Tim Velten Signs With A.C. St. Louis

AC St. Louis of the new North American Soccer League (NASL) announced the signing of defender and St. Louis native Tim Velten. Velten becomes the second official signing by the club, and the second St. Louis born and bred player behind Steve Ralston to join the team in the past week. Velten, 26, played professionally last year for the Rochester Rhinos and Harrisburg City Islanders. Velten played two years of collegiate soccer at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville before transferring to the University of Louisville for his junior and senior seasons.

"I am ecstatic to be coming home to St. Louis to play professional soccer," said Velten. "It has always been my dream to play in my hometown in front of my family and friends, and it is certainly an honor to be playing for AC St. Louis. I know everyone is excited that St. Louis now has a team, and for me to be a part of it from the ground up is an amazing opportunity. I want to thank everyone who helped me to get where I am; my parents, all my coaches, and my friends. I'm excited about our fans, our stadium, and winning soccer games. I can't wait for the season to get started."
Velten is a native of Webster Groves, Missouri in suburban St. Louis where he was a four-year varsity starter at Webster Groves High School. Velten also played for the prestigious Busch Soccer Club and Scott Gallagher Soccer Club before enrolling in college. Velten has spent the last three seasons playing for the Rochester Rhinos on a brief loan spell, the Harrisburg City Islanders, and the Charleston Battery.

S&E Entertainment, Inc. is a professional management services company that specializes in agent representation for professional soccer players and royalty administration and publishing for musicians. The company is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

For additional information on S&E Entertainment or Tim Velten, please visit www.sne-entertainment.com or contact Matthew Nagel at matt@sne-enterainment.com.

Trademarks - Protecting the Empire

Constructing a successful and sustainable career in the music industry is very similar to building an empire. An artist must establish a home base, gather his strength, and send out efforts until his influence expands – controlling more and more territory and conquering the hearts and minds of more people. However, it is equally important to build strong defenses to protect the assets that the artist’s empire is built upon. Specifically, a musician has to protect himself and his music if he wants to succeed in the music business.

Many different bricks go into building the foundation of a musician’s defenses, such as limiting his liability (LLC), securing his art (copyright), and establishing sources of revenue that announce his existence to the world (royalties and registrations). One of the most important pieces of this protection is the ability to protect the musician’s look and his brand or image. This image includes the musician’s name, both individually and the band’s name, his voice, and even the way he dresses on stage. Such protection is accomplished through a trademark.

What is a Trademark?

Under United States law, a trademark is a word, symbol, or device, used in commerce, which identifies the source of a good or service. As previously mentioned, this word, symbol, or device, can be your name, a logo, of even a particular look or display that is uniquely you own – i.e. your identifier. Most often this identifier is a musician’s band name and logo. When people see the identifier associated with a song or painting, they know exactly who made that particular piece of art. However, it is not enough to just think of a clever name or logo, but a musician must actually publically that name or logo it in a commercial manner before any trademark rights exist. This “use” can be playing a live gig under the band name or offering merchandise with the name and/or logo on it for sale. The band name is known as a service mark and the logo can be protected by both trademark and copyright law.

Much like copyrights, trademarks do not necessarily require registration. Trademark rights are established the first time the name or logo is used to sell something – the commercial use. Using “TM” next to the name or logo indicates that someone is claiming the trademark rights in an identifier but has not yet registered the trademark with the government. Once a band name or logo is registered with the government, the artist can use ® next to the name or logo. Notably, registering your trademark has several benefits: 1.) it announces to the world that someone has a right to that particular name or logo; 2.) it establishes a specific date when you acquired the rights in that name or logo; and 3.) it allows you to recover money and other remedies that are not always available without registration, such as filing a lawsuit in Federal Court. Often, just the threat of a lawsuit is enough to deter other bands from using your name or logo.



What is the Point of Trademarks?

Now, you should have an idea of what a trademark is, but the importance of a trademark is where things get interesting. If you hold a trademark in a name or logo, no one else can use that name or logo, with very few exceptions. Also, a trademark is a piece of property (intellectual property to be precise) that can be owned, bought, sold, or licensed. Musicians can even sell or rent the right to use their trademark for a specific geographic area. However, the place to start is choosing a name or logo that is not already owned by someone else.

