Hello and welcome to another week of music industry insight and advice here on the official blog of Haulix. It’s the first week of June and we are kicking off our content with our second collaborative piece with Daniel Alvarez, attorney at law and music business aficionado. We will be working with Daniel a lot in the months ahead, and we think the perspective he has on the business today is one that can aide both artists and industry professionals. If you have any questions about the content of the blog, or if you would like more information regarding the distributional services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
If I were designing a business industry that consistently favored one party over the other, I would be hard pressed to plan anything better than the music industry. Take young business-naïve, creative types with big dreams on one side and add ultra-sophisticated business-savvy folks with high-powered attorney on the other and what do you get? What it looks like the first time you get your label contract!
It’s supposed to be one of the highlights of your music career but in reality it is the perfect storm forming against you. The thing is, you are the only one that doesn’t know it and they are counting on that. The answer is to fight fire with fire or in other words, get your band an entertainment lawyer!
Now lets be realistic, just because you have an entertainment lawyer doesn’t mean that everyone on the other side will be scared or that the deal you’ve been offered is going to get 100% better. What will happen is that you will know what you are getting into. Would you ever sign a 35-page contract without understanding what is in it? Well that happens every day. In fact, I can point to a band on Warped Tour this summer that did that this year. That is the worst thing you could do. Don’t be that band.
Additionally, an entertainment lawyer helps level the playing field. The other side now understands that you won’t get the wool pulled over your eyes. They might not admit it, but when you show up prepared with a representative who will advocate for you a label is on notice. Artists think that if they try and negotiate the pieces of a contract, they will lose their deal. They won’t. Someone who knows what they are doing can and should get you some edits on the contract. It happens all the time. Just keep your expectations real.
Once you get through your initial label contract, don’t fire your attorney. Keep him or her really close! Loosing contact is a rookie mistake. There will be tons of things you need to call them for. Having a strong relationship makes the flow of business easier. If they are used to working with your label from previous experience they will have a lay of the land.
Artists always tell me they think they can’t afford an attorney. My response is always the same – can you afford not to have one? You either pay a little now, or keep paying a lot through the life of a really bad contract. You’ve heard the stories of the artist who sells thousands of units, but has no payout. Those are not made up. They are real. Don’t be the next version.
To accentuate the point, I hope you have noticed that I continuously am referencing not just a lawyer, but the fact that you should get an entertainment lawyer. If you don’t know one or can’t find one, a normal business attorney is better than going at it alone. I would prefer you find someone who is versed in the nuance that is entertainment law. To the untrained eye, what is normal inside a music or acting contract may seem odd and something unreasonable. You don’t go to a ear, nose and throat doctor when your foot hurts do you? We all have our areas of disciplines, make sure you find the right entertainment lawyer.
So, do you need an attorney? Clearly I think they should and need to be part of your overall team – management, booking agent and entertainment lawyer. Other people are clearly apt to negotiate on your behalf but to think that negotiation is all an entertainment lawyer does leaves you intellectually short. An entertainment lawyer understand, contracts, asset protection, copyright, intellectual property, employment law and business law among the many areas an artist’s business life touches. You and your manager should be well versed in those areas, but the reality is that you probably are not. An entertainment lawyer is a vital part of a long and successful music career!
