The Reasonably Prudent Law Student

The following is a guest post by Alexis Bonari.

Working in the entertainment industry can be tricky, so it’s never a bad idea to brush up. The following is something of an overview for two of the most often discussed topics in this field.

Accounting (Royalties):

Any artist signed to a label, with a commercially released record, will look forward to when he/she can be paid royalties. The process wherein the artist gets their royalties is called an “accounting”.

Accounting’s are made usually twice a year, within sixty to ninety days after the end of each six-month period. The cut-off for the six-month periods are usually, but not always, June 30th and December 31st. Sometimes, labels make quarterly accountings, which is better for the artist because wait for money is less. On the other hand, some labels account only once in a year. When an artist is accounted to, in addition to receiving a check (provided records were sold), he or she will normally receive a statement showing record sales and how the royalties were calculated. Since an artist will only receive royalties on records that were actually sold, as opposed to records simply shipped, an artist may to wait a long time to be paid.

Collaborations

When two people sit down and write a song together, they create a “joint work” and both people involved own the song. Even though each person may create a distinct part, both writers have an interest in the entire work.

For example, if A only writes the music and B only writes the lyrics, B still owns half of the music and lyrics, and so does A. When there is a joint work, either of the writers can deal non-exclusively with the entire song, while still subject to the obligation to pay the other writer(s) his/her share of the net profits. Therefore, it’s judicious that the writers enter into an agreement which establishes how the profits should be split should the split be anything other than 50/50. An agreement can be simple, but needs to include some major points:

1. The title of the song in question on must be listed.
2. The writers must agree to split any and all net profits garnered from the sale of the song.
3. The writers must agree that if expenses are accumulated for the preparation or presentation of the song, each of the writers will be responsible for a percentage of the expenses. The percentage is usually in the same proportion as division of the net profits.
4. The writers should agree that at any time before the song is placed with a publisher, the writer may withdraw his/her contribution freely, provided that he/she shall have no claim to, or rights in, any later collaboration on that particular song.
5. The date, signatures, addresses and social security numbers of the writers should be included at the end of the agreement.

There are hundreds more legal issues in a business as complicated as the music industry, but hopefully this provided some help.

Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at onlinedegrees.org, researching areas of online universities. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.