attorney who deals with legal issues surrounding the music industry. They are trained to handle a wide range of legal issues, like contract management, copyright claims, trademark disputes, artist representation, and many more.
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AnswerDo you need a lawyer for the music industry?
Feb 28, 2022 · music attorneys can help draft and present terms that are beneficial for both parties. This will prevent artists from being exploited for their talents while creating a brace flow of income for the label. Attorneys can besides help artists find better opportunities elsewhere, in case talks with one recording label goes awry .
What does an entertainment attorney do for a living?
Oct 20, 2021 · Music lawyers are entertainment lawyers who represent many different professions within the music industry. They may spend their time drafting and negotiating record label and live performance contracts on behalf of music artists. Music lawyers may also work with songwriters, managers, producers, and record labels, drafting and negotiating …
How does music law affect the music business?
Jun 12, 2009 · Music lawyers are under the umbrella of entertainment law, and many specialize in a certain part of the music 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 is also something to consider.
What are the duties of a songwriter?
Jul 03, 2020 · For superstar level clients, the Music Lawyer may also assist in licensing their image for merchandising purposes or handling the paperwork on sponsorship/endorsement deals. They may even get involved in non-business legal matters, such as prenuptial agreements or divorce settlements.
What is a music lawyer called?
Entertainment Attorneys handle all legal matters for musicians.Jul 3, 2020
What skills do you need to be a music lawyer?
A masterful understanding of music law and intellectual property, serious attention to detail, and a healthy sense of risk management. Persuasive negotiation tactics and, relatedly, a sharp, logical brain. Fierce dedication to / protection of those they work with.Jan 25, 2019
What does a lawyer at a record label do?
A record label lawyer is responsible for overseeing the legality of contracts and other transactions between musicians and the parties who pay them. They can negotiate contracts between artists and record companies, as well as copyright agreements and other binding documents.Oct 4, 2019
Where do entertainment lawyers make the most money?
Average salaries for entertainment lawyers vary by city. For example, Law Crossing reports that average salaries were highest in Los Angeles where they earned $165,000 per year. Those working in Glendale and San Franciso averaged $164,500 per year. New York City entertainment lawyers averaged $161,000.Jan 20, 2022
How can I study entertainment law?
How do you become an entertainment lawyer?Earn a bachelor's degree. The first step to becoming an entertainment lawyer is earning a bachelor's degree. ... Pass the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) ... Apply for law school. ... Earn a law degree. ... Consider a certificate. ... Pass the bar examination. ... Gain professional experience.Apr 8, 2021
Why do musicians need lawyers?
There are extensive record deals to be signed, intellectual property to be protected, and trademarks and copyrights to establish. Musicians need lawyers because navigating these areas can be difficult and sometimes even impossible without the right know-how.Aug 14, 2021
Who do music lawyers work with?
You might be wondering why does a musician, writer or producer need a lawyer? Essentially, a music lawyer is part of the team, advising on legal issues and helping to guide the business aspects of a career in collaboration with other members of the team such as the manager and accountant.Jan 23, 2020
When should you get a music lawyer?
Always consult an attorney before using someone else's work. Are songwriters making significant money—say, more than $1,000 annually—on streaming royalties, or is it really just a game for larger corporations with a great number of copyrights, and maybe a superstar at the highest level?
What to Know Before You Seek an Attorney to Represent You
Heather McDonald wrote about music careers for The Balance Careers. She has worked in the music industry for over two decades.
Determine Your Needs
Music lawyers are under the umbrella of entertainment law, and many specialize in a certain part of the music 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 is also something to consider.
How to Find a Lawyer
Once you know what you need from a lawyer, start asking those in your music industry circles. You are almost certain to know someone who has had to visit a lawyer for a music industry issue before.
Meet With Your Short List
Whether you do it by phone or in person, have a brief question and answer session with your short list of lawyers. Find out what they specialize in, how soon they can work on your case, how much they charge and what their payment terms are. If you get a bad feeling or just don't hit it off with a candidate, don't feel any obligation to hire them.
Why is music law important?
Music law is important to creating and performing music . Music lawyers do their part to help their clients understand the laws and protect their interests. While the music industry primarily involves licensing and contract law, music law may involve a number of different types of law that are all a part of creating and performing music.
What is music law?
Music law includes any laws of any kind that apply to the business of creating, selling, performing and listening to music. Music law is a part of entertainment law.
Why are contracts important in the music industry?
Many performers and event producers are independent contractors, and music producers rely on distributors to sell their work. For all of these people in the music industry, contracts are important to make sure that everyone involved has clear expectations. Even consumers use contract law in the music industry. Anyone who buys a subscription to a music service or even buys a concert ticket has some interaction with music-related contract law.
