The Magical Ring of Gyges: Why Illegal Downloading is So Rampant in the Age of Cyberspace

NBC Universal recently hired a company called Envisional to study counterfeiting activity over the Internet. The results of this study – despite the fact that it is industry funded – are literally astonishing: 24% of all global Internet traffic involves digital theft!  Stated another way, one in every four people surfing the Internet are stealing [...]

By |2017-07-20T17:44:07-05:00February 28th, 2011|Copyright Issues, Digital Downloads, Featured, Music Law, RIAA, Songwriting|Comments Off on The Magical Ring of Gyges: Why Illegal Downloading is So Rampant in the Age of Cyberspace

Origins of an Idea–Nothing New Under the Sun?

It was allegedly King Solomon who declared “there is nothing new under the sun!” Now a recent strain of thought seeks to recast King Solomon’s casual observation in order to challenge the basis of U.S. copyright laws, i.e., original ideas. This line of reasoning is perhaps best exemplified in the popular cult film by Brett [...]

By |2017-07-20T17:44:07-05:00February 25th, 2011|Digital Downloads, Internet Law, RIAA, Songwriting, Technology|Comments Off on Origins of an Idea–Nothing New Under the Sun?

“Not Accepting Unsolicited Material”

What songwriters can do to protect their ideas when submitting demo tapes to publishers Every songwriter has heard the words "sorry, we’re not accepting unsolicited material" from at least a dozen publishers. In fact, in a recent informal survey conducted by Law On the Row, two-thirds of the thirty publishing companies contacted indicated that they [...]

By |2017-07-20T17:44:10-05:00September 9th, 2009|Entertainment Law, Music Industry, Music Law, Music Publishing, Songwriting|Comments Off on “Not Accepting Unsolicited Material”

All that glitters is not gold – tips on analyzing a songwriting/band contest

When is the last time you heard of someone getting a really "big break" in the music industry through any contest, other than perhaps American Idol?  That's because most artists and songwriters are not discovered through contests, they are discovered through relationships in the industry. Yet, there are literally hundreds of such contests out there [...]

By |2015-03-21T21:48:48-05:00July 17th, 2008|Copyright Issues, Music Law, Music Publishing, Songwriting|Comments Off on All that glitters is not gold – tips on analyzing a songwriting/band contest

Fair is not always “Fair Use”

The concept of “fair use” is a very misunderstood concept.  The first common misunderstanding that people espouse is that the concept of “fair use” is a right or privilege granted by copyright law.  It is not.  Secondly, many people mistakenly believe that so long as they do not make any money from an infringing use [...]

By |2015-03-21T22:05:03-05:00March 13th, 2008|Copyright Issues, Entertainment Law, Music Law, RIAA, Songwriting|Comments Off on Fair is not always “Fair Use”

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 [...]

By |2015-03-21T22:02:09-05:00November 29th, 2007|Digital Downloads, Entertainment Law, Life on the Row, Music Law, Music Publishing, Songwriting|Comments Off on Music Publishing 101, Part 4: Show me the money!

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 to [...]

By |2015-03-21T21:57:15-05:00November 28th, 2007|Client Activity, Entertainment Industry News, Life on the Row, Music Law, Music Publishing, Songwriting|Comments Off on Music Publishing 101, Part 3: Pieces of the Publishing Pie

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 [...]

By |2015-03-21T21:55:18-05:00November 27th, 2007|Entertainment Industry News, Life on the Row, Music Law, Music Publishing, Songwriting|Comments Off on Music Publishing 101, Part 2: Forming a publishing company

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 [...]

By |2015-03-21T21:47:40-05:00November 26th, 2007|Entertainment Industry News, Life on the Row, Music Law, Music Publishing, Music Row News, Songwriting|Comments Off on Music Publishing 101, Part 1: A brief history

Last Man Standing – collaborating with other songwriters

See Jane. See Jane write lyrics. See Dick. See Dick write melodies. See Dick meet Jane. See Dick and Jane combine their efforts and collaborate together to write a song. This is one frequent story among Nashville's songwriting community.  On any given afternoon in Nashville, there will be innumerable co-writing sessions occurring at any given [...]

By |2015-03-21T22:26:14-05:00November 2nd, 2007|Copyright Issues, Entertainment Industry News, Music Industry, Music Law, RIAA, Songwriting|Comments Off on Last Man Standing – collaborating with other songwriters
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