Disclaimer: The aim of this article is information and enlightenment; please consult a solicitor for individual professional advice.
MUSIC AND BUSINESS 101
One word of self defence: I am not a prophet of doom, clanging bells and warning you of impending dangers. Well, maybe I am. On the Nigerian entertainment scene, things have been taken for granted for far too long, but thankfully, stakeholders are either sitting up or the economic dip has taken a position on their favourite seats and they are standing up to attention.
This is Making Your Music Business Work 101. Because IT IS A BUSINESS. No sense spending all your good hours making music and going to bed hungry. Yes, music could be the food of love, but it may not work for your stomach. When you’re hungry, there’s the likelihood that good music turns to bad noise.
The Nigerian music scene is quite peculiar. There are not so many standard record labels around. When I say record labels here, I’m not talking about the ones carelessly formed by the artistes themselves; those are all over the place. I’m talking about the standard record label: Artiste and Repertoire, Business and Accounting, Artiste Development, Legal, Art and Graphics, Promotion, Publicity, Marketing, Sales, all the works.
I acknowledge that getting a record label that really understands the business would go a long way; however, this is for those who do not belong to such a label. You must still learn how to make your music business work for you and other stakeholders.
Chances are certain parties are involved:
• You
• Other group members
• Marketers/Distributors
• Your dear Uncle Kayode that loaned you some money (or some other sponsor)
• Your Manager (well, where’s the swagger without a manager, even if it’s your kid brother)
• A media and publicity company (if you are lucky or trouble-prone).
Now, whether you know it or not, admit it or not, everyone listed above (and maybe even more) has a stake in your music career, so sit up, this is business, and you are not in Kansas anymore.
Here are some things you may do:
1. Create a legal structure that gives all the ‘major’ participants a stake in the business. The singers in the group may be two or more. You may create a partnership or even a company. Creating such an entity ensures that the reasonable interests of all the members are identified and documented. There’s nothing that turns off potential investors and business associates like a group of bickering and unorganised singers.
2. Create a profit-sharing structure between the financial stakeholders and contributors. This structure should recognise the financial, labour and other investments of each member. It should also capture the major present (and speculated) income streams: CD sales, other royalties, fees from tours and shows, celebrity endorsements and advertisements, etc. Your sponsor(s) will be included in this structure. It is wise to specify very clearly whether the sponsor(s) will be sharing the profit realised from the particular song/video/album they sponsored or throughout the entire music career.
3. With the marketers/distributors of CDs, it is likely that they will want to fix a price or percentage as their cut in the wholesale price of the CD. If it is possible, link this cut (or a percentage of it) to the profit on the CD sales, so that they get fully or partially paid after, not before, the sales. This may come at a price (for instance, a higher cut), but it might be worth it. Up your negotiation skills (and your prayers) and you might get that. This approach also get’s them to work for the general success of the sales, since their gain is linked to it. In addition, they are probably your best allies on the issue of piracy, since the chances are that they know the pirates. However, take care not to link their payment to your general profit (made from other sources except the CD sales).
4. Spell out who does what. If you’ll be hiring a manager (and you really should), his duties, responsibilities and boundaries should be clearly stated out in a contract.
5. There is the possibility that the group may be very successful, and decide to go into merchandising and spin-offs from their public image and good will, or maybe start a clothing line (think L.A.M.B or September 20th). It will be wise to put the possibility of this arrangement in black and white.
6. Invest on a good accountant. There’s no avoiding your dealing with numbers. And when you earn some profit, you will be subject to the payment of tax. A good accountant can help with both.
7. If you are incorporating a company, make allowances for a shareholding structure that could accommodate future investors, if need be.
8. If you’ll be signing up with a media and publicity company, go in with your eyes open. Understand and be clear on what they will or will not do for you. It’s not likely that their fees will be linked to your profit, but if you are pinching pennies, you may want to go for the lowest media package possible.
