Music Publishing in the Digital Age

 

Back in the old days, an unknown recording artist would look for a record deal the old fashioned way, by making a name for himself through shows and networking. If the artist got lucky, an A&R from a record label would be in the crowd at the artists show, and hopefully the artist is good enough to grab the talent scout’s attention. Once this happened, the artist would get the coveted record deal they sought after for a very long time, and enter into an agreement with a publisher, who usually takes 50% of royalties.

Well 50% is a lot of money to take, and thanks to digital technology and computers, you as an artist no longer have to give up that 50% to a publisher, you can publish your work all on your own! If you go with digital distribution, you can save yourself the publisher costs plus cost of producing a physical CD (who uses those anymore?).

With free marketing tools such as YouTube, Myspace Music, Soundcloud, etc, an artist has plenty of powerful tools at their disposal to do their own promotion and marketing. The distribution can be taken care of by joining a digital distribution company, such as Catapult, your music will be distributed to hundreds of online music stores around the globe. This makes it super easy for as an artist to promote and market your own material, and also easy for your fans to locate and purchase your music.

There are lots of new ways coming around the bend that is changing the way new talent is found and distributed to everyone in the world. With all of today’s technology, the music industry needs to adapt with how people are finding talent and buying music. Even publishing models are changing, “For example, Londoner David Courtier-Dutton, a former financer and real-estate developer, rolled out Slice the Pie, a firm with a model of transforming the music publishing business into a stock exchange for unsigned acts. By allowing unsigned acts to raise money from fans to record an album, Slice the Pie helps bands to essentially raise public money from “investors” within the Slice the Pie exchange market.” Bayley (2011).

Reference:

Patricia Bayley, 2011. The Future of Music Publishing. www.ime.edu. Retrieved on April 17, 2011 from:

http://www.ime.edu/Portals/41606/docs/futureofmusicpublishing.pdf

Intellectual Property Advice from Industry Experts

Podcast:

Derivative Work podcast by Doug Lichtman from the Intellectual Property Colloquium

http://www.ipcolloquium.com/

There are many legal issues that arise when an individual creates a derivative work from another copyrighted piece of intellectual property. This blog describes the unauthorized creation of an encyclopedia of Harry Potter by a company known as RDR books. The problem here is that original material was actually copied from the original Harry Potter series. This led to a lawsuit filed from Warner against RDR. Due to the fact that the encyclopedia basically copied a lot of original works from Harry Potter, led to copyright infringement. If the work created was original and not directly from the original Harry Potter, the work may not have violated copyrights and have been considered a derivative work.

Podcast:

Copyright termination by Doug Lichtman from the Intellectual Property Colloquium

http://www.ipcolloquium.com/

The original copyright act that allowed authors the rights to their works for a period of 14 to 28 years, depending on the law of the time, and then the author could renew the copyright for another 14 to 28 years. However, if the author sold the copyright or the rights to the copyrighted work, when it came time to renew the copyright, the rights would come back to the original author instead of the new owner of the rights or copyright. Thus, copyright transfer deals started happening in both copyright periods so that the new owner would have the renewal in their own name. However, the copyright termination right allows authors to reclaim their original copyright after 35 years of the copyright transfer. This is dangerous because if you are paying a lot for the rights to a copyrighted work, your license or ownership can be terminated and rights be transferred back to the original owner.

Podcast:

Entertainment Law Update Episode 13  - copyrights, trademarks, fair use – Gordon P. Firemark, Esq.

http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/

In this podcast one of the many cases discussed was a case of Jay-Z v. Ahab Joseph Nafal. Mr. Nafal claimed copyright infringement on one of Jay-Z’s hit singles, “Big Pimpin”, claiming that the hit single from Jay-Z violated one of his Egyptian compositions known as, “Khosara Khosara”, which was written by Baligh Hamdi. Apparently Nafal tried to argue that he acquired the rights to the song through a third party, which got the rights from a relative of Hamdi. After a little research into the claim, it turns out Nafal never got exclusive rights to the Egyptian composition and therefore the judge threw the case out, claiming Nafal had no rights to sue over a composition that he did not own a copyright for. Moral of this case: Make sure you are getting rights to a composition from the correct copyright owner, or purchasing the copyright from the correct owner.