Can you buy sheet music without a license?
Buying the sheet music alone doesn’t give a consumer the right to perform a musical work. Instead, the purchaser needs a license to perform the work live. Exceptions to licensing requirements are called Fair Use. The courts look at fair use exceptions on a case by case basis in order to determine whether the performer violates licensing laws by performing the work without a license. Some fair use exceptions include:
Do musicians need a visa to travel to another country?
To enter the United States, non-citizen musicians generally need one of a number of different P category visas depending on the nature of their work. Music lawyers must help their clients secure the visas that they need in order to enter the country for their intended purpose.
Do musicians pay taxes?
Whether you’re a U.S. citizen, a lawful resident or simply in the country for a short duration to perform, all musicians in the United States are subject to U.S. tax laws. U.S. citizens may also need to pay taxes for what they earn abroad. In addition to tax liabilities, there are tax exemptions and deductions that may help musicians like a deduction for a home office or expense deductions for self-employed musicians. Music law may involve tax law to the extent that music lawyers may help their clients comply with tax laws and lawfully minimize their tax liability.
What are fair use exceptions?
Some fair use exceptions include: Criticism of the work which may include praise as well as negative comments. Satire. Commenting on the work.
What does a music lawyer do?
For superstar level clients, the Music Lawyer may also assist in licensing their image for merchandising purposes or handling the paperwork on sponsorship/endorsement deals. They may even get involved in non-business legal matters , such as prenuptial agreements or divorce settlements.
What is entertainment attorney?
Entertainment Attorneys help their clients to understand legal agreements, ensuring that the terms are in their clients’ best interests. They work with Recording Groups, Record Producers, Songwriters, Music Publishers, Record Label Executives, Music Producers, and Composers. They negotiate recording, merchandising, touring and publishing contracts, as well as Producer agreements.
Who is Kamal Moo?
Los Angeles-based Entertainment Attorney and Manager Kamal Moo focuses on indie artists and labels, having worked with a wide range of clients from Grammy-nominated hip-hop violinist Josh Vietti to Warped Tour and ex-Epitaph Records band I Set My Friends on Fire.
What do people think of entertainment attorneys?
When most people think of Entertainment Attorneys they envision a flashy, high-powered office and an intense workload. While this is certainly the case at many big-name firms, other Attorneys find this type of corporate environment doesn’t sit well with their creative clients.
What does Moo say about being successful?
Of the experience and skills necessary to become successful, Moo says, “it goes back to just being good with people. A lot of clients have said to me, ‘You’re so easy to talk to; the last Entertainment Attorney I talked to was a real jerk and made me feel stupid.’ It’s not brain surgery. Anything in law can be made simple. My goal is to explain a lot of things so people understand.
Is law school expensive?
Law school is very expensive and you have to consider this before getting into that much debt. Try to learn. There are lots of books and blogs out there, lots of ways to learn about the industry. There’s a great book called All You Need to Know About the Music Business by Donald Passman.
What is the role of a record label?
The main function of a record label, or recording company, is to manufacture,distribute, market, promote and sell an artist’s music. The artist and the recordlabel enter into a written “recording agreement” which governs their relationship.Some of the key provisions in recording agreements include: the term or durationthe agreement, the number of songs or albums to be recorded, the royalties to bepaid to the artist, the territory (the countries where the record label can release orsell the album), the budget for recording, marketing and promotion and thegeneral rights that the artist grants to the record label. Recording agreementsare often 50 to 80 pages long and contain complex language and terms that arenot only difficult to understand but can significantly impact the artist’s rights,obligations, and compensation. Accordingly, any time an artist gets offered arecording contract they should consult an attorney to review the agreement,explain its terms to them and negotiate with the record label to get the fairestpossible deal for them.
What is royalties for music?
While performance, mechanical and synchronization royalties are the mainsources of publishing income, revenues from the sale of printed music can alsobe substantial. A songwriter receives royalties from a print license any timesheet music of his song or a folio or collection of his songs is sold. The royaltiesreceived from print licensing are usually a few cents per copy printed.
What is mechanical royalty?
