MEDIA MARKET: Music
Attorneys
Music and entertainment
attorneys fulfill a wide range of abilities in the music industry and can often represent artists who have demos and master
recordings. Music attorneys can have many record label contacts and know when
a record company is looking for a certain type of artist. Some music attorneys
will provide the following: shop artist deals to record labels; shop specific
songs to artist managers and record label producers and executives; produce bands/artists; shop distribution deals with produced
masters; negotiate P & D deals for artists.
There are many specialists among entertainment attorneys as well as veterans who have done it all. Some times artists will select different attorneys who have industry strengths and specialties. Music attorneys can have specialties in the negotiating the following music industry
categories: Artist Management; Publishing; Production; Film Music; Recording Contracts.
Music attorneys can all charge differently in their fees. Listed
below are four (4) ways music attorney charge for their time and service.
1. . Hourly Billing: charge
hourly by billing monthly and logging all the accumulated time spent on telephone; meetings with you and record company.
2. Percentage of Income: waive hourly fees in lieu
of 5%-10% of the life of the contact deal they secure with record and publishing companies.
3. Deferment: keeping track of the time spent on
the project but defer payment until a deal is made and then collected the accumulated fees from the front money. New attorneys will do this more often that experienced attorneys.
4. Monthly Retainer: an hourly fee against a monthly retainer based on an overall fee for a project.
Attorney deducts what is already paid from the final overall project fee. An
estimate is given up front for the project cost.