For instance, a newly organized St. Louis rock band wants to pick a strong name that tells the public they love rock and Greek mythology. The group quickly picks “Minotaur.” However, before printing flyers, starting a website, or getting any new tattoos, the band realizes they need to make sure that no one else has a trademark in the name “Minotaur.” Otherwise, they run the risk of infringing that person’s trademark rights and open themselves up to a major lawsuit. The first place they check is the United States Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov), which reveals 30 different registered trademark records for the word “minotaur.” These registrations range from upholstery companies to engine parts. Next, the group checks Google (www.google.com), performing rights organizations (www.ascap.com – www.bmi.com), internet domains (www.internic.net), and any other source they can find where bands would list themselves.

Since there are so many people using the name “Minotaur,” the band consults with an entertainment attorney who helps them perform a comprehensive search and analyzes the options. He stresses that a band name cannot infringe another trademark but it also cannot infringe someone else’s copyrights. After careful review, the group decides to use “Minotaur” in a stylized format to make them stand out. They put the new logo and band name on their website, t-shirts, and file a formal registration with both the State of Missouri and the federal government Now Minotaur should be adequately protected, and the band can rest easy that one else can simply steal their band name without serious repercussions. In order to maintain exclusive rights in that name, Minotaur only needs to keep using the name when they sell their services or merchandise. Notably, if a musician does not use the trademark in commerce for 3 years, he loses his rights in that trademark, as it is considered abandoned.

Obtaining a trademark and using it to protect your music is a fairly simply process. However, much like any other area of music law, spending a little time and effort up front can save an endless amount of headaches and lost profits down the road. Trademark infringement leads to lengthy and expensive litigation, and “I didn’t know I couldn’t do that” is not a defense. If an artist is willing to take the take and put in the effort to understand the laws that affect his craft, then he can successfully build a sold protective wall around his music. Such protection forms the foundation of a long, sustainable career in a very chaotic and constantly changing industry. Everything starts with a song, but you must protect and nurture that song in order for it to grow.

Matthew T. Nagel is an entertainment attorney at Wuestling & James in St. Louis, Missouri and an adjunct professor at Fontbonne University and Washington University School of Law. If you have questions, you can reach him at Nagel@wuestlingandjames.com.

* Articles are primarily educational and do not purport to constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created between the author and any reader of this article. If you have legal concerns or questions be sure to consult with an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.

Trademarks - Protecting the Empire

Constructing a successful and sustainable career in the music industry is very similar to building an empire. An artist must establish a home base, gather his strength, and send out efforts until his influence expands – controlling more and more territory and conquering the hearts and minds of more people. However, it is equally important to build strong defenses to protect the assets that the artist’s empire is built upon. Specifically, a musician has to protect himself and his music if he wants to succeed in the music business.

Many different bricks go into building the foundation of a musician’s defenses, such as limiting his liability (LLC), securing his art (copyright), and establishing sources of revenue that announce his existence to the world (royalties and registrations). One of the most important pieces of this protection is the ability to protect the musician’s look and his brand or image. This image includes the musician’s name, both individually and the band’s name, his voice, and even the way he dresses on stage. Such protection is accomplished through a trademark.

What is a Trademark?

Under United States law, a trademark is a word, symbol, or device, used in commerce, which identifies the source of a good or service. As previously mentioned, this word, symbol, or device, can be your name, a logo, of even a particular look or display that is uniquely you own – i.e. your identifier. Most often this identifier is a musician’s band name and logo. When people see the identifier associated with a song or painting, they know exactly who made that particular piece of art. However, it is not enough to just think of a clever name or logo, but a musician must actually publically that name or logo it in a commercial manner before any trademark rights exist. This “use” can be playing a live gig under the band name or offering merchandise with the name and/or logo on it for sale. The band name is known as a service mark and the logo can be protected by both trademark and copyright law.

