Save yourself money on entertainment attorney/legal fees!

In my prior blogs, I gave you some tips on finding an entertainment attorney, tips on selecting an entertainment attorney, told you about the benefits of having an entertainment attorney, and even gave you tips on firing an entertainment attorney. Also in prior blogs, I gave you tips on how to save money and make the most of your music money. Now I wanna help you save on entertainment attorney fees! Yes, you can save yourself a lot of money in entertainment attorney fees. Again, before I do that, let me put my disclaimer here: These pages are created to inform and educate the public only. They are not and should not be considered legal opinions or advice. You do not and cannot have any client-attorney relationship with me based on these blogs. You should not act upon legal advice found here but are instead advised to seek professional counsel before taking any action based upon information found on this blog.

Okay, with that being said, here's how you can save money on entertainment attorney fees:

1. Educate yourself!!!!!!! Read some of these books on the legal side of music business that I've recommended. Click here to see my list of recommended books.


2. Select the right entertainment attorney! Again, read my blog on how to select the right entertainment attorney. Selecting the right entertainment attorney will save you money from having to fire the attorney and then start all over again with a new entertainment attorney who will likely bill you for the time it takes him or her to become familiar with everything your prior attorney did or needed to do.

3. Ask the right questions! If you educate yourself on the business, you won't spend time asking your attorney questions that you should know, such as what is a copyright? what is a trademark? Sure you can pay an entertainment attorney by calling him or her with these same questions but why when you don't have to?

4. Do it yourself! While I do highly, highly, highly recommend getting an entertainment attorney's advice, there are some things that simply do not require an attorney's help. The Internet has made it so that you can do some things just by researching them on the Internet and filling out the paperwork yourself. For instance, you can fill out a copyright form yourself. You can find and fill out split sheets yourself. If you wanna know some of the things that I'd suggest you get an entertainment attorney, click here!

5. Go to music conferences! I stress over and over in my blogs that I go to music conferences. Some conferences have a whole panel with entertainment lawyers or at least have one or two entertainment attorneys on a panel who provide their legal advice just to the attendees. At the recent ASCAP I Create Expo, there was a whole panel just on that. The entertainment lawyers told attendees that for that one hour panel discussion, they had saved themselves $1,500 in attorney fees! For a complete list of 2008 music conferences, click here or here!

6. Do things right the first time! Lawyers and attorneys are brought in sometimes when the problem is big. By that time, you have to spend a lot of money in attorney fees fixing a problem. If you know you are struggling with doing things yourself, I'd suggest you SAVE money by hiring an entertainment attorney and avoiding a lot of back end legal fees. For example, it's a lot cheaper to start or fight a copyright infringement suit with a registered copyright form in place than without one. Another common scenario: At a recent conference I went to, some entertainment attorneys told the story of one of their clients who didn't find out if the name he used was registered as a trademark, the client used the name, the name became popular because of the client, and then suddenly when the name became popular, someone in a distant city in another state noticed that someone was infringing his trademarked name and prohibited the client from using the name! Moral of the story: do it right the first time.

I want to caution you though that cheaper isn't always better. So really weigh all that I've said in my prior posts on when to get an entertainment attorney and this post on when you don't need an entertainment attorney. Google this issue some more and then make your final decision!

Much success!

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
interviewed.blogspot.com - contains interviews of top producers, songwriters, & music execs
globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com -helping you go global with your music
musicpanels.blogspot.com -missed a music conference, find some clips of it here
mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com -go mobile with your music, find ways to do mobile marketing
musiclabels.blogspot.com - find out information on new record labels recently launched
hitsamillion.ning.com - network with other producers, singers, songwriters, and beatmakers

How to find an entertainment attorney

How to find an entertainment attorney:

• Ask other musicians, singers, songwriters, bands for referrals.
• Google local entertainment attorney
• Check your yellow pages
• Read the Music Industry Connection book series. You can find a list of Atlanta and Los Angeles entertainment attorneys in those books.
• Again, if you hire a local attorney, make sure that the attorney is familiar with nationwide trends in the music business and has relationships with people in cities where the music industry is prominent. This is again why I recommend the Music Industry Connection books series because it contains contact information for Los Angeles and Atlanta entertainment attorneys. If you purchase the book, let JaWar know I sent you!

