The Importance of Carefully Reviewing Contracts to Limit Legal Liabilities

When entering the entertainment industry you must be sure that you have the proper legal representation. Why is this important? Not only is it important for you as an artist have any run ins with the law, but it is important to ensure that all contracts that are in place have been properly reviewed. Such as contracts pertaining to touring, use of image, and/or publishing & distribution. I recently came across several articles that outlined the importance and discussed breaching of contracts in each of these ways.

Well Ne-Yo, Ginuwine, and Tyson Beckford definitely understand the importance of carefully reviewing and having a contract. Many of you might be familiar with the case Ne-Yo filed against the R. Kelly promoter (Rowe Entertainment) claiming breach of contract. If not, Ne-Yo filed a lawsuit due to his premature dismissal from R. Kelly’s “Double Up tour”. In this lawsuit he requested that he be paid even though he was released prior to the end of the tour. Rowe Ent. Then stated that the reasoning behind was not receiving a fully executed contract from Ne-Yo. In layman’s terms: there were some signatures missing and Rowe Ent. stated, "From a business perspective, it would have been extremely difficult for me to continue under this cloud of uncertainty." The tour was eventually canceled due to legalities that R. Kelly himself had.

In Ginuwine’s mid 2007 contract conflict, he filed a lawsuit against King Music Group for breach of contract, negligent representation, and fraud. In this case Ginuwine alleged that he was falsely convinced to sign a recording artist contract with King Music Group. King Music Group didn’t seem to exist however. The terms & conditions of said contract were that Ginuwine had to produce one album for the company for $1.75 million with an advance of $500,000. There was a signing between the two parties however there seems to be no listing for King Music Group nor has the artist received any financial backing. With Ginuwine being bound to the previously mentioned contract he was unable to make any records for any other companies for fear to be sued himself for a breach of contract with King Music Group.

Tyson Beckford is an internationally know model who has known for being a Sean Jean model, in his law suit he filed also for breach of contract as well as trademark infringement. Beckford claims that there was a contract between himself and Sean Jean to lend his face and image for an advertising campaign in the amount of $1.2 million. The reason the contract was deemed breached was due to all of the payments not being made. He was to receive for $300,000 payments however, only received the 1st payment, part of the 2nd, and neither of the 3rd or 4th payments. With these actions happening, the contract between Beckford and Sean Jean was said to now be null and void. Though this was so, his images were still used for the campaign.

As an artist manager, I urge our clients to ensure that they carefully review all of their contracts (especially those between them and myself). Even the most seasoned artist can fall victim to a fraudulent contract or businessperson. Not only do we have a lawyer on staff at Rising Phoenix Entertainment Group but also, we advise our clients to ensure that everything has been covered in the contracts and looked over carefully by their personal representation. After reading these articles, I personally feel that all contracts are extremely important and should never be taken lightly. You always want to make sure that all “I”s are dotted and all “t”s are crossed (i.e. Ne-Yo contract). As well as make sure you carefully research the company you are considering signing a contract with. (i.e. Ginuwine)


Sources: Music Recording Contract Fraud; Tyson Beckford Sues Diddy for Breach of Contract; Ne-Yo Sues R. Kelly Tour Promoter for Breach of Contract

10 Reasons to Buy From Independent Artists

Since becoming an Artist manager, I am realizing the benefits of remaining independent from labels.  However, when the artist chooses to be independent rather than signed with a huge label they have a few disadvantages. This article I found taught me 10 reasons on why you should buy from independent artists.  I hope that you enjoy!



1. Independent musicians can share their passion and unique talent. You can express their personal stories to follow their own instincts, and not follow orders from major label executives, whatever they need. From the perspective of the customer, by exploring free radio stations and other sources of independent music, too, are now making their own decisions on what’s hot and what’s not.

2. Many of the popular music formats dealers only offer music from major labels, and only rarely do they give everything for free, no matter how many albums you download or buy CDs. An independent artist is free to be unique and generous in its sales methods. For consumers, this may mean more quantity discounts, coupon offers and appreciation for their repeat purchases.

3. The independent musicians can communicate directly with customers, selling online does not feel like an isolating experience for the artist. Many times to get the thrill of an e-mail directly from the musicians an independent label music buyers in a devout fans spin.

4. Niche marketing is the big buzz these days, and nowhere is it more successful than in independent music. As an independent musician, you are free to create your own unique niche in the process, achieve more ideal fans. As someone who buys music from an independent label, you may find it easier, the music, and defined also expresses you to discover.

