In recent months, the artist has increasingly spoken out on social media about contractual issues. The latest case is an explosion Anita to express dissatisfaction with Warner Records on March 9, in a story about Instagram.
In June 2020, the singer signed a contract with international company and renew the contract with Warner Music Brazil. For a deeper understanding of the importance of contracts in the music market, the POPline.Biz is Mundo da Música interviewing lawyers Bruna CamposCopyright specialist.
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First of all, what should an artist know or do before signing any contract?
Campos Bruna: Hire a lawyer. It is Brazilian culture to hire a lawyer to solve problems, but it is very important to hire a lawyer to prevent these problems.
Lawyers should be seen as the first investment, before music producers, before repertoire, before anything else. But that’s not what usually happens and that’s why we’re seeing so much news about the issue happening.
What are the most common contract issues you notice in your day-to-day work?
BC: The transfer of rights without any consideration by the recipient of the rights, there is no balance between the obligations imposed on the artist and the obligations borne by the company, contractual fines that only punish the artist and do not affect the company, the wording of clauses whose purpose is not understandable confuses them who have no legal knowledge, a very common responsibility for companies — like “investing in publicity”, without considering how the value of this investment will be.
For independent artists, who generally operate on a self-managed model, is it appropriate to sign contracts independently?
BC: Without legal support, no.
Many artists imagine that the “major turning point” in their career is when they sign a big contract. Even if everything seems fine at first, problems can arise later. How does the artist protect himself and, at the same time, think about his future?
BC: Big contracts come with a lot of giving up. No big company has won a big contract without asking for a big concession. The artist always has to check if there is a second alternative if this relationship doesn’t work out. Because what I see happen too often is artists giving up on their careers because they’re not happy with a contract they can’t get out.
Lately the music catalog market is heating up. But we still pay attention to the lack of knowledge on the part of artists about what they are actually selling.
What exactly will be on sale in this sale? What does this artist’s patrimonial rights look like when he sells his catalog? Did he “hand over” some kind of financial receipt when he sold (dropped) his job?
BC: It depends on the negotiation. In some cases, artists are simply negotiating accounts receivable, because the catalog has been transferred to the publisher, for example. And of course, when he sold the catalog, he was no longer making the money he was making every month. He can sell part of the catalog, only what he made in the past, he can sell both the past and the future.
There are so many forms of negotiation that I think what’s working the most in this market, all of catalog acquisition, is the IT teams of the associations, publishers, record companies, because it’s an operation that is often manual and has to be done. done to comply with the mix that the artist made with the one he acquired without equity. And this is worrying, because service is improving across all the companies involved without increasing the transfer of rights. The Association continues to receive the same percentage as the much larger IT sector.
Finally, what advice would you give to artists who, on occasion, sign “off-the-shelf contracts” or who, unfortunately, only acknowledge their rights after there is a problem, so this event doesn’t happen?
BC: There is no better tip than DO NOT DO MOUTH OR DRAWER CONTRACTS.
Finally, what advice would you give to artists who, on occasion, sign “off-the-shelf contracts” or who, unfortunately, only acknowledge their rights after there is a problem, so this event doesn’t happen?
BC: There is no better tip than DO NOT DO MOUTH OR DRAWER CONTRACTS.
