Music Business/Law Tips - "Co-Publishing Agreement Deal Memo"

If an artist is entering into a co-publishing agreement with a music publisher, even though the actual formal contract might be between 10 and 50 pages long, all publishing deals generally boil down to just a few key issues which can be set forth in a Deal Memo to get the parties started. See below a sample Co-Publishing Agreement Deal Memo to give an idea of the points to focus on in this situation. Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com --->My new book "Music Business In 10 Easy Lessons" is now available for purchase on Amazon at the following link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B91ZZ48/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520448664&sr=8-1&keywords=music+business+in+10+easy+lessons\ *** CO-PUBLISHING DEAL MEMO Effective Date: ____________ This Deal Memo shall be between Songwriter ("X") and Publishing Company ("Y"). This Deal Memo shall be a binding agreement until superseded by a more formal agreement. The parties agree as follows: Terms 1. Term: Initial Period of 1 year, with 2 1 year options. 2. Territory: World. 3. Advance: 1st period ($50,000), 2nd period ($75,000), 3rd period ($100,000) 4. Copyright Split: 75/25 5. MDRC: Deliver 10 songs period, at least 5 have to be commercially exploited 6. Approvals: Pornography, religion, politics, product endorsement 7. Reversion: Any song that is not commercially exploited within 2 years post-Term shall revert 8. Demos: X shall retain rights to demos unless Y paid them. 9. Accounting: Y shall account to X 2 times a year 10. Expenses: Any expenses must be customary and verifiable The parties acknowledge that there is good and valuable consideration. ____________________________________ X ____________________________________ Y

Music Business/Law Tips - "Recording Agreement Deal Memo"

If an artist is entering into a recording agreement with a record label, even though the actual formal contract might be between 10 and 100 pages long, all record deals generally boil down to just a few key issues which can be set forth in a Deal Memo to get the parties started. See below a sample Recording Agreement Deal Memo to give an idea of the points to focus on in this situation. Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com --->My new book "Music Business In 10 Easy Lessons" is now available for purchase on Amazon at the following link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B91ZZ48/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520448664&sr=8-1&keywords=music+business+in+10+easy+lessons\ ***************************************************************************** RECORDING AGREEMENT DEAL MEMO Effective Date: ____________ This Deal Memo shall be between X Company ("X") and the artist Y ("Y"). This Deal Memo shall be a binding agreement until superseded by a more formal agreement. The parties agree as follows: Terms 1. Work For Hire Agreement. 2. 1 + 4 option albums 3. Territory = world 4. Advances per Album: 1st album = $50,000 2nd album = $75,000 3rd album = $100,000 4th album = $125,000 5th album = $150,000 5. Exclusive Deal. 6. Royalty = 15% of wholesale & 50% of master use license income. 7. X can recoup all recording and promotional costs. 8. X guarantees to release each album within 6 months of delivery. If not, Artist can terminate. 9. X will guarantee a marketing commitment per album of a minimum 1 single released to radio and 1 promotional video. 10. Y shall have the right to approve the following: songs, artwork, producer and use of music in relation to porn, religion or politics. The parties acknowledge that there is good and valuable consideration. ____________________________________ Artist ____________________________________ Label

Music Business/Law Tips - Blockchain for Music

There has been a lot of recent discussion of how the use of the emerging "blockchain" technology - currently being applied to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin - can be implemented in the music business to help ensure that artists, songwriters, producers, record labels and music publishers can better be paid on the billions of "micro transactions" taking place online each year with relation to the digital performance and sale of music. Although complex, the key to this working comes down to the metadata embedded in the music via digital watermarking or fingerprinting. Each musical track is a "block" which contains the relevant information such as the artist, songwriter, producer, record label, music publisher, performance rights organization, splits, etc. (the more comprehensive and specific the better). A block pops up anytime there is a use (i.e., stream, sale or remix). Hence, this will help ensure that the proper parties get paid their share of royalties as platforms like Spotify and YouTube will have this information to properly account (and pay quickly without having to wait for old school twice a year accounting schedules). Bottom line, this should increase the volume of music transactions and consequently make more money for the rights holders - a very good thing! Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com

