ASK MY MANAGER! Words to live by.

24 12 2007

So here’s a scenario: You just finish a show. A fan buys you a beer and introduces himself. Turns out he is a graphic designer and has a great idea for a t-shirt which will incorporate your band’s name. You half-way listen, notice the shirt he is wearing now (one of his original designs) and say: “sure, that sounds great.” He mumbles something about how amazing it is going to be and that he will talk to you when the shirt is ready to sell. At this point you are more interested in the bartender or perhaps who is going to buy your next beer.

What’s the big deal? Just a harmless conversation? Maybe.

Two months go by. You walk into your favorite store and almost soil yourself. Sure enough, there is a t-shirt with your band’s name on it in a design that is somehow vaguely familiar. When you ask your buddy working at the store where he got the shirts (which are selling for 40 bucks a pop), he says: “we bought them from some local designer; isn’t he part of your crew?”

Two thoughts probably enter your head: (1) who the hell made these shirts without asking me and (2) why aren’t we getting paid one dollar out of the forty dollars being paid for each shirt?
Now you have to get your lawyer involved and pay her to figure out what happened and why? All this from some seemingly harmless conversation at some random club.

The more established you are as an artist, the bigger target you become to “entrepreneurs” who see only $$$. When your fan asked you if you wanted him to make a t-shirt for your band, you said yes. Your conversation, to him, was a contract. The payment terms, representations and warranties will all fall into place later (if ever).

Keep this in mind, what may seem like nothing more than a few words between you and your fan may be an oral contract to your fan. If the right set of facts exist, oral contracts are just as enforceable as a written agreement.

This again points to the importance of having the right team assembled. It is so much easier for a musician to turn to any fan who wants anything (and I mean anything from a t-shirt designer to a girl who wants to dance in your next video) and say these three important words: “ASK MY MANAGER.” Directing any questions or demands to your manager, lawyer, business manager lets you focus on what you do best and avoids situations like the rouge t-shirt designer. Make those three words your mantra. Live by them.


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Categories : Uncategorized

Myspace: Think Before You Post

13 12 2007

Myspace has helped to revolutionize the way new music is heard by the public. Bands who had to earn their stripes for decades by traveling across the country in a 1978 Chevette and stopping in every po-dunk town’s VFW to earn gas money at a show attended by winos who thought they were there to play bingo, can now reach a wider audience via sites like Myspace. No longer do artists have to wait for that one-in-million chance to land a record deal. If done correctly, strategic downloadable postings of excellent music will allow artists to not only get their music to a limitless audience, but get labels, A/R types, music marketing gurus and others with the ability to pay artists for their music to actually come to them. Yet, a musician who knows she has a real future in music (whether as a signer, songwriter, producer, lyricist, musician) should still think a bit before she goes crazy and gives all of her music away for free.

The reasons to not put your music on the internet as a downloadable form rather than streaming are manifold. Some reasons are obvious, like the fact that once it is on the net as a downloadable file, it will always be available for free. Whether it is on a website hosted in Greenland or on a blog written by a Russian 11 year old, that file will be out there and available. An artist cannot scream piracy if he was the one who handed his work product to the pirates in the first place.

Free posts of music may also come back to haunt an artist someday. For example, lets say a band is lucky enough to be able to license its music to a Ford for use in Ford’s new on-line ad campaign. Ford will undoubtedly want to have the exclusive right to use the track. In any license agreement which seeks exclusivity, the artist will be asked to promise (represent and warrant) that no other license agreement exists for the song and that the song is not currently licensed or being used by another party. If that song was posted somewhere 2 years before the Ford deal, the minute the ad-campaign is launched, you can bet that the song will pop up somewhere else. Now the band is going to lose out on the money promised to it from the exclusive license agreement and may actually get sued by the Ford. Not a good situation.

Artists should work with their management/legal/PR team to develop a plan where they can strategically pick the songs, if any, that they want to give away. Musicians have to remember that if they ever gave it away they can’t take it back; they can disclose the fact that it was out there at one time, but they will never be able to undo the post. I think that the car campaign example is not the norm, but the point is this: think before you post.


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Categories : Law, Music and Business

Learn from the Fresh Prince!

4 12 2007

When Will Smith was still in high school he and DJ Jazzy Jeff released their first album. By the time they were 19, they had hit commercial pay dirt with “Parents Just Don’t Understand”. The money came pouring in and Will truly lived like a prince.

In a recent interview, Smith estimates that he made around 7 to 8 million dollars that year. He also admits that he probably spent 7 to 8 million dollars in the same year. One tiny problem, he didn’t pay the 2 to 3 million dollars owed to Uncle Sam. The U.S. Government doesn’t care who you are or what you do for a living, if you don’t report income, you are going to pay, and pay big.

Smith has since learned his lesson and undoubtedly has a team of lawyers and accountants handling his millions. For most of us, we cannot afford, nor do we need to keep lawyers and accountants on our payroll. However, by checking with professionals, not only will you be able to pay the right amount of money in taxes each year, you may be able to save or protect your assets from Uncle Sam’s reach.

One quick example brings us back to the LLC. Your everyday expenses that you incur while on the road, on tour, or on location, can be itemized on your tax return as a business expense if you run your music/entertainment business as a business. Learn from the Fresh Prince’s mistakes. If you don’t incorporate or organize your business you are not only exposing yourself to personal risk, but you are going to lose money. I’m pretty sure you are in the business to make money, not lose it.


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Categories : Music and Business


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