Mechanical royalties are fees paid to the copyright owner of a song (usually thesongwriter and/or the music publisher) for the right to reproduce the song on arecording. The U.S. Copyright Act provides that once a song has beencommercially released, any other artist can record and release their own versionof that song in an audio-only format (CD, cassette tape, vinyl, digital downloadetc) without the copyright owner’s permission so long as they pay the copyrightowner or the copyright owner’s publisher the minimum statutory royalty rate forevery copy of their version of the song that is pressed and distributed. Theminimum statutory (“mechanical”) royalty rate is currently 8.5 cents for each copyof the song that is pressed and distributed but that amount increases periodicallyand is computed differently if a song is more than five minutes long. Usually, therecord label releasing the recorded version of a copyrighted song paysmechanical royalties to the publisher or songwriter according to the terms of acontract called a “mechanical license agreement”. Mechanical licenses can beobtained through the Harry Fox Agency (www.harryfox.com) or can benegotiated directly with the publisher or copyright owner of the song. Mechanicallicenses do not apply to dramatic works such as operas, ballet scores, andBroadway musicals.
What is a synchronization license?
synchronization license is required any time the performance of a song isaccompanied by visual images. Synchronization licenses are issued when songsare included in audiovisual works such as movies, television shows, TVadvertisements, video games, etc. The fees paid for synchronization licensesvary according to the usage and the importance of the song. While a ten-secondbackground use of an unknown instrumental song in a television show maygenerate a fee of only a few hundred dollars, the fee for the use of a full-lengthperformance of a hit song in a major motion picture or national advertisingcampaign can be in excess of $100,000.
What does SM mean in a trademark?
Use of the symbols “TM” or “SM” (for trademark and service mark, respectively)usually indicate that a party is claiming “common law” rights in the mark. Thesesymbols are often used before federal registration is obtained.
What is a service mark?
service mark is a trademark that is used in connection with services. Forexample a band can obtain a service mark in its name to be used in connectionwith its live performances (entertainment services) and can also obtaintrademarks in its name in connection with the sale of its CDs, t-shirts, posters etc(goods).
What are the problems in the music industry?
Looking forward#N#In this post I have identified five major problems that the music industry faces today: 1 Low payouts to the artists 2 Inefficient payment system 3 Lack of transparency 4 Lack of information 5 No global database of copyrights
What is IMDb in music?
Internet Movie Database (IMDb) exists in the movie industry, as a global, public registry with metadata for movies. Several attempts have been made in the music industry to create a similar, universal registry that every copyright owner can upload copyrights to. [33] .
Who Does Music Law Impact?
- Music laws impact most people in society in one way or another. Music law impacts the people who write music and the distributors who purchase the rightsto perform and sell music. Music law also impacts performers who must have a legal right to perform music. Businesses that seemingly have no relation to music law like restaurants must ensure that they comply with mus…
Federal, State and Local Laws May Apply
- Music laws may be federal, state and local. There are a number of federal lawsthat impact the music industry. There are also state laws that may vary from one state to another. Even a local authority like a municipality may make a law that impacts the music industry. Music attorneys must be careful to look at all sources of law in order to advise their clients.
Licensing and Publishing
- The person who writes a song owns the legal right to it. They may choose to perform the song themselves, or they may choose to sell the rights to perform the song to someone else. A song writer can sell the rights outright, or they can allow someone else to perform the song while they get some of the profits. In addition, it’s up the artist or record label to negotiate with the song’s o…
Broadcasting
- Another important area of music law is the law that applies to broadcasting and the live performance of music. There are many entities that broadcast music. Radio stations, television stations, bars, restaurants and even schools broadcast music or perform it live. There are music laws that determine what a person or group must do in order to broadcast or perform music. Be…
Live Performance
- Buying the sheet music alone doesn’t give a consumer the right to perform a musical work. Instead, the purchaser needs a license to perform the work live. Exceptions to licensing requirements are called Fair Use. The courts look at fair use exceptions on a case by case basis in order to determine whether the performer violates licensing laws by performing the work withou…
Other Areas of Music Law
- While music law focuses primarily on copyright law and licensing, music law also involves other areas of law in the music business. Other types of law that are part of music law include:
Who Practices Music Law?
- Music lawyers are entertainment lawyers. They’re primarily contract lawyers, but they also work in all of the fields of law that music law may involve. Music lawyers also handle dispute resolution that may include formal litigation. While music lawyers work throughout the United States, they may concentrate in areas where musicians need their services. Some music lawyers may functi…
Why Become A Music Lawyer?
- For attorneys who enjoy contract lawand negotiations, music law may be a good fit. A lawyer who advises their client in all areas of music law may have a well-rounded practice. Lawyers who enjoy music may enjoy working on behalf of those in the music industry. Music law can be academically challenging, and it can involve many different types of law. A music lawyer can tailor their practi…
Keeping The Beat with Music Law
- Music law is important to creating and performing music. Music lawyers do their part to help their clients understand the laws and protect their interests. While the music industry primarily involves licensing and contract law, music law may involve a number of different types of law that are all a part of creating and performing music.
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