"Music Law |
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Your band’s name, recording, promotional artwork, managers, agents, your songs, your music, and just about everything in-between all carry legal implications that can be huge, no matter the size of the organization. Even at the local level there are tons of disputes that could have been put to rest with just a few pieces of paper. The best part of this book’s resources are the form templates included in dual formats; tear out a page or customize your own. The accompanying CD-ROM has most of the forms from the book in rtf format, meaning you should be open and edit them in Word or any other text editing program. Two forms that aren’t in rtf format are in PDF format, as they are provided from the Government. These two can be filled in but not saved. The book starts out with some general introductions to bands as a business and the performing industry. From here it moves on to band partnerships and agreements. There are several instances cited as to why you would need such agreements and their benefits. Who owns the rights to use the band’s name, what to do if someone leaves, what to do if the band breaks up, and band voting and meetings are covered. There are some high profile cases referred to as examples of how written documents came in handy at lawsuit time. Another thing to keep in mind is how equipment will get divided up if there is a separation. Managers and attorneys, when to take on one (or both), what tasks they should be expected to perform and other business management issues are covered. There is a good template for a label shopping agreement here. The next chapter is an excellent tutorial on band equipment. How will the band purchase, who retains if someone leaves, insurance issues, maintaining inventory, etc. Chapter 6 is on live performance and touring. There is a sample performance agreement and a great template for tour budgeting. Type this into a spreadsheet program and you have a great starting point for figuring who will get paid what, estimating transportation and lodging and getting ballpark figures for your costs. The next two chapters are on copyrighting, song ownership, and music publishing. There is some very good instruction here on copyright basics and directions for copyright registration. The subsequent chapter is entitled “Band Names” and it has some solid advice for researching and using your band’s name. These are principles that should be used by any musician, in any region. How trademark disputes happen and how to register your entity’s name are just a few of the topics included. The legal issues associated with recording and distributing your music get covered in the next four chapters. There are forms for artist and artwork, some extensive studio advice, another good template to use for building a budget for your studio recording, and guidelines on how to choose a studio. These chapters also cover duplication concerns and issues. There are a couple more form samples on licenses and distribution. One additional chapter on recording agreements concludes this section. It covers royalty payments and statements, and again there is a form template. The two concluding chapters cover taking your band online and the issues involved and tax issues for musicians. Some very good pages go over how to get a federal tax ID and income taxes for bands and musicians. Two appendices are at the back of the book. One gives instructions for how to use the CDROM, the book is copyrighted 1998, 2001, and 2003 so perhaps this section is left over from the original printing. Appendix B are all the forms in paper format. Then, of course is the CD itself. This book is priced very well with other books like this one selling at twice the price. Richard Stim is a musician and copyright attorney. He does an excellent job here of covering just about everything the small business musician will need to have on hand. “Putting the law into plain English” is Nolo Publications’ motto and they do an exceptional job of it here. |
Book Review |