Judicial Approval Of Contracts With Minors - A Necessity For Businesses (Record Business, Modeling Agencies & Tech Companies)

If a person or entity contracts with a minor they need to understsand the law. From managers to production companies to modeling agencies, and even technology start-ups, the predicament of employing or contracting with a party under the age of eighteen has become an increasing problem. The minor is not bound by the contract and may disaffirm the contract at any time during minority or within a reasonable time after reaching majority. Without a valid written agreement the employment is “at will” under the law of most States which means the minor can depart at any time. The dilemma created by a minor’s ability to disaffirm a contract is that it may seriously jeopardize the employer’s financial investment in the services of the minor whether it is the ongoing efforts of an agency to develop the career of a young talent or the technology company’s expectation that is owns the copyright in the code created by the teenage whiz kid it employs.

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URGENT NOTICE: Department Of Justice Deals Devastating Blow To America's Songwriters

The NMPA and other songwriter and music publisher organizations have come out strongly against the recent decision by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) which dealt a massive blow to America’s songwriters. After a two year review of the consent decrees that govern ASCAP and BMI, career lawyers who were never elected nor confirmed to their positions, led by a lawyer who previously worked with Google, determined that songwriters should have even fewer rights, less control over their intellectual property and be treated more unfairly than they already are being treated. The DOJ ignored the voices of copyright experts, members of Congress and thousands of songwriters and delivered a huge gift to tech companies who already benefit from egregiously low rates.

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BEWARE: Recent Decision In CBS Lawsuit Over Pre-1972 Sound Recording Could Wreak Havoc In The Copyright World

The recording artist and songwriter communities should take note of a recent decision in ABS Entertainment, Inc. v. CBS Corporation, et al., a case concerning pre-1972 copyrights - and raise an outcry! The Judge in this case held that remastered versions of old songs are entitled to a new copyright and owners of the originals are not allowed to stop the public performance of them.

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Legal Issues With Songwriter Collaborations

Under the US copyright law, an author or creator owns a copyright in his or her work the moment it is “fixed in a tangible medium” (i.e., the moment the expression of an idea is written down or recorded in some manner). When it comes to the recorded music business there are two primary copyrights of interest: one in the musical composition or song; another in the sound recording of that song. A copyright extends for the life of an author plus 70 years, and in the case of collaborators on a copyright it extends for the life of the last surviving collaborator plus 70 years.

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Beware Of The Controlled Compositions Clause

Under U.S. Copyright law, Congress has seen fit to legislate a minimum statutory mechanical royalty rate for songwriters and their publishers.  Based on an upward-sliding scale tied to a cost-of-living index, the minimum mechanical royalty rate is set by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal on a per song per record basis. The current rate in effective is $.091 per song.  However, most record companies use their substantial leverage over fledgling recording artists to cause them to enter into record contracts which purport to reduce this minimum rate pursuant to the “controlled composition” clause - and this provision might also be made to apply to producers and songwriters who do work for those artists.

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The Importance Of Creating A Paper Trail When Submitting Your Work

When pitching a project, whether a TV program or game show concept, a video game idea, a proposal for a book or magazine article or circulating a demo of your song, it is a good idea to file a copyright registration on it before making it public. It is also important to create a paper trail in order to keep track of where and to whom your work is submitted. In the event that you someday decide that someone stole your work or “infringed” your copyright you will need to prove two things in order to win a copyright infringement lawsuit: (1) access to your work and (2) substantial similarity between your work and the allegedly infringing work.

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Practical Legal Tips For Today's Record Producer

It is important as a record producer to understand that each situation is unique, and the relationship between the record producer and the artist varies greatly depending on the arrangement between the parties as well as the genre of music.

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"Sampling" Issues: Questions and Answers

Many clients ask about whether or not they can “sample” from an existing sound recording and how much is permissible to use, and whether or not they need permission to embody a sample in their new sound recording.

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Entertainment Lawyers: Who? What? When? Where - and How Much?

As an artist or creator in the entertainment industry you do not need to know everything about the business in order to succeed, but you should hire people who do. When I was a teenage recording artist back in the late 70’s, I can remember being intimidated by the “suits”. Now that I am on the other side of the desk, I have a broader perspective. I am here to tell you that those “suits” can help you; provided, however, that like any other aspect of your life, you use your instincts in making your selection.

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Sony Music Defeats "Iron Man" Composer's Lawsuit (At Least For Now)

A New York Federal Courts’ recent decision concerning a “work for hire” determination could prove controversial. The Court’s ruling involved “Iron Man”, a rapper from the Wu-Tang Clan and a music composer working in television back in the 1960s.

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How Do I Get My Rights Back: Termination Rights Under U.S. Copyright Law

The 1976 Copyright Act provides for the termination of copyright transfers. It entitles content creators to reclaim their copyrights - regardless of any contract stating otherwise –after certain time periods. So, even if an author, artist, musician, photographer or songwriter signed a contract which purports to transfer all rights in a work for perpetuity, the Copyright Act provides that the author of the work can terminate that grant and demand that the rights revert in a shorter period of time.

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"Blurred Lines" Decision Could Be Overturned On Appeal

It is my opinion as a copyright law matter that this “Blurred Lines” decision will be overturned on appeal.

The genre or musical style of a song is not protectable under copyright law - the lyrics, the melody and the harmony may be, but that was not the allegation in this case. The claim was that defendants copied the style of the Marvin Gaye song, and I do not believe that legal threshold would be upheld on appeal as a matter of copyright law (although a jury might not understand that concept).

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Here's The Score On Sync Licensing

As the composer of a film or TV score or as a songwriter whose song is used in a movie, TV show, advertisement, or video game, under the copyright law you own 100% of the copyright in your work from the moment you create the work and “fix it in a tangible medium.” However, you must be careful what you sign so that you do not assign those rights away without fair compensation for your work. 

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ALL THE BIG STREAMING SERVICES HAVE NOW BEEN HIT WITH NEW LAWSUITS OVER PRE-1972 SOUND RECORDINGS

It started with the Turtles suing SiriusXM, but now all of the leading providers of streaming music are involved in lawsuits concerning pre-1972 sound recordings. New lawsuits have been filed against Apple’s Beat Electronics, Sony Entertainment, Google, Rdio, Songza, Slacker and Escape Media Group/Grooveshark.

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