Legal

An entertainment lawyer who specializes in music is a crucial member of any artist's team. If you are going to sign a contract of any kind, you should have an attorney who understands the music business represent you and protect your interests.

Don't underestimate this important step as it is a common pitfall of many artists.  An entertainment lawyer can be much more than just legal counsel. Any good entertainment lawyer is part of a larger entertainment industry web and therefore will have contacts that reach beyond the legal world and into record labels, booking agencies, management firms and publishing companies.

Gail Boyd has more than 30 years experience in entertainment law and music law. She has negotiated licensing deals, record contracts with major and independent labels, and other kinds of contracts.

She provides an introduction to the complex areas of entertainment law and music law, as well as information on the music industry and music business. If you are an artist interested in a career in the music industry, you'll need to seek legal advice regarding agents, personal managers, business managers, copyrights, trademarks, publishing, and all sorts of other information with which you should become familiar.

Often bands that are just getting started use friends or relatives who are lawyers to review music-related offers for them. While this is understandable, it is important that the person who represents you understand the basic concepts and precedents that have been set forth in the music industry. If you gave a really good offer for a major label record deal to an attorney who did not know anything about the music industry, they would likely tell you not to sign it. Common sense might tell someone that it was not a good deal for the artist. However, the reality of record deals is that they live within certain parameters established forth by precedents set over many decades. For better or worse, this is how deals are structured, and if the person who is representing you doesn't understand any of that, they are not going to be able to provide realistic or appropriate counsel. But an entertainment lawyer can be much more than just a legal counsel. Any good entertainment lawyer is part of a larger entertainment industry web and therefore will have contacts that reach beyond the legal world and into record labels, booking agencies, management firms and publishing companies, to name but a few. As your legal representative, our firm can help introduce you and your music to others within the entertainment community.