9. Get a lawyer, for goodness sake. You’d know that by now.
When you have these basics in place, it does a few things for you. For one thing, it keeps you in control of many aspects of your music career. For another, if at some point you decide to sign up with a record label, you would have upped your financial and general business worth, and you would be respected for it.
Getting your acts together would also make it easier for you to acquire capital from different types of investors if you need it. You may want to invest in other types of businesses (say, fish farming or even pure water production), afterall, the entertainment industry is very volatile and you may not always wow the crowd. This organisation helps you to streamline your investments.
Hey, you may even decide to start your own record label!!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
STORY, STORY...I WRITE BETTER CRAP
Disclaimer: The aim of this article is information and enlightenment; please consult a solicitor for individual professional advice.
STORY, STORY...I WRITE BETTER CRAP
Maybe you are genuinely talented and your head is always vibrating with stories, plots and lines. Perhaps, you come from a highly critical breed and you stew when you watch ‘crap’ on TV, and decide that you write better stories. Or perhaps, you just want your own share of the Hollywood, sorry Nollywood cake. Bottom line: you have a story to tell and you want to watch it acted out on the big or small screen.
If you do not want to get to the television and film industry in Nigeria through the agent route, you have two options, as I see it (through my limited pair of lens).
First option. You can be the alpha and omega of your story- the producer, director, scriptwriter, and maybe cast yourself as the major actor too, for good measure. That way, you can scrutinise every detail of the film or TV programme to your liking, just as it was concocted in your head. Or you can be just the producer. Then you could hire a director and frustrate the heck out of him by dropping ‘innocent’ suggestions at every turn. Even better, you can hire a good director, whose work you have personally seen and agree with (we actually have some of them around, would you believe it), and allow him room to do his work, after all, you really are a novice. You may just, for safety purposes, include it in his contract that you are allowed a considerable amount of input. It’s your project afterall, and the director works for you, when it comes right down to it.
However, this option is only possible when you have enough money or sponsorship to foot the bills of making a movie, and the time to see every inch of it through.
This is where your second option comes in. Unless you are really lucky, you’ll have to pitch your story to a richer and more experienced film or television programme producer; and he has to like it.
If he buys into it, you have saved yourself a whole lot of Panadol money. But what happens when you give the producer your story and he reads it and declines to be involved. And then a few months later, you watch your story on TV, ably produced by him, of course. When that happens, you will be at a disadvantage because he may deny reading your story and insist that someone else came up with the idea. You may now be left with the choice of litigation, and even then you’ll be facing an enemy way bigger than you with a lot of resources and experience behind him. In fact, even proving that he read your story at all may be tough.
Now, I’m not going to tell you how to make sure he likes your story, just say your prayers. However, I can give you tips on how to protect your interest when sharing your story.
The Nigerian Copyright Act is on your side. By section 1 of the Act, your story is eligible for copyright protection. However, this protection only comes into being when it is original and fixed on a definite medium of expression. It follows that it best if it’s written (if you cannot have it typewritten, at least splurge on a paper, pen and a decent handwriting). This protection lasts for seventy years after the end of the year in which the author dies. Thus, if you you’re your cards right, you might be leaving some nice royalties for your heirs.
As the author/ creator of that story, you become the owner of the copyright in the work. The nature of the protection is described in Section 5 (1) of the same Act. As the copyright owner, you generally have, amidst some exceptions, the exclusive right (in Nigeria) to do and authorise the doing of a number of acts including the production, reproduction, public performance or publishing of your story or any adaptation of it. You also get to control the making of a cinematograph film, record or broadcast and the public or commercial distribution of your story and any translation thereof. And anyone who does any of these acts (and some additional ones provided for under section 14) without your licence or authorisation has infringed your copyright.
By way of its provisions, the Nigerian Copyright Act is your friend. Unfortunately however, its enforcement may not be quite as kind. Thus, the responsibility is on you to protect yourself as much as possible.