Music Business/Law Tips - Being Your Own Music Publisher

If you are a songwriter, in order to be able to be paid all the monies you are entitled from performances of your works, it is very important to set up a "publishing" entity since you are your own publisher (at least until you do a publishing deal with a third party which may or may not ever occur). The 3 basic steps do so are as follows: 1. Choose a name. Make sure it is unique/not common. Many folks opt to incorporate their own name (e.g., John Smith Music Publishing). 2. Join a Performance Rights Society (i.e., PRO) like BMI, ASCAP or SESAC as that body will collect and pay you for your performances on radio, TV and online. Then make sure all the works are registered with the PRO so they can track and collect. Note you will also need join the PRO as a "songwriter" as well. You can register online or via regular mail. 3. Register your works with the Copyright Office for legal protection and proof of creation. You can register online or via regular mail. Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com

Music Business/Law Tips - "Register And Get Paid!"

If you are releasing music independently (where you own and/or control the master and/or are a contributing songwriter), you need to make sure you file/join the following to ensure proper payment on that content: 1. Join SoundExchange for digital performance royalties on the master both as a label and performer [soundexchange.com]. Note related to this is Neighboring Rights income which may apply to some of your masters that are being broadcast or performed outside of the US. You can collect Neighboring Rights income by joining and being repped by an administrator that does that like Kobalt or Wixen (they have divisions just for Neighboring Rights income collection). 2. Get ISRC codes for any master released (including for remixed versions) for digital royalties as income streams attach to each version (same also for each video master). 3. Form a YouTube Channel for uploading and monetization of any videos embodying the masters (and make sure you elect to monetize the videos and any user generated videos that contain your content). 4. Register all the songs you write or co-write that you release with BMI, ASCAP or SESAC (and join one of the PRO’s if you have not). 5. Register all the masters/songs with the US Copyright Office. 6. Join Harry Fox so you can get paid for your share of any mechanical royalties on the songs you write or co-write (I believe they will collect worldwide via their overseas partners and on video mechanical income as well). 7. If you are currently with an aggregator like the Orchard, Tunecore or CD Baby if you do not want to have direct accounts for yourself you can elect to have them collect some/all of the above (and you need them to get up on the Apple, Amazon and Spotify platforms anyway), but of course there is usually some sort of middleman fee or deduction on top of what the source deducts. Make sure at a minimum your aggregator has you up on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify (but preferably up on all digital storefronts and streaming companies). Ben McLane Esq Benmclane.com

Music Business/Law Tips - "Sampling Issues"

With all the new low cost digital devices/technology, sampling music has become more prevalent (and harder to detect). However, producers/users have to realize that unauthorized sampling - even of small sound bites - is generally considered copyright infringement. One can try to argue fair use or minor use as a defense, but why even take the chance (and with music recognition software like that found on YouTube eventually the sample will probably be discovered). It's always best to approach the owner of the original sound recording and/or the underlying composition (as applicable) and send a written request asking permission, or work out a "split" agreement whereby everyone involved with the new work that incorporates the sample can get paid (or instead use pre-cleared samples or search for Creative Commons licenses). If the project is low budget or indie, maybe the user can get a free or low dollar "festival use license" with a contingency that if the song takes off he/she can pay a more standard sample fee later. Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com

Music Business/Law Tips - "Making Money From Videos"

Artists these days can make money off the videos that they upload to YouTube. The money is called "ad revenue" ("AdRev"), and its generated by inserting or allowing ads in or attached to videos. The main types of ads one can get paid for are set forth below to see the differences: 1. "Bumper Ads" (short ads of a few seconds that cannot be skipped); 2. "Sponsored Cards" (ads that offer products for sale that appear in the video); 3. "Display Ads" (ads that pop up to the right of video); 4. "Skippable Ads" (ads that play for a few seconds before they can be skipped); 5. "Overlay Ads" (banners that pop up under the video); and 6. "Non-Skippable Ads" (a 30 second ad that one must sit through to watch the video). In order to participate in YouTube AdRev, first an artist must join YouTube's "Partner Program", and then create an "AdSense" account to monetize the ads (but one has the option of opting out of some/all types of ads or just for certain videos). Normally, an artist will want to allow all types of ads to maximize profits (unless he/she has strong feelings about being associate with a product, for instance). The ads are generally placed randomly via an algorithm where YouTube is trying to target market based on an artist's and the artist's videos metrics/data. Since its hard for new artists to make money off record sales these days, AdRev is a good stream of income (and any video can be monetized - not just the ones that have millions of views - but as the views increase so does the AdRev). Ben McLane Esq benmclane.com