Court Cases in the Music Industry

In today’s music industry, there are a multitude of legal issues that arise due to intellectual property complications and copyright infringement. It is not uncommon to see hundreds or even thousands of court cases a year in the entertainment industry. Let’s take a better look at some of these cases that exist in this industry.

First I would like to take a look at the case of copyright infringement against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a resident of Brainard, Minnesota. Ms. Thomas-Rasset was found by the court to be liable for copyright infringement due to downloading 24 songs illegally through the Kazaa file sharing network. Initially, a ridiculously outrageous amount was sought per downloaded song, in the amount of $83,000 per song, bringing her grand total of infringement for 24 songs to $1.92 million dollars.
“In his ruling, Judge Davis found the initial award of $1.92 million dollars in favor of the plaintiffs "monstrous and shocking," despite the acknowledged need for deterrence of the illegal downloading and sharing of music.” T. Roth, 2011. Just as the honorable Judge Davis found this to be a shocking amount, I too believe that for this amount to even be considered in the first place is absurd. This poor mother of four would be working for the rest of her life and still not have that amount paid off. After the second go around of this case, Judge Davis shaved the award amount granted to the RIAA to $54,000. No where near as bad as $1.92 million, yet still this is enough to ruin a persons life and send a family to live on the streets.

Another case similar to the last case of Ms. Thomas-Rasset, involves a Ms. Whitney Harper, who had shared some music on her families computer back when she was only a teenager. After the merciless RIAA slapped her with a lawsuit, “Harper claimed that she was an “innocent infringer” who went straight when she learned about copyright law, and that she had thought P2P use was basically like (legal) Internet radio.” N. Anderson, 2011. At first, Ms. Harper was lucky enough to get a reduced liability on each song at $200 per song, instead of the usual minimum of $750. However, “An appeals court overturned the ruling; as it pointed out, copyright law currently states that one can’t claim “innocence” so long as a copyright notice was printed on the physical “phonorecord.” But because Harper had downloaded on computers and never seen the CD version of her songs, she argued that the provision was patently unfair and appealed to the Supreme Court.” N. Anderson, 2011. Despite her attempt to claim her defense of “innocent infringer”, the justices of the Supreme Court refused to hear the case because “This provision was adopted in 1988, well before digital music files became available on the Internet…. But a person who downloads a digital music file generally does not see any material object bearing a copyright notice, and accordingly there is force to the argument that §402(d) does not apply. In such a case, the question would simply be whether the infringer ‘was… aware and had… reason to believe,’ that the downloading was illegal.” N. Anderson, 2011. Unfortunately for Ms. Harper, she is currently stuck with 37 songs at $750 each, or a grand total of $27,750 owed for her copyright infringement.

By looks of the last two cases it seems that the music industry is no longer playing around with individuals and copyright infringement. As a matter of fact, let’s take a look at a bigger case, involving copyright infringement by an Australian ISP’s users, and how music studios actually attempted to hold the ISP responsible for their users actions.

The Music studios that came together to embark on this lawsuit consisted of such companies such as Walt Disney Co., Paramount Pictures, 20^th Century Fox, amongst 30 other various studios. The argument was that there has been tens of thousands of copyright infringements going on through this particular ISP, known as iiNet. However, iiNet argued back that they cannot be held responsible for the actions of their users, and in no way has the company encouraged any type of infringement actions by their users. If this were the case, and the ISP could be held responsible for the actions of their users, that means they would have to watch every users actions on the internet, however, “as of now Australian ISPs will not be required to actively police their users.” J. Korba, 2011. This case to be seems to be a waste of time, and I believe that music companies are going too far when they are trying to have an ISP be held responsible for copyright infringement done by their users. If the music companies were to of win this case, that would of called for ISP’s to be shaken and watch every action of every user to ensure that this could not happen to them. That to me is taking it a bit too far and would cause huge upsets. Thankfully, the ISP cannot be held responsible, and although I understand music companies want their money, they will have to get it by going through each individual copyright infringement case, one person at a time, ruining one life at a time.