Much like copyrights, trademarks do not necessarily require registration. Trademark rights are established the first time the name or logo is used to sell something – the commercial use. Using “TM” next to the name or logo indicates that someone is claiming the trademark rights in an identifier but has not yet registered the trademark with the government. Once a band name or logo is registered with the government, the artist can use ® next to the name or logo. Notably, registering your trademark has several benefits: 1.) it announces to the world that someone has a right to that particular name or logo; 2.) it establishes a specific date when you acquired the rights in that name or logo; and 3.) it allows you to recover money and other remedies that are not always available without registration, such as filing a lawsuit in Federal Court. Often, just the threat of a lawsuit is enough to deter other bands from using your name or logo.



What is the Point of Trademarks?

Now, you should have an idea of what a trademark is, but the importance of a trademark is where things get interesting. If you hold a trademark in a name or logo, no one else can use that name or logo, with very few exceptions. Also, a trademark is a piece of property (intellectual property to be precise) that can be owned, bought, sold, or licensed. Musicians can even sell or rent the right to use their trademark for a specific geographic area. However, the place to start is choosing a name or logo that is not already owned by someone else.

For instance, a newly organized St. Louis rock band wants to pick a strong name that tells the public they love rock and Greek mythology. The group quickly picks “Minotaur.” However, before printing flyers, starting a website, or getting any new tattoos, the band realizes they need to make sure that no one else has a trademark in the name “Minotaur.” Otherwise, they run the risk of infringing that person’s trademark rights and open themselves up to a major lawsuit. The first place they check is the United States Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov), which reveals 30 different registered trademark records for the word “minotaur.” These registrations range from upholstery companies to engine parts. Next, the group checks Google (www.google.com), performing rights organizations (www.ascap.com – www.bmi.com), internet domains (www.internic.net), and any other source they can find where bands would list themselves.

Since there are so many people using the name “Minotaur,” the band consults with an entertainment attorney who helps them perform a comprehensive search and analyzes the options. He stresses that a band name cannot infringe another trademark but it also cannot infringe someone else’s copyrights. After careful review, the group decides to use “Minotaur” in a stylized format to make them stand out. They put the new logo and band name on their website, t-shirts, and file a formal registration with both the State of Missouri and the federal government Now Minotaur should be adequately protected, and the band can rest easy that one else can simply steal their band name without serious repercussions. In order to maintain exclusive rights in that name, Minotaur only needs to keep using the name when they sell their services or merchandise. Notably, if a musician does not use the trademark in commerce for 3 years, he loses his rights in that trademark, as it is considered abandoned.

Obtaining a trademark and using it to protect your music is a fairly simply process. However, much like any other area of music law, spending a little time and effort up front can save an endless amount of headaches and lost profits down the road. Trademark infringement leads to lengthy and expensive litigation, and “I didn’t know I couldn’t do that” is not a defense. If an artist is willing to take the take and put in the effort to understand the laws that affect his craft, then he can successfully build a sold protective wall around his music. Such protection forms the foundation of a long, sustainable career in a very chaotic and constantly changing industry. Everything starts with a song, but you must protect and nurture that song in order for it to grow.

Matthew T. Nagel is an entertainment attorney at Wuestling & James in St. Louis, Missouri and an adjunct professor at Fontbonne University and Washington University School of Law. If you have questions, you can reach him at Nagel@wuestlingandjames.com.

* Articles are primarily educational and do not purport to constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created between the author and any reader of this article. If you have legal concerns or questions be sure to consult with an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.

Royalties: Getting Paid in the Music Business

For the third installation of our royalty’s discussion, we will walk through the flow of money for a main-stream radio song. So far we have outlined the major players and defined the various types of royalties that each may be entitled to. Let’s put those players to work and see who gets paid.

