Strategic Partners: How to Find a Music Lawyer
This article is Part 1 of a series by Rick Goetz on finding strategic partners for your music career. Look for the next installments in the series on Rick’s blog and the Music Careers section of About.com.
I had my second adolescence working in the record business in the mid- late 90s. It was a time when the word “piracy” called up images of peg legs and eye patches or maybe street vendors selling CDs and DVDs of dubious quality with poor color copies of the artwork. I got a job as an intern at a major label and ultimately worked my way up to management.
I bring this up because at the time when working as an A&R Executive if I liked a band I would pick up the phone and call someone. I’d pick up the phone and call my boss, if negotiations were going well I’d call music managers I respected and asked them to check out the project or my friends and colleagues in publishing to see what their thoughts were and if they wanted to give the band a publishing deal.
It was a simpler time, I was confident in my ability to find commercial artists and my ability to help them connect with talented producers and make a great record but that was about it. I had no idea about how to go about breaking a band. When a band got signed I’d call the manager to see what his plans were and we’d discuss how best to get the attention of the promotion, publicity and marketing departments. I’d call the band and the agent and often the manager and discuss what favors the three of us could put together to help the group get on a decent tour. Similar groupings would happen with myself, management and every other strategic partner the band had – the publicist, the product manager, the sales department, the publisher, show promoters, sometimes the band’s lawyer if this was a person who did more than just contract work and had connections with someone we needed.
With all these calls made, the end game was the same. Who do we know who can get us either some opportunity for exposure or invest in the future of this project with their time or their company’s money? I have not worked at a big label for several years now so it may just be that my vantage point is different as a result but I feel like it is more and more the case that there is no one left to call for most developing artists and that much more of the burden of building a following and building a team is now the artist’s responsibility than in years past. Labels, managers, agents and publishers are taking less chances with artists who have not done their own development work.
There will always be people who go into the studio with the first four songs they ever wrote and then get a deal or a partnership with a major label, publisher or manager. There will also always be people who win the lottery. But what if you’re not one of these lucky few? How do you go about attracting or hiring a qualified strategic partner like a manager, booking agent or entertainment lawyer?
Let’s start with an entertainment lawyer as they are critical to helping you establish the foundation of your business and you should hire one to set up your business correctly. Keep that word in mind too – “hire”. Lawyers provide a service and as much as you should feel comfortable with your lawyer and you should be friendly never forget that they are providing a service that is worth paying for. You will also want legal advice before making any formal or contractual arrangements with other partners so it would make sense to have legal advice on your team first.
First of all– hire a music lawyer for your music. Do not hire your bass player’s uncle who does tax law. There is no book that can keep someone outside of the music business up to date on the standards of the music industry because it is an industry in a constant state of change, especially in the last few years. Important things to consider – don’t call a lawyer unless you know what you need. Making sure the trademark on your band name is clear and helping you set up a corporation to own that trademark are usually good places to start with a lawyer. Unavoidably – these things cost money but so does every other kind of start up business on the planet.
The best way to get to a music lawyer is through a referral from someone you trust who has good business sense. It makes them easier to get on the phone and it should give you some insight as to why the person referring you hired them. This person should be a lawyer at a firm that has done the kind of work you are looking to get done (trademark, intra band agreement, incorporation, record deal etc) and that specializes in music and entertainment or at least has a department that does so. (Many pure music firms have had to diversify into other types of entertainment content just to stay afloat – those types of firms are good as well)
There are plenty of lawyers who have websites online but I would avoid just blindly typing in “music lawyer” into a search engine. If you really have no idea who to call I would go back to your music collection and find the liner notes on recent albums and see if there is a lawyer thanked in there – often times there is. Look up these people online – see who their clients are and see if there is any way of not going in cold.
Best case scenario you can get to one of this lawyer’s clients and get an introduction that way. If you have to cold call, ask for the Lawyer you found or for his office and speak to his or her assistant. Just say you are looking to hire a lawyer for whatever it is your needs are. Keep in mind that many lawyers who used to act as talent agents and shop acts to record labels do not do this anymore as it is considerably less lucrative than it used to be. If you are hiring a lawyer to do a record contract you had better have someone offering you one. I know that sounds silly but lawyer friends of mine tell me they get dozens of calls by people who were contacted by record company scouts (or publishers) and assumed they needed a lawyer right away.
If you are going in cold make sure to call a few different attorneys to make sure the pricing for the services you need is more or less consistent. It is absolutely acceptable to ask the opinion of your lawyer when he or she is hired for another service to see if they have any ideas for other strategic partners. They may not get what you do but provided that they draw up solid contracts and as strange as it may sound that doesn’t much matter. Obviously if you have choices go with someone who is passionate about what you do but beware that passionate and inexperienced can be a dangerous combination in someone who is doing your contracts.
The next to step are trickier because getting a manager or a booking agent to be your partner for a percentage requires more convincing than hiring a talented professional.
I will be getting into more detail about partnering with management and booking agents in the next week or two both on my blog – http://musiciancoaching.com and on http://musicians.about.com
About the author
Great article and something advice that is greatly needed by artists trying to make it in such a competitive environment. I am sure it has changed since the hayday of big labels signing unknowns without a clue on how to market themselves first. I look forward to reading more by you. Thanks!
Debralee
11/19/2009
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