References:

Tanya Roth, January 26, 2010. Copyright the Songs: Court Lowers Award for Illegal Downloads. Blogs.findlaw.com. Retrieved on Saturday March 5^th, 2011 from:

http://blogs.findlaw.com/decided/2010/01/i-copyright-the-songs-court-lowers-award-for-illegal-downloads.html

Nate Anderson, January 2^nd, 2011. Supreme Court refuses innocent infringement P2P case. C4sif.org Retrieved on Saturday March 5^th, 2011 from:

http://c4sif.org/2010/12/supreme-court-refuses-innocent-infringement-p2p-case/

Jack Korba, February 27, 2011. Music Studios Lose Copyright Case Against Australian Company. Ipbrief.net. Retrieved on Saturday March 5^th, 2011 from:

http://www.ipbrief.net/2011/02/27/music-studios-lose-copyright-case-against-australian-company/

Artist and product management

Throughout this class, we have all been presented with valuable ideas and information on the artist and product management side of the industry. From creating a career plan for your artist, to setting up an event with an artist, we have all gained a good chunk of knowledge that will prove useful in our future careers.

These are some things I have put a lot of thought into and believe will help me in my future:

1.     Make sure to research the artist you are interested in managing. Get to know there past history, such as successes and failures. Also research their life in the past to get a feel for the type of person they are. You don’t want to manage someone who has had more failures than successes in their past, especially if they are a lazy artist that just wants success to be handed to them. You want the hard working artists that have at least got some success on their own.

2.     When creating a marketing plan for your artist, think outside the box. This does not just apply to marketing either; this can apply to your all around career plan for your artist. There are plenty of ways to make money especially if your artist is successful, coming out with a headphone line or a vodka company with your artists name or face on it can bring in the big bucks, and get your artist more exposure.

3.     Through my interview this month I learned that you might want to start with managing events, networking, and eventually coming to artist management. I believe by starting with something like events you get the opportunity to meet club/venue owners, artists, and other important people in the industry. Then when your name has grown and you have plenty of contacts, you may be able to start taking on artists careers and developing them. Who you know is very important.

4.     Have all legal contracts drawn up by an entertainment lawyer. A good idea may be to write up a rough draft of what both parties want in the management contract, then brining this to a lawyer to have a legal document drawn up with the terms that the artist and manager negotiated.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as artist management. But with the knowledge gained from all the assignments and reading this month, I feel ready to start working for an event management company, such as Exact Entertainment Group, the company that I had a chance to interview.

Interview with Exact Entertainment Group's Nikos Kozobolis - Artist Manager

For my interview I had the opportunity to interview Nikos Kozobolis of Exact Entertainment Group, based out of Orlando, Florida. He is a busy man with his work and he was pressed for time, but I got lucky enough to get this much of an interview! Enjoy!

Interview:

How did you get into the business of artist management?

Nikos: By being around artists and music through shows and networking. Which a interest for music in general turned into a career.

Do you have any words of advice for an inspiring artist manager trying to earn a living in this field?

Nikos: Take the time to protect your interests and understand the legality of the business before you get too involved, and plan for more than one project at a time because when one project goes nowhere you are going to have to answer to your artist as to what is the next move.

I notice you also are involved in event management, would you say event management is similar to artist management?

Nikos: Event management and artist management has alot in common in the sense that they both require a large amount of planning and risk management. What can go wrong probably will. They differ however in that events are over when they are over, and the artists career will continue on.

What are some things you look for in an artist that you are thinking about managing?

Nikos: Above anything is sound, but equally important to me is marketability. The artist must look the part and be sold as a product one day.

How important is it to have a plan for the artists’ career?

Nikos: Very important, you should have the long term plans in the mind at all times, though projects will change from time to time, overall planning is essential.

What is a good starting rate for an artist manager?

Nikos: That is next to impossible to answer, because each artist ranges so differently in success, but I would believe the majority don't make too much, while the few make 20% percent or more of income of the major act's they represent.

Networking of course is very important in this field, how do you normally approach an important person as far as networking goes?