There is something called a Non-Use and Non-Disclosure Agreement. This means that when you get a producer to sign it, he is prevented from using your story in any form. There is also an element of confidentiality and he is barred from disclosing it to or sharing it with another person. This sure simplifies a lot of things.
However, getting a producer to sign an agreement (a.k.a potential liability) will not be easy. I mean, you practically ‘suffered’ to get audience and probably have all of five minutes to pitch your story and make him like it, so thrusting your agreement under his nose for signature may be awkward. Imagine this: you walk into Tunde Kelani or Wale Adenuga’s office, whip out a Non-Use and Non-Disclosure Agreement and calmly ask him to sign it before you let him read your story. The odds are you might be walked out, just ask calmly and politely. You could be the next J.K. Rowling, but there are hundreds of writers (most of them full of crap, if it’s any consolation) who would gladly give the producers their stories without a fuss.
Yet you still need to get your story across and protect your interest in the best possible way. Take these tips home:
1. Talk to a lawyer. This gives you a more personal knowledge of the best way to protect your interests in your own individual situation.
2. Get someone to accompany you to see the producer. This really should be your agent or your lawyer, but if it’s the latter, the producer may get defensive. So you might want to go with a true friend or a ‘friend’ who just happens to be a lawyer (wink!). You can conveniently disclose this after audience with the producer, if need be. The whole idea of going with company is for the sake of proof, should a conflict arise later.
3. Before you tell your story (of course, always have a written copy), tell the producer, very nicely, that it is confidential, and that if he ends up using it, you would expect reasonable compensation. It is likely that he will agree verbally, or at least give some indication that he has heard you, maybe a nod. That way, while you have not entered into a ‘written’ agreement, you have entered into an oral one. This is usually harder to prove, but that why is you have a witness with you. However, if the producer says no, you do NOT have a contract.
4. After the meeting, you can send a polite, non-threatening letter to the producer thanking him for the opportunity to discuss your story (state the main plot of the story in one sentence, to clear any doubt). In this letter, you can casually refer to the oral agreement you had earlier entered into (you do not have to actually call it an agreement). If the producer does not immediately deny the existence of such an agreement, this may be construed as an affirmation of its existence. This letter could be used as evidence of your agreement.
5. If any of the above seems calculating to you, you could present the producer with only a part of the story that you consider ‘safe’. Then you can insist that he signs a Non-Use and Non-Disclosure Agreement before he reads the complete story. However, you have the added pressure of making the first-revealed part of the story very irresistible, such that he wouldn’t mind signing an agreement before he sees the rest of it. You might also want to make sure that the later part isn’t quite predictable, so that if he refuses to sign the agreement and he makes his own ending, it would still be different from what you have written.
So, dare we hope for better crap on TV?
STORY, STORY...I WRITE BETTER CRAP
Maybe you are genuinely talented and your head is always vibrating with stories, plots and lines. Perhaps, you come from a highly critical breed and you stew when you watch ‘crap’ on TV, and decide that you write better stories. Or perhaps, you just want your own share of the Hollywood, sorry Nollywood cake. Bottom line: you have a story to tell and you want to watch it acted out on the big or small screen.
If you do not want to get to the television and film industry in Nigeria through the agent route, you have two options, as I see it (through my limited pair of lens).
First option. You can be the alpha and omega of your story- the producer, director, scriptwriter, and maybe cast yourself as the major actor too, for good measure. That way, you can scrutinise every detail of the film or TV programme to your liking, just as it was concocted in your head. Or you can be just the producer. Then you could hire a director and frustrate the heck out of him by dropping ‘innocent’ suggestions at every turn. Even better, you can hire a good director, whose work you have personally seen and agree with (we actually have some of them around, would you believe it), and allow him room to do his work, after all, you really are a novice. You may just, for safety purposes, include it in his contract that you are allowed a considerable amount of input. It’s your project afterall, and the director works for you, when it comes right down to it.
However, this option is only possible when you have enough money or sponsorship to foot the bills of making a movie, and the time to see every inch of it through.
