What Do Independent Music Producers Need a Lawyer For?
I get a lot of calls from independent music producers at the very beginning of their careers. I don’t know if It’s their entrepreneurial spirit, which I can easily relate to with my solo law practice, or the sheer musical talent that they often have, but whatever the explanation, they’re fun to work for and are some of my favorite clients. A few times, I’ve had producers call me with a sense that it was a good idea to speak with a lawyer before going too far down the road, but without a sense as to what exactly they need to speak about. This post is for them.
In my experience, the most important thing you need as an upstart music producer is a good beat license agreement. I know—BeatStars and some of the other services offer their own, and there might be some cut rate ones available online. But these agreements are not good. They’re vague, convoluted, and sometimes outright contradictory (just like the free or discount recording agreements you can find online, by the way). None of those are good characteristics for a legal contract, and you’ll be frustrated by each of them when it comes time to enforce your rights and collect your money, at which point it will be too late to do anything about it.
It’s gratifying to work with independent music producers to help avoid these pitfalls through the use of a customized, enforceable agreement that will afford them all customary rights and protections. Even better, in that process, we can have strategy discussions regarding business issues—e.g. Are you sure you want to offer exclusive (or non-exclusive) licenses? Are you sure you want (or don’t want) to put a cap on distribution? These are not insignificant questions, and they’re not ones you should just follow the crowd on. The answer might be different for you from others, and there could be tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of a difference in your life, or more, depending on your answers to these questions.
It can be tough to put up the money for personalized legal services when you’re just starting out, of course, but if you’re serious about protecting your rights and ensuring you won’t get left out if one of your beats becomes a hit, it’s money well spent.