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
interviewed.blogspot.com
globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com
musicpanels.blogspot.com
mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com
hitsamillion.ning.com

Tips on Selecting an Entertainment Attorney

As a songwriter or singer-songwriter, recording artist, producer, musician, garage band, and/or rock group, one of the people that you want to find when you are out networking is an entertainment attorney. An entertainment attorney should be an integral part of your plan to succeed in the music business. In my prior post, I discussed some of the benefits of hiring an entertainment attorney. Now, I want to help you decide on selecting and hiring as your entertainment attorney. To find the right entertainment attorney:

1. Ask for references!




2. Make sure that the attorney practices entertainment law. You should know that not every attorney knows and practices entertainment law.




3. Make sure that the attorney has experience with representing the type of role that you play in the industry. So for example, if you are a producer, make sure that the attorney has experience representing producers.




4. Caveat: don't discount using a young, enthusiastic but somewhat low profile attorneys since they may be more attentive to your needs than an entertainment attorney or firm who has a very long list of clients.




5. Personally, I would hire a separate entertainment attorney from your manager. In other words, you and your manager should not have the same attorney because if something wrong happens with your manager, your lawyer won't have a conflict of interest with representing you.




6. Stay away from attorneys who attempt to guarantee that you will get a deal or ones that seem only interested in your money.




7. If you hire a local attorney in a city or state where the music industry is not a prominent business, make sure that the local attorney is familiar with nationwide trends in the music business and has relationships with lots of people in cities where the music industry is prominent.

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC

Check out my other sites and blogs:
myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
interviewed.blogspot.com
globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com
musicpanels.blogspot.com
mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com
hitsamillion.ning.com

Benefits to hiring an entertainment attorney/lawyer

I've done now a month's worth of blogging on how to network, where to network, provided some encouragement to those of you who are really just tired of networking. Well, as a songwriter or artist, one of the people that you should find and meet when you are out networking is an entertainment attorney. An entertainment attorney should be an integral part of your plan to succeed in the music business. Although I'm an attorney, I would recommend any songwriter or artist hire an attorney. (and this is not a self plug because I'm not currently taking clients). In later posts, I'll discuss what to do before hiring an entertainment attorney but for now, I want to help you see why I say there are benefits to retaining/hiring an entertainment attorney or attorneys:


1. Entertainment attorneys can help you properly set up your business.


2. An entertainment attorney can help you determine what type of corporation to set up which can possibly help you in terms of liability issues and tax purposes.


3. An entertainment attorney can help you draft contracts for hiring your manager, hiring a graphic artist, hiring musicians, hiring singers, etc.


4. An entertainment attorney can help you with understanding the contracts you are presented with as a songwriter and/or artist.


5. An entertainment attorney can help you understand what each proposed contract covers and what it does not.


6. An entertainment attorney can help you negotiate the terms of any contract.


7. Some entertainment attorneys help you shop your artist and/or song and help you look for record deals, endorsement deals, production deals, etc.


8. An entertainment attorney can also help you establish some business relationships or at the least, use their business relationships to help you.


9. An entertainment attorney can help with navigating the legal issues that arise in other industries you may not be familiar with, such as the film industry, TV, gaming, etc.


10. An entertainment attorney in a city where music is prominent has access to more music seminars, conferences, continuing legal education (or CLEs), music groups, or associations, music executives, etc. That means that attorney has more access to make and have business relationships with other industry professionals and it may mean that the attorney, if they are taking the CLE courses, is up to date on all the legal issues in the business.

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC

Check out my other sites and blogs:
myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
interviewed.blogspot.com
globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com
musicpanels.blogspot.com
mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com
hitsamillion.ning.com