5. By buying from independent labels, musicians and customers can share the love. Look at it this way, here’s a scenario. A music lover makes a purchase. The independent musician has complete control over what reported in the thank-you message. The customer can write again. The musician, the customer can be found in his blog, mention the customer basks in the glory of the personal and shares it with all his friends on his Facebook page. Backlinks abound. Try to you on the purchase of a major label.

6. Everyone feels more authentic. A MySpace page is more authentic than a billboard. A blog is more authentic than a press release. As an independent music company with the real communication can replace you and your fans can comment on your website and get a straight answer out of you with their names.

7. In an era when many music retailers close their doors, customers can their favorite independent musicians, the music by making it available directly from the artist. Musician with a clearly defined niche and loyal, enthusiastic fans can stay through the ups and downs of the retail music industry untouched.

8. An independent musician can develop its own website presence on the basis of its own unique character and style. Fans can hang that set in a place where they can listen to music clips, to socialize, to see video performances, music buy and build on each other excitement. Everything is in one place, and they can discover a new artist or a song, your comments, bookmark the site, to make a purchase and new friends, all at the same time.

9. Musicians get a bigger cut from sales of their music. This may seem obvious, but if the customers could see that some of their favorite musicians get from major labels, they would more efforts to support independent musicians to make and buy from independent labels.

10.Indie musicians can join together to support each other and further their causes, in organizations such as Association of Independent Music, or Rock the Net, just two examples. Major record companies often restrict what their artists cannot. Consumers cannot only the music they love, they affiliate themselves with the causes they believe in.


Here are a couple independent artists that I am currently working with that I would love for you all to support. Thank you in advance for listening and supporting.







Rising Phoenix Entertainment Group PRESENTS YaZa~~STEREO
YaZa's album is available on iTunes <~~Just click HERE!!!



This is Rob Jay....

This song is very personal to me just because I grew up around so many people who were inflicted with Generational Curses and I have witnessed this affliction so closely….even being a victim of it myself. The verses are loosely based on true stories from people in my life and the last verse actually is a true story about the most important woman in the world to me……MY MOM. A woman who broke a Generational Curse and changed the future of here loved ones who would come after her. Hope you Enjoy.
-Rob Jay-

01 Generational Curse by robjay1982




Sources: 10 Reasons to Buy From Independent Artists-Articlesbase, Yaza's Youtube channel, and Rob Jay's website

The Three Essentials of Management

When recently visiting Artist House Music “Helping Musicians and Music Entrepreneurs Create Sustainable Careers” I came across an article by George Howard titled “The Three Essentials of Management”. I found this to be a very interesting read and wanted to share a few points of the article that I feel would have the most impact or influence.

George Howard recognizes that passion, connections, and capital are the three essentials needed to be a successful manager. The advice given in this series of articles is meant to be directed towards an artist in search of management. However it is said that it could be beneficial to anyone also seeking an interest in artist management.

The article asks, “Why Passion is Important”. When one seeks a manager, one important thing that should be prevalent is how passionate one is about their client’s music. If an artist isn’t as passionate or more passionate then the “relationship” may be short-lived. “Passion combined with energy (often youthful) is a very potent mix that often knocks down many barriers and allows and artist to experience real career growth” It was said that managers who are more passionate find alternative methods of enhancing a clients career or more “innovative strategies that further idea of career development”. When a person who has a true passion for your (the client’s) work you are better off and their ways of finding funding via certain connections can also are beneficial.

That leads us into our second essential, connections. It is thought that the strength of the connection is often as powerful as the strength of the music. As a manager your main duty is to ensure that your client has as much exposure as possible. Therefore most managers utilize various web resources and or social media to make that happen. While some connections “just happen” most connection are those that are developed over a period of time and must be properly cultivated. When choosing a manager, you (the client) must research the manager’s connections so that you may know if they are essential to your particular style of music. A manager and a client normally form a type of symbiotic relationship where each others connections have some sort of benefit to each other. Through the proper connections you may be able to find proper funding for current or future projects.

Managers typically get paid from their client based on a certain percentage of what is made from different shows and any money that is paid from a label (if the client is signed to one) Not all artists have paying gigs when up and coming, so a way to secure payment for their manager is to offer some of the publishing rights to them. This ensures the manager a paid percentage of any money made. This is generally used strictly for insurance. “Money is a significant factor in creating effective artist/manager relationships” A manager typically is the source of funds for their client prior to them getting signed by a major label. Being a manager to up and coming artists is very similar to start up businesses.

When searching for a manager it is important that you look for someone who has a passion for your music as well as for the business, a person who is well connected and or properly financed, but most of all understands what your ultimate goals are as an artist.

