Band Law Basics -- A Workshop for the Musicians of the Keene Music Festival

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BAND LAW BASICS

A WORKSHOP for the MUSICIANS of the KEENE MUSIC FESTIVAL

1.  BAND BUSINESS FORMATION

n    -- Informal, no business structure or legal name. Each band member owns their own equipment. Can create problems when getting paid by check, has to be to one of the band members, and that person then has to claim the money as income. Can’t have a band bank account or credit card (like a Musician’s Friend account).  Might create conflicts if one band member is putting out large amounts of money for things like PA or lighting systems. Can create conflicts over use of name after band changes, and have to be clear about who owns what copyrights for originals.

n     -- Legal name/trade name/fictitious name registration. Person listed on the registration owns the name. Have to file and pay for renewals regularly. Can get an EIN for a trade name, which would allow for opening bank account and possibly getting credit cards in the trade name, but the person/s whose name its registered to are wholly responsible for payments and reporting the income.

n      --Partnership agreement. Can be informal but should be in writing; can spell out all the issues like who gets to use name, who can perform songs, what happens to equipment or income from CD or download sales after one person leaves the band.

n        --LLC or other small form of incorporation. Creates a legal entity for the band which is separate from the band members. The band is then its own legal ‘person.’ Can set up rules for what happens to a member’s share of the LLC if they leave the band. Can put all the band equipment in the LLC or corporate name, protecting it from bankruptcy or divorce of the individual band members. But not necessarily appropriate for young bands or pick-up groups likely to change membership frequently

2.  COPYRIGHTS

n     --Your creative works are copyrighted to you the minute you ‘fix them in a tangible medium’ – that is, get them out of your head and onto paper or a digital track or tape.

n    ---However, in order to defend your copyright legally by suing copyright infringers, you need to register the copyright with the copyright office. This is cheap and easy to do and can be done online. Register a whole collection/album at once to be even cheaper.

n      --www.copyright.gov  Get to know it, make it your friend. Read it often, check all the FAQs and fact sheets regarding music.

n     --You can perform other people’s music – i.e., covers – at any live venue, but if the venue is not paying its ASCAP/BMI dues, then in theory you are responsible for paying the royalties. It’s exceedingly rare for anyone to go after musicians who played covers live, however. But they do go after venues that are having music performance and not paying into ASCAP or BMI.

n     --A tricky issue arises because when you play live, people record you and then post those recordings. Some artists/record companies do come after people who post copyrighted recordings.

n    --Get a license before recording any covers, audio or video. If someone is going to videotape your live performance for local TV or a website, review your setlist and clue them in to shut off cameras for copyrighted material.

n     --Play your own originals as well as traditional music, and you’ll be fine. Sampling without permission is a big copyright problem; create your own tracks of classical, traditional or your original music to run samples from, or obtain samples with permission from Creative Commons sites.