Dealing with Legal Issues in the Music Industry

Legal issues that face the music industry are no different from what they were over 50 years ago. Since, the digital era has become more of the daily norm we find that the legal issues have started spiral out of control. In the news now are so many different cases involving trademark Infringement copyright infringement, piracy, trade secrets, clearance issues and publicity Rights.

The music industry can be a complex industry especially if do not understand the different issues that are face by the producers, record companies, manager, promoters and artists.  As a manager has to be able to understand music publishing, copyright and performing rights agency. Have the knowledge and the team in place will ensure that everyone is successful in the music industry.

I was able to listen to several podcasts that dealt with some of the legal issues facing the music industry. Most intriguing was Chris Castle an attorney specializing in issues surrounding the music industry. The music industry podcast hosted at the Loyola University in New Orleans. To hear a music attorney speak so boldly of the music industry was unbelievable. Chris stated “file sharing of mp3 would be able to be tracked if you place a watermark on them. Doing so you would be able to monetize the sales of your mp3.” During the conversation, he highlighted one of the first piracy cases, which was against Napster.

Berklee College of Music and MIDEM, in association with the Berkman Center put together another podcast called Rethinking Music, Part I – Creativity, Commerce, and Policy. The guest on the show were Allen Bargreded, and Chris Bavitz,. According to Radio Berkman, “The symposium will focus on economic and policy concerns that dictate the viability of creative industries.”

On the show, they highlighted some of the topics that were going to be discussed such intellectual property, the new business model that is emerging as well as proposals on policy proposals and business models. Of course, one of the main topics discussed on the podcast was about how the Internet has changed how we view TV, film, music, news, and books. Electronic piracy has plague every entity on the entertainment industry. The industry has been scrambling trying to figure how to capitalized and develop new business models to stay ahead.

I had the opportunity to listen to another podcast on music publishing. This podcast hosted by Loyola University in New Orleans and featured Mike Sammis, VP and CFO of Universal Music Publishing. Mike Sammis stated, “Music publishing is the business of acquiring, protecting, administering and exploiting the rights in musical compositions. It is a business based on the songs.”

He also stated “Songwriters enter into publishing, copublishing, or administration agreements with music publishers. In exchange for acquiring the copyright a portion of the copyright, or a percentage of the revenue earned from the exploitation of the musical composition, the music publisher seeks opportunities to exploit the musical composition, collects revenue from exploitation, and pays and accounts to the songwriter. The music publisher share is usually 50%. Recording artists assign their copyrights to a record label in exchange for a negotiated royalty.”

The beauty of music is the creation of where it comes from, so be unique and different!

Sing, write, compose and produce from your heart!