Source: Artist House Music

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/the+three+essentials+of+management
http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/the+three+essentials+of+management+the+importance+of+connections
http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/the+three+essentials+of+management+the+importance+of+money+how+management+gets+paid

Negotiations through the eyes of an Artist Manager

What most people don’t understand is that artist management is a skill that some lack. I say down with Sonya Mixon, former artist manager for 69 Boyz, 95 South and 24K. While talking with her we touched on the topic of negotiations. Sonya Mixon began in artist management by accident in 1993 with 69 Boyz, 95 South and 24 K. She has worked with “Thrill The Playa” as well as “CC Lemon Head”. She has encountered various negotiations for them such a Artist Deals, Production, Tours, Management and even Endorsements. When it comes to negotiations Pastor Sonya Mixon expressed the use of making sure of “having a plan before approaching your negotiations”, “researching your opponent”, remaining stern and to the point as well as having leverage over who you are negotiating with.

Ways that she went about this was through having an iron clad contract as well as “rider” for your artist. Also by knowing what your client is worth, what they are looking for and what they are capable of you are able to approach any negotiation confident that the person is going to agree with you.

She has negotiated several things from venue contracts, endorsements, and even production deals. Pastor Mixon has had to negotiate at one point a production that began at 5 million dollars and eventually ended at 3 million dollars. In this deal the label wanted to only offer 2 million dollars, her client requested 5 million. When the negotiations finally ended they approached a deal of 3 million dollars which ensured that each producer (3 of them) were allotted 1 million dollars each to produce an album. In order to be certain that your negotiations are successful in the artist management field you have to know your clients market, know what other artists offer, the industry, know what the client is looking from the negotiations as well as what the person you are negotiating with is ultimately looking for.

Funding a project isn't easy....check out these 10 tips to acquire sponsorships

Entering the music business as an up-and-coming artist and sometimes even as established artist can be very financially consuming. When you are attempting to fund an album, as well as properly market and promote it, it can really eat a hole in your pocket, even when you have the capital to do those tasks. One sure way to attempt to remedy that is to seek sponsorships. “Sponsorships can provide a win-win situation for all involved - a way for businesses to reach consumers more effectively utilizing integrated marketing; and an avenue for musicians to acquire funding for their tours and/or projects. ” --Jeremy Rwakaara

When approaching companies or individuals for sponsorships you have to be very careful due to them, for good reason, being selective with the spending of their funds. When looking through some of the resources I use to enhance my management skills I came across an article titled, “10 ways to make your project more attractive to sponsors” and found it extremely useful.

In the article they provide 10 ways to make your project more attractive to sponsors and to put yourself in a different category from others artists that may also be seeking sponsorships.

1. Be able to clearly identify your audience, their loyalty level and buying habits - apart from buying your music/merchandise and attending your shows (e.g., the highest percentage of your audience members are 34-55 year old females that buy health products; 16-25 year olds that participate in sports events; 40-60 year olds that like to travel etc.).

2. Identify the benefits, properties and/or rights you own as well as how to package and market them to the potential sponsor (e.g. copyrights, patents, trademarks, service marks, merchandise, logos, mailing list, talent, event, image etc.). Know which benefits will be most useful to the sponsor and keep your fees reasonable.

3. Be clear about the type of image you project. Sponsors will associate with projects that fit with the image they are trying to establish and cater to the demographic they are trying to reach.

4. Know something about the company(s) you wish to partner with. Know what their sales/marketing goals and challenges are as well as what they have sponsored previously.

5. Create/Produce a project that is appealing to the media. Companies prefer projects that can attract TV coverage, especially if their logos and/or products can show up in the broadcast.

6. Be open to bundling your project with other companies/individuals that have more clout than you if you don't have enough marketing power or media attraction on your own. Keep in mind, however, that you must also limit the number of companies that you attach to the event/project. Conflicts (and conflicts of interest) will occur when sponsors compete or don't match well with other co-sponsors.

7. Enable and help your sponsor to measure the benefits that you are offering. Your project won't attract sponsors unless the sponsors can generate measurable business returns from their sponsorship investments. For example, if 50 people that attend your concerts also purchase products from one of the sponsoring companies using coupons handed out at the concert, that result can be measured and credited to the sponsorship campaign.

8. A project/event that has the potential to be long term or spread to different markets will be more attractive to sponsors than a one-time event-taking place in a single location. In other words, a tour covering several cities, regions, or countries is more attractive to a sponsor than a show occurring once in only one city.

9. Prove that you will deliver the benefits and follow-through promised to the sponsor. Whoever is administering/organizing/managing your project should have their "house in order". In the same way that sponsors sometimes fail to pay the fee promised to a project - project owners often fall short on their end of the bargain.