Jeffrey Mandain is an aspiring songwriter from St. Louis, Missouri and after years of toil and a few tears, he writes a song called “Whiskey For My Hound Dog.” Mandain cannot play a single chord on the guitar, so he calls his friend Jack Preacher to help put the song to music. Preacher puts together a sorrowful guitar melody that speaks to everyone that hears the rough track that he records in Mandain’s garage. Neither Mandain nor Preacher know anything about royalties, copyrights, or how to get the song from Mandain’s garage to the bright lights of show business, so they call S&E Entertainment, a local publishing company. Recognizing the potential of “Whiskey For My Hound Dog,” S&E agrees to work with Mandain and Preacher and pays them $10,000.00 for a 50/50 split of the copyrights to the song’s music and lyrics. Since S&E is a savvy publisher, they get the exclusive right to exploit Mandain and Preacher’s portion of the copyright, which means they can sign licensing contracts as if they owned 100% of the copyright.

Soon after signing the contract, S&E registers Mandain and Preacher as songwriters on ASCAP, a performing rights organization, and registers “Whiskey For My Hound Dog” as a musical composition with ASCAP. S&E also registers the song with the Harry Fox Agency, the mechanical rights agency that S&E prefers to use.

So far, we have established a few of the players:
- Songwriters: Mandain and Preacher
- Publisher: S&E
- Performing Rights Organization: ASCAP
- Mechanical Rights Agency: Harry Fox Agency

Preacher received $5,000.00 and Mandain received $5,000.00 from S&E in exchange for 50% of the copyright and the ability to license the music and lyrics (the musical composition).

S&E immediately goes to work and calls Buzz Village Records, a promising record label in St. Louis. Buzz Village recently signed a budding star in Leia Sonalta, a young pop singer with a sultry voice. S&E and Buzz Village agree that “Whiskey For My Hound Dog” would be the perfect single to break Sonalta into the mainstream music world, and the two companies sign a contract that grants Sonalta a recording license to record a version of the song. Buzz Village pays S&E $1,000.00 for the recording license, and Sonalta records the track at Buzz Village’s in-house studio, including Preacher’s guitar work in her version. The recording is wildly successful and Buzz Village immediately presses 1000 CDs to send out to local radio stations.

Now we have a few more players and more money involved:
- Record Company: Buzz Village
- Performer: Sonalta

S&E received $1,000.00 from Buzz Village for the recording license, and distributes $250.00, $250.00 to Preacher, and keeps $500.00. (Remember S&E owns 50% of the copyright now). Buzz Village now owns the copyright to the master recording of Sonalta’s version of “Whiskey For My Hound Dog,” based upon their contract with the artist. Finally, Buzz Village pays $91.00 to S&E in mechanical royalties because they press 1000 copies of the musical composition (1000 CDs x 9.1 cent statutory rate). S&E distributes this money to Preacher and Mandain based on their contract ($22.75 each and $45.50 to S&E).

For purposes of this example and ease of math, let’s assume that under Sonalta’s contract with Buzz Village, Buzz Village retains the copyrights to her recordings and they split all profits from her albums 50/50. Any discussion of recoupment by the record label or any other aspects of a recording contract are outside the scope of this article.

Totals
• Preacher: $5,272.75
• Mandain: $5,272.75
• S&E: -$9,454.50
• Buzz Village -$1,000.00
• Sonalta $0.00

Sonalta’s version of “Whisky For My Hound Dog” is a smash hit! It plays on the radio constantly and record stores are clamoring for the opportunity to carry Sonalta’s album in their stores. Buzz Village quickly presses 100,000 CDs that all sell out in a week (retail price - $15 per CD). Cover bands across the country start playing “Whiskey For My Hound Dog” in bars and small venues, and Sonalta goes on a nation-wide tour to support the album. Also, websites allow users to stream the song and download short snippets of the song. Buzz Village and S&E also assign a synchronization license with a major movie studio to feature the song as the main title. The studio pays $10,000.00, which S&E and Buzz Village split 50/50.

Things have started to get interesting. Buzz Village pays $9,100.00 to S&E in mechanical royalties for pressing the 100,000 CDs. S&E also receives $5,000.00 for the sync license. ASCAP pays S&E $20,000.00 in performance royalties for the radio play, the cover bands, and Sonalta’s nation-wide tour (yup, she has to pay too even though she made it famous). S&E and Buzz Village also agree that Buzz Village will pay 2 cents for every copy of the album because Sonalta demanded to have the lyrics printed in the album notes ($2,000.00). SoundExchange pays $5,000.00 to both S&E and Buzz Village for all of the digital streaming that occurred on the Internet and the Musical Works Fund pays S&E $1,000.00 in AHRA royalties for all the people that illegally copied the album at home.

