Music Publishing 101, Part 4: Show me the money!

Section 106 of the Copyright Act gives the owner of a copyright a bundle of rights which includes the rights to 1) reproduce the work, 2) prepare derivative works, 3) distribute copies of the works, 4) publicly perform the work and 5) publicly display the work.  All of the music publisher’s income flows from this [...]

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Music Publishing 101, Part 3: Pieces of the Publishing Pie

Once a music publisher begins to receive income from the exploitation of the copyrights it has acquired, it must begin to distribute the income to the appropriate writers.  Understanding the basic principles of copyright ownership and royalty splits is fundamental to performing the task of distribution of income.  One device that is often used [...]

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Music Publishing 101, Part 2: Forming a publishing company

From a legal perspective, the formation of a music publishing company is, in most respects, very similar the formation of any other type of company, except that the documentation is tailored specifically for the business of music publishing. 
The first step in the formation of any business, including a music publishing company, is to determine [...]

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Music Publishing 101, Part 1: A brief history

This blog series will explore music publishing, giving a little bit of history and outlining the basic steps necessary to form a music  publishing company.  Part 1 looks at a brief history and background of music publishing.
Modern music publishing in the United States can trace its roots to “Tin Pan Alley,” the name given to [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving

I want to wish all of the readers of Law on the Row a very happy and safe Thanksgiving.  As a result of the holidays, this has been a slow posting week for me.  Rest assured that I will back with something to say next week.  Thanks for supporting my blog.

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Return fire by the music industry – artists to testify before Senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a high-profile hearing  today on the subject of imposing additional performance royalties on so-called “over-the-air” or “terrestrial” radio stations (I’ll just call them OTA’s in this article).  Investigative hearings such as these are usually precursors to legislation being introduced on the subject.  Grammy winner, Lyle Lovett and Chicago-based singer-songwriter [...]

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Nashville’s Blue Bird Cafe is a songwriting legacy

Amy Kurland’s Blue Bird Cafe on Hillsboro Road in Nashville is the kind of stuff of which fairy tales are made.  Now, Kurland has left the legacy in the hands of Nashville’s best songwriting organization, NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) — a fitting end a dynasty.
The legend of Blue Bird Cafe, which first opened in [...]

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Copyright: it’s the end of the world as we know it.

Abraham Maslow’s famous “hierarchy of needs” places self-actualization as the pinnacle of human behavior. To illustrate what the phrase “self-actualization” meant , Maslow said:

“a musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves.”

Of course, the thing that is important to note about [...]

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The long tail wags the dog! An independent artist succeeds using the Internet

I have often advised my clients in the past that the new direction for independent artists is what I refer to as “guerilla” marketing, meaning finding alternative means of marketing your product.  One of the most explosive methods of doing that over the past few years has been the Internet.  One of the problems with [...]

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New concurrent resolution, H.Con.Res. 244 introduced to combat performance fees for record labels

For years now, a huge battle has been brewing between proponents of performance royalties for the owners of sound recording copyrights to be paid by terrestrial radio stations (those broadcasting through the air) and it has been gathering steam in the last several months.
The battle is being waged between the giants of industry,  the RIAA, [...]

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