10. Be willing and able to tie your product(s) into the sponsor's existing promotional campaign. If you feel queasy about creatively integrating a sponsor's logo(s) and product(s) into your show/tour, then you will have a hard time attracting sponsors.


Again these are just options that you can utilize when attempting to acquire individuals to sponsor your project. The process can be a tedious and asking for assistance is sometimes needed when trying to become the best artist. Developing sponsorships with individuals can form a partnership that last throughout an entire career. At some point we all need a little help. Never be afraid to reach out to properly skilled professionals. Forming a strong team is essential to success no matter whet your profession is.


Source: Artist management Resource

SUCCESSFUL PROMOTION IS THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS

When becoming established as either a new artist or when putting out a new album, promotion is the key to success. If your promotion team does not inform your fans correctly then the potential album can potentially flop. Being that I am an up & coming artist manager I look for different resources to help me effectively promote my artists name and music. I have been receiving “The Indie Contact Newsletter- A monthly resource newsletter for recording artists!” for some time now and they always have different tidbits of information that I have found extremely useful. The December newsletter was about 43 places to promote your music. The most inexpensive way to promote now with new age technology is through our online channels. The December newsletter breaks down their promotion contacts into 5 sections. 1. Publications that will REVIEW your music;

2. Radio Stations/Shows that will PLAY your songs; 3. Labels, Vendors and Promotional Services that will help you to SELL your CD; 4. Sites where you can UPLOAD your band's MP3s or videos; and 5. A wide range of Helpful Resources for recording artists.

            I will share a different outlet from each of the five sections. Depending on the type of music you are promoting is going to depend on which outlet is best for you. In section 1 we have “The Deli” (www.thedelimagazine.com)- is a website that is updated daily and covers various local music scenes. So far they are in NYC, LA, Nashville, Chicago, SF, Portland, Austin, Philly and New England. They also have a quarterly publication that focuses exclusively on the New York independent music scene. Section 2: there is “Who’s Next” (www.whosnextllc.com), an Internet radio that various industry executives listen to when searching for talent as well as fans.  Via “Music Registry” (www.registermymusic.com) radio promoters have helped hundreds of major artists in addition to indie artists with national radio airplay and charting. The currently have different artists that are on the Billboard Top 20, BDS, Mediabase, Media Guide and Radiowave. In section 3 we are exploring services to sell your CD, I chose to highlight “Dream Town Media”(www.dreamtownmedia.com) due to their cohesive digital marketing and social media campaigns. Section 4 offered a wide array of sites to upload music however I chose “SoundCloud” (www.soundcloud.com). They offer a platform that puts your sound on websites and even apps. Lastly, we have section 5: Social networks are beginning to shape how music is created, with “Indaba Music” (www.indabamusic.com) a networking platform was created for musicians around the world to network and make music together through online collaborations. The site has now grown to over 5000,000 musicians ranging from those who create music as a hobby to Grammy Award winners.

            I hope that you find this information useful in your endeavors to promote your music as I did for my clients.

 Source:

Indie Contact Newsletter

Developing your brand while giving back to your community

As a company, Rising Phoenix Entertainment Group wants to develop quality artists. In doing so, the best place to start is with the children. Many school programs are cutting out music from their curriculum. Without music in schools, there will be a decline in new quality artists and musicians. I began playing saxophone in the 5th grade and absolutely loved being in the band. It was a way to keep young people out of trouble while doing something positive with their lives. I was in the band for 7 years, all the way through to 12th grade. Those 7 years created some of the best memories I have, and the bonds I created with people are still strong to this day. While researching charities that we as a company could be apart of, it seemed fitting to choose VH1’s Save the Music.


The VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that dedicates itself to creating an awareness that removing music from schools can hinder a child’s educational process, and to returning the education of instrumental music in public schools across America. Since it's founding in 1997, the foundation has raised more than $47 million towards providing new musical instruments to 1,750 public schools throughout approximately 100 cities in the United States, and has impacted the lives of over 1.6 million children (VH1 Save The Music, 2010).

Save the Music’s marketing strategy is far from ingenious. Save the Music simply joins major companies/businesses, influential musicians, recording artists, and even some athletes to put on productions and produce advertising campaigns to raise money for the foundation. When creating a brand for yourself, it is always best to pair with an already established brand to build your own brand name. Rising Phoenix Entertainment Group is currently working on two different brands: the branding of our artist, Fish Scales, as a solo artist; and the branding of ourselves as a new company. A partnership between the three will enhance the value of all.

Source: VH1 Save the Music website