This is where your second option comes in. Unless you are really lucky, you’ll have to pitch your story to a richer and more experienced film or television programme producer; and he has to like it.
If he buys into it, you have saved yourself a whole lot of Panadol money. But what happens when you give the producer your story and he reads it and declines to be involved. And then a few months later, you watch your story on TV, ably produced by him, of course. When that happens, you will be at a disadvantage because he may deny reading your story and insist that someone else came up with the idea. You may now be left with the choice of litigation, and even then you’ll be facing an enemy way bigger than you with a lot of resources and experience behind him. In fact, even proving that he read your story at all may be tough.
Now, I’m not going to tell you how to make sure he likes your story, just say your prayers. However, I can give you tips on how to protect your interest when sharing your story.
The Nigerian Copyright Act is on your side. By section 1 of the Act, your story is eligible for copyright protection. However, this protection only comes into being when it is original and fixed on a definite medium of expression. It follows that it best if it’s written (if you cannot have it typewritten, at least splurge on a paper, pen and a decent handwriting). This protection lasts for seventy years after the end of the year in which the author dies. Thus, if you you’re your cards right, you might be leaving some nice royalties for your heirs.
As the author/ creator of that story, you become the owner of the copyright in the work. The nature of the protection is described in Section 5 (1) of the same Act. As the copyright owner, you generally have, amidst some exceptions, the exclusive right (in Nigeria) to do and authorise the doing of a number of acts including the production, reproduction, public performance or publishing of your story or any adaptation of it. You also get to control the making of a cinematograph film, record or broadcast and the public or commercial distribution of your story and any translation thereof. And anyone who does any of these acts (and some additional ones provided for under section 14) without your licence or authorisation has infringed your copyright.
By way of its provisions, the Nigerian Copyright Act is your friend. Unfortunately however, its enforcement may not be quite as kind. Thus, the responsibility is on you to protect yourself as much as possible.
There is something called a Non-Use and Non-Disclosure Agreement. This means that when you get a producer to sign it, he is prevented from using your story in any form. There is also an element of confidentiality and he is barred from disclosing it to or sharing it with another person. This sure simplifies a lot of things.
However, getting a producer to sign an agreement (a.k.a potential liability) will not be easy. I mean, you practically ‘suffered’ to get audience and probably have all of five minutes to pitch your story and make him like it, so thrusting your agreement under his nose for signature may be awkward. Imagine this: you walk into Tunde Kelani or Wale Adenuga’s office, whip out a Non-Use and Non-Disclosure Agreement and calmly ask him to sign it before you let him read your story. The odds are you might be walked out, just ask calmly and politely. You could be the next J.K. Rowling, but there are hundreds of writers (most of them full of crap, if it’s any consolation) who would gladly give the producers their stories without a fuss.
Yet you still need to get your story across and protect your interest in the best possible way. Take these tips home:
1. Talk to a lawyer. This gives you a more personal knowledge of the best way to protect your interests in your own individual situation.
2. Get someone to accompany you to see the producer. This really should be your agent or your lawyer, but if it’s the latter, the producer may get defensive. So you might want to go with a true friend or a ‘friend’ who just happens to be a lawyer (wink!). You can conveniently disclose this after audience with the producer, if need be. The whole idea of going with company is for the sake of proof, should a conflict arise later.
3. Before you tell your story (of course, always have a written copy), tell the producer, very nicely, that it is confidential, and that if he ends up using it, you would expect reasonable compensation. It is likely that he will agree verbally, or at least give some indication that he has heard you, maybe a nod. That way, while you have not entered into a ‘written’ agreement, you have entered into an oral one. This is usually harder to prove, but that why is you have a witness with you. However, if the producer says no, you do NOT have a contract.
4. After the meeting, you can send a polite, non-threatening letter to the producer thanking him for the opportunity to discuss your story (state the main plot of the story in one sentence, to clear any doubt). In this letter, you can casually refer to the oral agreement you had earlier entered into (you do not have to actually call it an agreement). If the producer does not immediately deny the existence of such an agreement, this may be construed as an affirmation of its existence. This letter could be used as evidence of your agreement.