When you work out the math and distribute the money according to the contracts, the totals are:
• Preacher: $14,297.75 (lyrics only belong to Mandain)
• Mandain: $15,297.75
• S&E: $9,095.50
• Buzz Village $742,900.00
• Sonalta $750,000.00

Clearly, I made up the amounts involved and I did not account for a tremendous number of costs that go into the activities described in this example, such as pressing costs, artwork, shipping, overheard, etc.. Not to mention, I did not account for any of the intricacies that are part of the licensing and recording contracts between these parties. However, this example does outline the different ways that the Players use the Royalties for the final Payoff. Moreover, this cycle continues forever until the copyright holder dies or sells the copyright to someone else.

Matthew T. Nagel is an entertainment attorney at Wuestling & James in St. Louis, Missouri and an adjunct professor at Fontbonne University and Washington University School of Law. If you have questions, you can reach him at Nagel@wuestlingandjames.com.

* Articles are primarily educational and do not purport to constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created between the author and any reader of this article. If you have legal concerns or questions be sure to consult with an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.

What You Need to Succeed

At S&E Entertainment, we work with independent artists with 2 goals in mind: help them make money and provide the tools and knowledge that provide an opportunity to play music as their fulltime job. That being said, there are certain traits that an independent artist needs to have in order to meet both those goals. Please understand that when we refer to a musician and as "independent artist," that means the group does not have a record deal (big or small) that would provode outside support to promote the group and its records.

This is a short list of the traits that we feel are essential for an indie artist to have in their band. Notably, not one person needs to possess all of these traits. A band can divide tasks based on ability/interest or hire support staff to help - i.e. business managers, lawyers, computer wiz, etc..

Traits of Successful Indies:

• Write Great Songs: There is an unbelievable amount of music being recorded and disseminated every single day across the globe. People know a great song when they hear it, and in the age of digital music and the Internet, they don't have to sit through your crappy song to hear something else. If your music isn't that good, then people won't spend their time or money on it. You don't have a major label and major label money working for you in an effort to convince the public that you're worth $15.00 a ticket.



• Ability to Connect with Fans: The days of the brooding artist are over. With the advent of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites, fans expect to be able to reach out and contact their favorite artists in an instant. Moreover, they expect a response. You aren't the Beatles, the Eagles, Aerosmith, or even Brittany Spears. If someone likes your music enough to send you a personal message, then expect you to spend the time to send them a personal message back. Yes, it may take away time that you would otherwise spend on your music, but if you don't get back to them, chances are that they won't come back to you. If you don't like communicating with people, find someone in your badn that does or hire someone to run these fan portals.



• Legal Knowledge: We aren't advocating that you send someone to law school, or recruit at the Bar Association for a bass player. However, the band needs to possess a basic understanding of your rights as a musician, including copyright, trademark, contract law, and torts. The information is out there - go do your homework. If you don't have the time, patience, or just plain don't understand, spend the money to consult with a lawyer. AND LISTEN TO HIM/HER!



• Computyer Savvy: It is 2009, not 1994. People expect to sleek, fast websites that deliver content immediately. They do not want to see blink text, garish color schemes, or to wait on long load times. If you don't know anything about basic web design, find someone who does - FAST! The Internet has the ability to level the playing field for indie bands ... or it can make you look like completel amatuers and cheapen your hard work



• Business Smarts: Someone in the band must take the lead in forming and fostering business relationships. The same was true 50 years ago, and is still true today - who you know can make or break your career. Make those connections, and present a professional business attitude. Have an idea of what constitutes a good deal vs. a bad deal. Again, do your homework, as knowledge about a particular deal can make all of the difference. How much do bands normally get paid at this venue? Do you pay for gas money for out-of-town acts? What's the difference between a "point" and a "percentage" and "gross" and "net"?



