Legal Advice - An Entertainment Industry Must Have (Meetup Group)

It is a Saturday at approx 4:30pm and we just arrived home from our second meet-up group. As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, we went to Breasia Studios for a meet-up. An Entertainment Lawyer was kind enough to provide members of the group legal advice. He provided us with an informative presentation on Copy Rights. The setting was really laid back and he answered all of our questions from a professional and informed perspective.

Photo courtesy of Breasia Studios

We discussed the means and process of publishing, protecting, and advancement of our music through a vast amount of resources he provided. We also discussed the advantages of registering with Performance Rights Organizations (PRO's) such as Broadcast Music Inc (BMI), and American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). PRO companies collect royalties on behalf of copyright owners. For instance, if your an artist who has a song being played in a bar in Washington D.C., that bar must pay a fee to BMI/ASCAP to play your song. BMI/ASCAP will then send you a check (quarterly) to compensate you for your artistry. It is a way of controlling who uses your material and making sure you get paid your percentage of royalties.

We also talked about Copyright laws regarding payout. Did you know the minimum a record company can pay a songwriter for copyright per song is $0.091? We had no idea but believe it or not that 9.1 cent can add up if a song is successful. This $0.091 rate is not a requirement or a standard. The benefit of negotiating deals is you can ask for anything you want for your music. If you want $8.00 a per unit (song) you certainly can ask. The difficult part is convincing the other party your deal is just as beneficial to them, if not more, as it is to you.

Photo courtesy of Breasia Studios

At the end of the day business is just that, business. Everyone involved is in it to make money. Typically a record label or publisher has more to lose when signing deals/agreements because you are not their only liability. The opportunity for you/me comes when your musical abilities are in-demand. This gives you the upper-hand and the chance to get the money you want and believe you deserve. Keep in mind, during a recession most businesses are more willing to negotiate terms that would benefit you more now than a couple years ago. Basically, ask for and take as much as you can. (Always get it in writing)

If you are interested in Entertainment Legal services in the DMV area, contact Mr. Conroy C. Harding, Harding Law Group, directly at www.hardinglawgroup.com. He was a cool laid-back guy who gave us solid advice and comes highly recommend by Breasia Studios.


PRO's:

BMI Website: http://www.bmi.com/licensing
ASCAP Website: http://www.ascap.com/

On a side note, we will not be posting video footage of John Legend, The Roots, Ozzie Ozbourne. We found out that we could get sued for putting live performances on our blog. With that said, it's a no go.


As always, thanks for reading

Chuck Anderson
CEO, BSMG

P.S.  Eric Emerick, BSMG COO, is a primary reason for BSMG's existence and future.  I do most of the blogging but outside of the music it's all him.   From designing and creating our website, keeping us organized, and managing day-to-day operations his knowledge and resources are invaluable.  I thought I would mention this because with him doing the behind the scenes work he has very little exposure to our readers and fans.  We are a fantastic team with nothing to stop us but ourselves!