5. If any of the above seems calculating to you, you could present the producer with only a part of the story that you consider ‘safe’. Then you can insist that he signs a Non-Use and Non-Disclosure Agreement before he reads the complete story. However, you have the added pressure of making the first-revealed part of the story very irresistible, such that he wouldn’t mind signing an agreement before he sees the rest of it. You might also want to make sure that the later part isn’t quite predictable, so that if he refuses to sign the agreement and he makes his own ending, it would still be different from what you have written.
So, dare we hope for better crap on TV?
Thursday, May 6, 2010
POSSIBILITIES
Disclaimer: The aim of this article is information and enlightenment; please consult a solicitor for individual professional advice.
POSSIBILITIES
How long does it take to make a beautiful hit song? Think of the effort and time it takes to write the song, develop the tune and melody, work it all out in the studio with the producers and engineers, and the hustle to get it airtime on radio and television. And of course. There's the money involved, a little or a lot as the case may be.
Most singers, songwriters and producers can spend weeks or even months perfecting a tune or song, yet they do not pay attention to the legal and business side until things go awry. You do have some legal rights (and responsibilities) connected with your music, especially if you are a professional and it's paying your bills. The Nigerian music industry has left the 'anything goes' era. It's time to take notice and be informed. You cannot claim ignorance anymore.
Have you ever considered the possibilities of a 3-minute song? Endless. Here's a hypothetical story:
Three music lovers grew up together in Lagos. They decide to form a group and called themselves "Lagos Boys". Musa's got the voice, Emeka has the looks, and Bayo has the money. They get together and make good music.Their love ballad is a hit. The public cannot get enough of the song. 'Ganja Music', a record label, swoops them up, and signs them on. Some paperwork is involved and the guys read and understand the legal documents, at least so they think. 'Lagos Boys' are enjoying the ride- the label treats them well and takes care of their record production, publicity, performances, promotion and album sales.
Two months into the release of their 3-minute track, a popular Nigerian restaurant wants to use their song for its 'Valentine's Day' Promo. Then, a major fashion show decides to use the same song as the theme song for a fund-raising concert, where Lagos Boys will also give the star performance. Then comes the big one- their song earns a Grammy nomination as the Best Song by a Foreign Group/Duo. Riding on the waves of their huge success, the boys start producing merchandise and touring Africa, Europe and America. All of a sudden they are winning music awards and opening for the Black-Eyed Peas and Janet Jackson. Every step of the way, there is a mountain of agreements to sign. The boys barely know a thing about this, so they are quite content to let their label deal with it.
Then, a major international label makes 'Lagos Boys' a juicy offer to sign them up. The boys decide to leave Ganja Music, only to have the label claim ownership of some of the group's recorded songs. What?! Then Musa 'sees the light' and claims he should earn much more money than the others, since it's his voice that does most of the singing. Just when they boys thought they couldn't take anymore, they heard of an online shop selling their music via unauthorised downloads. Then, a group of four guys come out with the name "Lagos Big Boyz" and that doesn't feel right. Of course, there are the 'Alaba' pests who are busy getting fat off the sweat of the overworked group. And then, since their song has gained international popularity, a popular British singer hears it and claims that the boys ‘sampled’ her own song without permission. There is trouble within and outside the band. How did this get so complicated? They just wanted to sing and be popular.
POSSIBILITIES
How long does it take to make a beautiful hit song? Think of the effort and time it takes to write the song, develop the tune and melody, work it all out in the studio with the producers and engineers, and the hustle to get it airtime on radio and television. And of course. There's the money involved, a little or a lot as the case may be.
Most singers, songwriters and producers can spend weeks or even months perfecting a tune or song, yet they do not pay attention to the legal and business side until things go awry. You do have some legal rights (and responsibilities) connected with your music, especially if you are a professional and it's paying your bills. The Nigerian music industry has left the 'anything goes' era. It's time to take notice and be informed. You cannot claim ignorance anymore.
