Music Industry 2012 Legal Issues

2012 has seen several legal issues in the music industry; this post covers three in particular. First in the aftermath of Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) the large copyright holders in the industry like Universal Media Group and Disney have sought other methods on stopping illegal downloads. These companies, the US Government and industry agencies have engage a software company called MarkMonitor to scan peer to peer sites and record offending user internet addresses then engage volunteering ISPs to send warning and education on theft of intellectual property (IP). This plan also includes service disruptions or slowdowns for repeat offenders. A Wired Magazine article explains the six steps of this plan to discourage the user from downloading copyrighted material. It is my opinion that these measures do put undo burden on the end user through a 35-dollar fee to dispute any claim that MarkMonitor has identified your behavior as illegal. Also I have not seen provisions to protect the work of independent artists and labels. My assumption at this point is that registering works to be monitor would require a fee to MarkMonitor and thus be cost prohibitive to a small artist or label. After this is implemented I will also watch for potential legal issues of consumer privacy rights.

Another issue that has developed this year has been a trend of law suites where the artists are suing their labels over digital royalties. As a label this is a concern, as we do not want to be in a position of conflict over royalties with our own artists. Lee Simmons in his article for Hoovers.com identifies that this recent rise in legal cases as a product of new technology and regulations and the artists need to voice their position on how these profits should be divided. As a label open dialog with the artist roster is important and standards that are fair should be agreed upon. These court cases in particular will be on the rise as revenue streams have shifted to technologies companies leaving less of the profit share for label and artist.

Finally another legal issue to keep tabs on is the dispute of whether streaming videos illegal. Stephanie Rabiner writes about the subject in her article titled: Is Streaming or Watching Movies Illegal? While posting an unauthorized copy of a movie is illegal as is downloading (copying to local hard drive), there is a legal grey area being disputed about streaming the content as no copy is made in totality. This does not make copyright holders happy and we can expect more cases until the issue is resolved.

References

Kravets, David (October, 2012). Copyright Scofflaws Beware: ISPs to Begin Monitoring Illicit File Sharing. Wired Magazine. Retrieved from: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/isp-file-sharing-monitoring/

Rabiner, Stephanie (April 23, 2012). Is Streaming or Watching Movies Illegal? Findlaw.com. Retrieved from: http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2012/04/is-streaming-or-watching-movies-illegal.html

Simmons, Lee (May 1, 2012). Music royalty litigation heats up. Hoovers.com. Retrieved from: http://bizmology.hoovers.com/2012/05/01/music-royalty-litigation-heats-up/

Artist Managers in a New Music Industry

George Howard in his article titled ArtistManagers Must Understand Their Role Is Now Business Development states that an artist manager’s role has shifted from a focus of finding a label to sign their artists to “developing and unlocking value for their bands; i.e. business development” (2011). 

What does he mean by this? Most would counter that the concept of developing an artist has always been about business and following those principles. Howard does mention several artist managers that do take this approach, but many do not and rely on labels to function as the business managers for the industry. Counter that thought with today and the state of the music industry where if you are not a profitable producer for a major label, your only course is to develop your brand through “indie” or DIY methods.  This means for the majority of artist that the importance of having an artist manager that is capable of running a business is a must.

Core competencies must exist within the manager that lends to the development of the business that is your band. But this person also must be able to work with the vision of the band to find how to capitalize and refine their product to generate further fans and increase revenue to meet the financial goals of the group. In the book The Product Manager’s Field Guide by Full Sail University describes the competency set “Ability to Deliver Results Through People” (2003), this set that is focused on the capability of a manager to work effectively in managing products through people. Building consensus, communication, building report and adapting to both internal demands of the band but external professional contacts and understanding the needs of the fan base are all examples of this competency.

Again the goals of the band need to be examined to understand at what level in the industry they are striving for. If the desire is to find a living with in the industry then the art of business development must be a part of the plan. Building a team with a good manager at the helm is a recipe for success, which in place the artist can focus on writing that hit.

Reference:

Full Sail University. (2003). Product Manager's Field Guide. Full Sail University. McGraw-Hill Create. ISBN-13: 9781121176843

Managing the Grateful Dead

Danny Rifkin & Rock Scully - 07/31/1966

Photographer: Herbie Greene

When the words Grateful Dead and Corporation are uttered, one would feel that they are not inclusive of each other. Well the business of music was well played by the band through the management team that would take a group of hippies with talent to become icons of their generation with a profitable brand. Joshua Green wrote Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead an article published in The Atlantic, which lifts the curtain and shows the business side of the Grateful Dead. Insight into how early on the incorporated their band and trademarked brand images. Just like any other corporation had a board, CEO and divisions. The board not only included band members but according to Green’s article roadies and other members of the artist’s team. He also goes onto describe innovations as a corporation that would be adopted by the greater marketing world like targeted marketing. Until the death of Jerry Garcia the Grateful Dead were continuing concerts and one of the longest running profitable brands in the industry.

This says a lot about the organization and their band manager Rock Skully. He served as the band’s manager from 1964 until his eventual firing in 1985 due to personal drug use interfering with his duties. Regardless of his personal problems, of which he was able to eventually overcome, he and the team that developed the organization that is the Grateful Dead excelled. For 20 years Skully traveled with and managed the band, in 1992 he wrote a book on the subject titled Living With The Dead: Twenty years on the road with Garcia and the Grateful Dead. As a manager he also managed other Grateful Dead spinoff acts. Further insight into Skully, and his experience during the period managing the band can be found in an interview by Fine Art Magazine. One noteworthy part is when Skully talks about how they made the decision not to play clubs for in which they earned very little and create their own events. This move created growth for the band as profitable events allowed for further equipment purchases and investment into the band.