• Unexhaustable Work Ethic: When we sign a band to our publishing company, we look for people who cannot sleep at night. We want them to be so concerned about their career, selling their music, and promoting their brand, that it literally keeps them up at night. Those are the people that stay late at venues shaking hands and handing out business cards. They are up at 3:00 AM sending MySpace messages and hand writing thank you letters. Remember, your art and your talent is a gift, but that gift is nothing without investing hard work to nurture it.

Royalties - Getting Paid In The Music Business

Part II of explaining royalties in the music business involves defining what royalties are available to musicians and how those royalties are assigned and collected. When analyzing royalties, it is crucial to understand that copyright law is the deciding factor in who owns the royalty rights and who is paid according to those rights. If you do not have a firm grasp on copyrights, please review the prior article on that subject.

Copyright law is all about who controls the exclusive rights to a piece of art (i.e. music in this case) and exercising those rights to exclude other people from using that piece of art. Importantly, individuals can give the copyrights away to other people and companies or they can grant permission to another person to use the copyrighted piece of art – a license. A license is a contract between the copyright owner and another person or company, which allows that other person to use the art for a particular purpose. While I understand this can be a lot to understand at first, it will all make sense in the end.

Remember, copyrights can be bought, sold, and given away just like any other piece of property. As we work through each individual royalty, I will refer to the copyright holder. This is the person who actually owns the copyright, and it is not necessarily the songwriter. In fact, the copyright holder is rarely the songwriter (except for independent musicians) because the songwriter has probably sold the copyright in the musical composition to a publisher (either in part or completely), a performer, or a record company.

PART II – The Royalties

Print Royalties – Though not used very often in recent years, the copyright holder of a musical composition is a due a royalty every time his music or lyrics are printed on paper. This includes printed sheet music and lyrics in album notes. The lesson here – if you are not the copyright holder of the lyrics, you have to pay the copyright holder if you want to print the lyrics in your album or on your website.

Performance Royalties – A performance royalty is paid to the copyright holder of a musical composition any time the composition is (wait for it ….) performed. This includes play on the radio and live performances. For instance, if a cover band played your song at the local bar, you should get paid a performance royalty. A performance rights organization (PRO) collects performance royalties, based on a blanket license. Normally, venues and radio stations pay a flat fee every year to a PRO so that they can play any song that is registered with that PRO. The copyright holder is paid a portion of this license fee, based upon how many times his musical composition was played.

Mechanical Royalties – A mechanical royalty is paid to the copyright holder of a musical composition any time that composition any time that composition is reproduced on some type of physical media. Basically, this means that anytime a song is put down on a CD, cassette, record, or DVD, the copyright holder gets paid. The person reproducing the song must get a mechanical license from the copyright holder of the musical composition and a mechanical license from the copyright holder of the sound recording. Remember any particular record song has three distinct copyrights (the music, the lyrics, and the actual recording of a performing playing those music and lyrics). This mechanical license is available from one of the mechanical rights agencies, and the license fee is set by the United States Library of Congress’ Copyright Office.

Currently (as of October 2009), the rate is 9.1 cents per unit reproduced (i.e. 9.1 per CD that the musical composition appears on). Mechanical royalties are paid directly to the copyright holder(s) or their publishers. Notably, a copyright holder can agree to be paid less than the statutory rate set by the Copyright Office – this is common in record deals. There are also certain uses of a musical composition to which a copyright holder cannot refuse. In those cases a compulsory license is used and the copyright holder is paid according to the rate set by the Copyright Office.

Synchronization Royalties – In order to reproduce or play a musical composition in a film, television program, commercial or any other visual presentation, the person displaying the images must obtain a synchronization license (a “sync license”) from the copyright holder of the musical composition and a master use license from the copyright holder of the sound recording. More often than not, the copyright holder requires the film or television program to pay a synchronization royalty, based on the number of times the program is shown. There is no statutory or set rate for synchronization royalties, and each use is individually negotiated.