Have you ever considered the possibilities of a 3-minute song? Endless. Here's a hypothetical story:
Three music lovers grew up together in Lagos. They decide to form a group and called themselves "Lagos Boys". Musa's got the voice, Emeka has the looks, and Bayo has the money. They get together and make good music.Their love ballad is a hit. The public cannot get enough of the song. 'Ganja Music', a record label, swoops them up, and signs them on. Some paperwork is involved and the guys read and understand the legal documents, at least so they think. 'Lagos Boys' are enjoying the ride- the label treats them well and takes care of their record production, publicity, performances, promotion and album sales.
Two months into the release of their 3-minute track, a popular Nigerian restaurant wants to use their song for its 'Valentine's Day' Promo. Then, a major fashion show decides to use the same song as the theme song for a fund-raising concert, where Lagos Boys will also give the star performance. Then comes the big one- their song earns a Grammy nomination as the Best Song by a Foreign Group/Duo. Riding on the waves of their huge success, the boys start producing merchandise and touring Africa, Europe and America. All of a sudden they are winning music awards and opening for the Black-Eyed Peas and Janet Jackson. Every step of the way, there is a mountain of agreements to sign. The boys barely know a thing about this, so they are quite content to let their label deal with it.
Then, a major international label makes 'Lagos Boys' a juicy offer to sign them up. The boys decide to leave Ganja Music, only to have the label claim ownership of some of the group's recorded songs. What?! Then Musa 'sees the light' and claims he should earn much more money than the others, since it's his voice that does most of the singing. Just when they boys thought they couldn't take anymore, they heard of an online shop selling their music via unauthorised downloads. Then, a group of four guys come out with the name "Lagos Big Boyz" and that doesn't feel right. Of course, there are the 'Alaba' pests who are busy getting fat off the sweat of the overworked group. And then, since their song has gained international popularity, a popular British singer hears it and claims that the boys ‘sampled’ her own song without permission. There is trouble within and outside the band. How did this get so complicated? They just wanted to sing and be popular.
Even d most sophisticated of musicians in Nigeria are not really aware of the possibilities of a song or tune. Whether it is for good or for bad, there are unavoidable possibilities. Now I know the story of ‘Lagos Boys’ is a little out there and seems far fetched. For the average 'Naija' musician, all that happens to them is album sales and Easter performances at Eleko Beach, and the most ‘trouble’ they can ever get into is by ‘dissing’ politicians in their song. However, for the musician who knows their music is good and wants to go places, the thing to do is to think ahead and think smart.
And when it comes to the legal aspect of this, there is usually always a way to make the good better, or make the bad bearable.
As a songwriter/singer/producer, you must understand so many things including: how copyrights are created; what rights copyrights give you; what copyright protects and how long the protection lasts; how to secure the best copyright law protection; how to stay out of copyright infringement suits; how to tell whether someone has infringed your copyright and what to do if someone has; how copyright is transferred, licensed and limited, the types of transfer and how the transfer is terminated; and how to understand music writing, producing, publishing and recording agreements. You must understand the sources of income earned by your songs, how this income is shared between every party involved, who the parties involved are…
If you belong to a group, you need to understand how to make the business of music work for every member of the group, you need to understand that whether you realise it or not, you and the other members of your group are in some sort of partnership even if you never sign a partnership agreement; and you need to know what rights and liabilities a partnership entails.
At some point in the life of a singer, he/she becomes a ‘brand’ and is accorded rights and responsibilities of publicity and privacy; add these to your need-to-know list.
Everything that has been said is neither meant to discourage anybody interested in making music nor complicate the art of making music, however, nothing good comes easy. Undoubtedly, there is a lot to know, but the good news is that you do not have to know it all. However, you do need to allow yourself to be guided accordingly by people that do know. If you must do it, do it right.
Remember that word: Possibilities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)