Nikos: Straight forward, I explain what I do and my interests in the business, and if we as professionals have shared interests than that's what leads to business.

Do you have any further advice you would like to share?

Nikos: I would advise others to stay proactive and always looking for new opportunities. Also ask yourself if you have a true love for music before you get involved with artist management because it will keep you interested when all you see is the business side.

Through this very short and time pressed interview, I believe we can all see that becoming an artist manager takes a lot of knowledge of the entertainment business in general, as well as having good connections. Without proper knowledge of the entertainment business and good networking skills, your career as an artist manager will be non-existent. You need to be able to get your artist exposure, develop a plan, use your connections, and above all get you and your artist paid.

An Interview with Ty Stover - Artist manager / Event production

Ty Stover (Left) Nikos Kozobolis (Right) of Exact Entertainment Group

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Exact Entertainment’s very own Ty Stover. Ty represents multiple artists in the music industry, and also handles event production. We had a chance to sit down and speak about his negotiation skills and Ty Stover offers advice from his experience in deal making.

The interview begins:

How long have you been in management?

Ty Stover: I have a history in event management, parties, concerts, etc. and have been managing artists exclusively for Exact Entertainment Group just over a year now.

      

How would you say your status plays a part in negotiation?

Ty Stover: If people respect your status and who you are in a negotiation process you are assured to get a superior outcome for yourself.  Always carry yourself professionally and that will support your result as well. 

When deal making, have you ever had to deal with negative emotions? And if so, what is one way you have dealt with negative emotions?

Ty Stover: Negative emotions can arise in any negotiation process.  My answer is at that point to not try to become friends with whomever, but make the process as simple as possible.  Sometimes personality has nothing to do with getting a deal done, but more about statistics.  I am providing X and Y, and in turn we would like Z.  Keep it plain and simple.

Do you have any advice for negotiators on reaching mutual benefit?

Ty Stover: Always put yourself in their shoes before you step into any negotiation process.  Think about the questions the other party would have for you and have answers readily available.  Do your homework on the person or business ahead of time and do not expect something you would not deal for yourself.

Lastly, how do you deal with negotiators trying to pull dirty tricks?

Ty Stover: Follow the golden rule of business and if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.  People who use dirty tricks will get weeded out soon enough.  That is just nature of the business.  I’ve always said that if you do something right you might have somebody tell one friend, but if you do somebody dirty they are likely to tell everybody they know.  Word spreads like wildfire, especially in businesses that revolve around networking. 

Thank you for your time and excellent advice!

Ty Stover: Thank you for having me!

Through this interview you can get a better understanding of what it is like negotiating in this industry and what you can do to better yourself as a negotiator. Great advice from a rising star in artist management and event production.

Musical marvels and technologic advances = SWEET LIGHT SHOW / SYNTHESIZER

Imagine stepping onto a podium and looking out into a dark room filled with orbs of all sizes. As you move your arms, you notice that that orbs are changing color and you are producing sound through a state of the art synthesizer. You are actually controlling the room with your very own body. Sounds science fiction? Believe it or not, this advanced synthesizer / light show is very much around today and fully functional.

DJ Lux (or DJ Light) is the name of the project. “DJ Lux (DJ Light) is an immersive public sound and light installation that gives visitors the power to orchestrate a performance of light and sound across a large public space.” Synthtopia, 2010. This incredible installation features a thermal camera, which senses body movement and sends control signals to the software application that is controlling the entire light show and synthesizer. Pretty amazing and unique stuff if you ask me.

Being able to come up with new technologies and ideas for musical instruments is essential towards grabbing and enhancing a musician’s creativity. By doing so you will gain a big following of loyal fans and customers. By bringing out the best in others, you bring out the best in yourself. It is all about letting people take complete control, let them customize what they want to do, and making them feel like a true artist. “It is an empowering experience where the public is invited to be the artist.” Synthtopia, 2010.

Reference:

Synthtopia, Dec 10, 2010. DJ Lux (Gorgeous Interactive Audio + Visual Installation), synthtopia.com.

Retrieved on  Sunday, December 12, 2010, from:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/12/10/dj-lux-gorgeous-interactive-audio-visual-installation/#more-29629