The legal system is seemingly forever entwined with the
Entertainment Industry. In a world that
is ran and burnt down by contracts and lawsuits, the Film, Music, and Sports
industries will always have a great need for legal professionals and their
services. With so many different aspects
of the law, legal precedence is a vital tool that every business needs to use
in order to protect them from liability.
Many artists and businesses could actually save a little money on lawyer
fees if they would just do a little research about past judicial cases on their
own time. That being said, lets take a
look a couple recent cases involving my particular area of focus, Artist
Management.
The first case is the most recent, and involves one of the
most high profile hip-hop stars out right now.
The story allegedly goes that sometime in ‘07 or ‘08 Jas Prince, son of
J Prince, discovered Drake and introduced him to Cortez Bryant and Lil Wayne. Prince and Bryant came to an oral agreement at that time that Prince and
his father would get paid to develop and sell Drake’s entertainment services,
as well has handle the business side of Lil Wayne’s records. In 2009 Prince decided that he wanted out,
and came to a settlement with Bryant that he would receive a portion of
Aspire’s profits, a majority share of interest in Drake’s masters, and a
percentage of Drake’s gross income coming from the management deal. Prince is suing because he hasn’t yet
received any payments, and every time he attempts to get paid Bryant and the
management team redirects him to their lawyer who won’t return his phone
calls. He states there has been a breach
of the oral agreement, the settlement, good faith and fair dealing
agreement…virtually every agreement they ever came to. As if this weren’t enough, Drake is also
suing because he wants to renegotiate his record contract. And, of course, both of them want their money
owed. In my opinion, this seems like
just another situation where an up-and-coming artist and their friend/manager
are approached with a deal that puts sparkles in their eyes and they quickly
sign, only later to realize that the deal wasn’t all that great. Personally, I don’t understand why those just
trying to break into the entertainment world don’t look at this more
closely. It’s obvious to me; don’t agree
to any contract on the spot without some time to analyze, reflect, and research. There's nothing wrong with asking for time to review a contract. If the people you are dealing with don't want to give you the time then you probably don't want to be in business with them anyway. Now, if the contract doesn’t have specific
instructions on when, where, and how much Prince and Drake should receive
compensation, then this falls on Prince and Drake. It’s unbelievable how fiscally irresponsible
some people are with their careers, and it looks like this could be another
case. Even if the stipulations are in
the contract and Bryant and the company still aren’t paying, it’s again on
Prince that he waited so long to confront the issue the way that he has. The
moral of the story here is to attack a problem as soon as it arises, and be as
absolutely detailed as possible in your contracts.
Another interesting case that’s been in the news currently is
the disagreement between Ed Kowalczyk and Action Front Unlimited, the company
started by Ed’s old band Live. The band
has split, but they all still own equal share in the company. The problem lies in the fact that the company
owns the trademark rights to “Live”, and Kowalczyk has been operating his
artistic business using the Live name without consent from the other members of
the band. The band’s company wants
compensated for trademark infringement and dilution and false designation of
origin, totaling $2 million in damages.
Kowalczyk stance is that he owns part of the company that owns the
trademark so he should be able to use it accordingly. It seems like Kowalczyk may not have the
upper hand in this situation. The other
three members of the company are stating that Ed virtually refuses to recognize
that he is no longer associated with the band “Live” and continues to use the
trademark anyway. It sounds like Ed
might be trying to hold onto the glory days in an attempt to boost his
commercial appeal. At the same time, he
is and will forever be the face of that amazing 90’s alternative band, which
could potentially hold significant weight in court. Considering this could cost Kowalczyk a good
amount of money, the lesson learned here is to make sure what you’re using is
in fact OK to use. This is a responsibility that an Artist Manager needs to make sure his client is holding to.
The last case that has been in the news lately that I
would like to discuss is; well, it’s believable but leaves me even more
skeptical for the future of this Earth. Here’s
the situation. Legendary front man Ozzy Osbourne is performing at his annual Ozzfest show in Phoenix, Arizona…in the
middle of the day…in August. Lets keep
in mind that the average high temperature in August in Phoenix is 104
degrees. OK, now that you have a good
understanding of the environment, back to the action. Ozzy is up on stage rocking away as only Ozzy
can, when he notices a woman in the crowd with a one-year-old kid. Yes, you read that correctly. This brilliant woman didn’t just bring her
infant to a concert; she brought the baby to a heavy metal festival in the dead
heat of summer in the hottest city in the United States of America and
stood close to a stage that’s pumping insanely loud and violent sound waves
through speakers that are bigger than the car she probably drove in with the
baby in the front seat facing the window.
I digress. Ozzy sees this woman
holding her baby, and understanding the intense heat and the stress it must be
to the child, grabs a water bottle and tosses it in the lady’s direction. Somehow the water bottle miscues and hits the
baby. Several years later, this lady now
is suing Ozzy for $80,000 in damages.
Are you kidding me, lady?!? A guy
whom you obviously have great appreciation for shows compassion towards you and
your family, an accident occurs, and your sorry self has to sue? Between this story and the recent Justin Bieber
lawsuit with the girl suing him for putting his arm around her during a photo, I can understand a little more why some stars are rude or introverted
in public. Both guys were being generous
and compassionate to their fans, and it ends up costing them time and
money. I will never fully understand why
people do and say the things they do, but I honestly do find it truly
disappointing that so many people throw away their morals just to make a
buck. As far as what to take away, this
case shows that anyone high profile should be analytical and cautious when
interacting with fans. An Artist Manager
would need to discuss this with his clients as they gain popularity and are
forced into more social interactions.
At the end of the day, we can't all act like Peter Grant. The grand point to take away is that just by paying
attention to what’s going on within your specific niche in the industry, you
can be better prepared to handle any liability that could come your way. It all comes down to analysis, detail, and
preparation. If an Artist Manager can
master those three skills, they will be better prepared to take on the
Entertainment World, particularly the area of Law.
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