Contractual Aspects Of A Recording Contract

With the fast rising technology and the closer world community, the music industry has changed dramatically in this modern world. In this case, I will choose an American rock band Paramore as a case study. I will first start with an overview and a brief history of the band, afterwards I will focus on the main four music business areas, which are Artist Management, Record Companies, Music Publishing and Live Performance, examining how they operate in the industry and their relationship between each area and with the band. Finally, I will finish up with a conclusion and my own views.

As an artist, the protection of all intellectual property created for distribution should be a priority. The type of protection this case focuses on is the protection granted by copyright. When a piece of work is copyrighted, the copyright grants the creator the exclusive right to use and distribute the piece for the duration of their life plus 70 years. As a creator, copyrighting completed art before disclosing the art with any other interests is very beneficial when proving ownership in a federal court proceeding. Devin Copeland v. Justin Bieber is a case that is based around the copyrights to a song entitled “Somebody to Love”. The facts will be introduced, followed by the issues that arose in court, then the courts analysis of those issues, closing with the lessons learned to be applied to the future of Planet Florida Artist Managements business ventures.

I propose that all unsigned rising artist should target the business side of the music industry to be successful in the entertainment business because it allows the artist to be taken seriously and make solid connections that can further his/her career. Learning the works of the music industry also enables a new artist to be further successful and profitable. Recent studies show that most new artists without professional representation and a business mindset have a slimmer chance in getting signed to major or independent labels (Lowry, 2011). Overall, the specific change needed is that unsigned artists should be concentrating on their careers as professionals and not amateurs, thus focusing on the ins and outs of the music business and

The most major finding concluded from these interviews was the shared belief that the recording industry is in disarray from a structural point of view. Both Daniel and Y expressed their concerns with the shift in power from recording labels to distributional streaming services. Y seemed to provide more insight into the egotistical recording industry. His views indicate that a potential restructuring of the entire recording industry, including the legislation previously pressured by the RIAA, will be changed as recording labels become more willing to work with streaming

Explain why it is important to have an intention to create legal relations when making a contract and why is consideration of the parties to the agreement necessary-:

COURSEWORK FOR CONTRACT LAW (MUSIC*) *On what basis does the inclusion of samples of a recording made by *Pink Floyd constitute an infringement of copyright? In civil law regarding copyright, there are two types of infringement; primary and secondary. Primary is concerned with the unauthorised use of copyrighted works and secondary would involve the dealing or making commercial use of such infringing copies. In the music industry, an infringement of copyright often consists of an existing piece of music being used by an artist without permission from the person or company who own the rights to the original music or recorded sound. This is exactly what has happened with Alexei Duff. He has used two samples from two Pink Floyd tracks

Over the past fifty years, the British Music Publishing industry has undergone dramatic changes. It has evolved as an entity with innovations in technology, changes and creations of laws and new mediums to promote and exploit songs to a wider audience. Therefore, the way in which the music publishing industry operates and exploits its assets has completely transformed, and continues to do so at a rapid pace. This paper will attempt to explore the ways in which publishers exploit song copyrights and the way in which this has changed over the past 60 years. It is important to define what is meant by copyright and its role within the industry. The Performing Right Society website states: “Copyright

Music has become a center piece of life; however it comes with a vigorous price unknown to most of the public. The music industry is littered with corruption. My proposed research problem focuses on the manipulation and control the music industry has upon its artists through an unescapable 360 deal, which in and of itself is not only reducing an artist to almost indentured servitude, but also cripples record labels themselves. The 360 deal is a common mandatory contract record labels utilize to financially support an artist. This includes advances and funds for promotion, touring, and marketing, all which the artist has to pay back to the label. I believe this problem is significant and warrants further research because the record labels are unconstitutionally taking away artists rights in favor of their own greed, in turn, leaving the artist without ownership of their own songs, money, and rights to royalties.

From his very first album at 18 years old to his denial of digital music markets towards the end of his life, a prominent theme throughout Prince’s musical career was his insistence on power over his music. He famously believed that artists should not have managers: “You should be a grown man, be able to man-age yourself”.(Hiatt) His public war with record label Warner Bros. was the pinnacle of his battle for control. “When you stop a man from dreaming, he becomes a slave. That’s where I was. I don’t own Prince’s music. If you don’t own your masters, your master owns

Working in the music industry for his entire career, I’m sure Grainge has dealt with hardships that have come to question his decisions. Through the music business, Grainge has managed to break a string of records with UMG to become the first company in the U.S. to have nine out of the top ten songs on the digital chart. He has been recognized by the music community and has received industry honors and achievements such as the world’s most influential and successful executives in music and outstanding achievements in business and his education and his dedication to philanthropic causes. Grainges’ love for music has allowed him to become one of the most successful and well respected CEO in the music

The following discussion will aim to answer the question of how authentic the images of artists are within the music industry. The question stemmed from research about identity work, in particular within the creative industries. Artists are faced with a lot of identity struggles and tensions which a lot of creative people encounter as well. The main prevailing issue or tension creative people constantly encounter that is unresolved is creativity versus commerce. This idea describes the way in which the process of creativity is being overshadowed and ignored. Art for art’s sake is no longer ax powerful term as it once was as the capital gain of creativity has taken over. A great example of this happening is related to music artists. Most if not all music artists within the industry are exploited and taken advantage of by recording companies due to contracts. The company owns almost every aspect about an artist including their image when under some type of recording contract. This means the artists image may be in fact be inauthentic and this in turn is the main point of research for this discussion. Points about the tensions artists face and if these tensions ever get resolved will also be raised throughout the discussion as well.

Since the music industry is quite diverse it is consequently impacted by a great number of ethical issues. The issues span across the production side to the consumptions side of music. They issues deal with things as inconsequential as lip syncing to the breaking of laws when stealing music. Although there are a lot of different areas that can be examined within the industry, the most important ethical issues fall under the category of compensation.

The music industry is an oligopoly. Since the late 1800’s people like Thomas Edison have been buying up patents in communication technology, forming monopolies, leading to a non-competitive entertainment industry. With only a handful of corporations controlling all aspects of acquisition, distribution and marketing of music, harsh business principles create an exploitative industry that takes the best of what artists have to offer and leaves many of them unable to support themselves. Beginning in the 1950’s with payola and white cover music and ultimately evolving into iTunes and Spotify, the music industry has grown into a billion dollar industry with far-reaching influence and control. Contracts rarely serve the artists’ best interest and many are left out to dry when their usefulness has expired.

Over the past decade, the use of CDs has been replaced with online streaming and retailing. This has eliminated much of the record companies revenues as they were used to making most of their profit off of distribution and promotion of physical copies of artists albums (Niemen). This has caused for a major shift and remodeling of major players in the music industries business models. Companies such Sony, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group have started to completely rethink the way they conduct business (Forbes). In the past record labels were not only responsible for production, distribution and promotion of an artist and his/her music, but they also acted as a bank (Forbes), funding the artists tours and recording sessions. Recently, these music giants have been moving towards becoming more of a modular network organization. What this means is that they are less occupied with the nitty gritty, and more focused on what they do best which is distribution and promotion. This also allows for more freedom of creativity for the artist as well as fairer split of profits (Forbes). This adaption of new business models clearly shows the versatility of the music industry in adapting to new times and technologies.

A&M Records v. Napster is a landmark case in which the application of intellectual property laws has forever impacted contemporary culture with regards to digital works. The legal issues and applicable laws presented in the instant case resulted in a holding, which set forth a precedent that has influence the mode and means of digital works distribution. The outcome of Napster affects both businesses and individuals.