Digital Royalties – Digital royalties are very similar to performance royalties. These cover simulcasting, webcasting, streaming, downloading, and other on-line music services that PROs do not or cannot monitor. These royalties are normally assigned with a blanket license, but this is a very new area for music royalties and is not completely defined yet. SoundExchange, a type of PRO, was formed to track the music played on the Internet and distribute royalties to copyright holders.

AHRA Royalties – In 1992, Congress passed the Audio Home Recording Act, which requires the manufacturers of digital audio recording devices (DVD and CD burners) and blank recording media (CDRs, DVD-Rs, and cassette tapes) to pay a percentage of all money made from selling these devices and media to the Register of Copyrights. The Register then distributes that money to the Sound Recording Fund and the Musical Works Fund to make up for performers, songwriters, and record companies lost sales from people burning illegal copies of the copyrighted material. The two Funds distribute the money to songwriters and record companies through the PROs.

In Part III, we will put all of this information together and demonstrate how all of the players and royalties work with a song and how everyone enjoys the final payoff.

Matthew T. Nagel is an entertainment attorney at Wuestling & James in St. Louis, Missouri and an adjunct professor at Fontbonne University and Washington University School of Law. If you have questions, you can reach him at Nagel@wuestlingandjames.com.

* Articles are primarily educational and do not purport to constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created between the author and any reader of this article. If you have legal concerns or questions be sure to consult with an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.

The New Music Age

One of things that we stress to S&E Entertainment clients is that you need to be accessible to as many people as possible, both in person and online. The bottom-line: have a presence where your fans are and provide them the ability to interact with that presence. it is no longer enough to simply put the information out there and hope that someone enjoys it and spends their time and money following your musical career.

A recent article by Kyle Bylin highlights this advice:

"I was ten when I recorded "The Rockafeller Skank" by Fatboy Slim off the radio onto cassette tape. Twelve when “The Real Slim Shady” by Eminem premiered on TRL. The idea that I could reach out and connect with the artists that I liked didn’t exist yet or at least wasn’t familiar to me. MySpace didn’t become popular where I grew up – almost no one that I knew had it. Artists were perceived as unreachable. What you knew about them was based on the lyrics in their songs or maybe a brief interview segment in Rolling Stone. Even the concept of sending traditional fan mail was of no interest, because there was no expectation of the artist reading it or writing back. It was basically the equivalent of trying to actually send your Christmas list to Santa at the North Pole.

In the truest form, I, along with everyone I knew, were passive consumers of music and thought nothing of tuning into the radio and not getting to choose what songs were playing. Waiting through a few terrible videos on MTV in order to hear something good was commonplace and seen as a way to pass the time. Today that’s just not the case anymore. Music fans have set different expectations for artists and insist that they are met. While not everyone has interest in messaging their favorite artist, those that do, anticipate a reply back. Of course, no one is shedding tears when old hats like Metallica or Def Leppard don’t reply, but for Making April or Owl City, fans have come accustomed to the idea that they are able to reach out to these artists and make a real connection.

What does this mean for an artist? Think about it as the blurring of the line between the public artist and the private individual, at a time, when the boundary between home and studio has largely disappeared. On tour, thanks, by and large, to advances in digital technologies, the ability to stay in touch with their fans has become delocalized for many artists, so that it can be done at all hours from almost anywhere. Leisure time once spent doing creative things — where an artist could take time away from it all — has turned into work that ranges from learning how to market themselves online and off, answering an endless barrage of messages from fans, bloggers, and managers, and trying to keep all of their profiles, blogs, and social media tools relevant and up-to-date.

“It’s that the once disparate spheres have now collided and interpenetrated each other, creating a sense of “elsewhere” at all times,” writes Sociologist Dalton Conley in Elsewhere, U.S.A. He continues, “It is the plethora of economic opportunities created by technology that creates a dogging sense of loss, of needing to be elsewhere, doing something different.”1 Whether you liken elsewhere to the next social networking site that seems to have more promising opportunities or the idea that instead of making more music you should be figuring out how to better market the music that you’ve already made — the message is clear — that what it means to be an artist in the twenty-first century will be drastically different from what previous generations have experienced."