I need legal help! Asap! Trying to not get robbed

imchiefy

New member
I sent a up and coming rapper signed to major label a beat VIA email and he contacted me back .my beat was not copyrighted but now it is (the two track) .i recently had a meeting to do a single song spitsheet. The paper said something about controlled compositions clause wich i am unfamiliar with . After googling i we signed the splitsheets(6-7) . I then gave him the masters(tracked out) ...and he re arranged a bunch of stuff ... I dont have a pro site and the upfront fee was around 1200.. tell me my faults and ask me questions .. i REALLY NEED IT. THANKS
 
Never ever sign anything without legal representation and advice.

The only thing going for you right now is the 14 day cooling off period that applies to most contracts worldwide.

I may be wrong on this, but it seems pretty standard to help people
  • review things and
  • perhaps withdraw your consent,
  • without any pressure from other players in the room and
  • having a cooler head
before it's too late

regardless of the above points, GET yourself a lawyer NOW and have them review what you have signed.

If it needs to be voided and renegotiated, get them to act NOW.

Don't wait: otherwise it may be too late to fix this mess
 
^^^Cosign.

I will say that since you signed splitsheets and got $1200 upfront, everything seems in place. I'll be honest, I've signed off on tons of stuff without lawyers present, but I'm usually pretty good at understanding contracts. As long as everything is in reference to just one piece of work, I've never cared much, I can make more songs and get more checks. I'd take the 1200 and whatever splits I agreed to, and keep it moving for relationship purposes. I'd stay in contact, continue sending music, watch the artist's progression, and if my song made him rich, I'd know to charge more for the next song of mine that he uses. I'd also keep in touch with the label, if this song does good, you're in the race as a good developmental musician, they will bring more new talent to you to create songs.

You can screw alot of that up by voiding your original agreement. That's not saying not to meet with a lawyer, that's saying that if you got cheated out of hundreds of dollars, even a few thousand, it may not be worth screwing the opportunity and relationship. It would be different if you never agreed in the 1st place, but trying to adjust now could just make them say "forget it, we won't use your song, give us back our upfront and never contact us again".

Not worth it.
 
True: but for new player always best to engage legal advice. If you signed away future work product they will catch it, if not and they think the sums involved will be minimal, let lit lie and keep them around for the next contract......
 
^^^Agreed, but I can't see how you'd sign off future work or even the song in question ending up in other media(movies, commercials, hit collections, ect.)for $1200 unless you really got robbed...I mean hog tied and gagged type robbed, lol. That's unimaginable to me. This sounds more like a song headed to youtube, itunes, and a few mixtapes to see how the artist develops. But i haven't seen the contract, so...

To sum it all up, consult with a lawyer.
 
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Yes, it's all about the rights and delineation thereof; make sure you don't sign anything that says "work for hire," and make sure that the agreement spells out each instance where rights are assigned (not global, but specific to a one-time record release or whatever). Watch out for any "360" clauses. You should also not give-up any publishing, unless a proper publishing deal is in place. You do have to balance possibly being taken advantage of vs. being considered a difficult-to-work-with diva. I am generally against "buy-out" type of arrangements as opposed to maintaining rights, but I know that that's also a pretty common practice in the rap industry. It's just unfortunate, because afaik, your $1200 buy-out used to be more like $12,000, but like everybody else and every other industry, label people have taken a step back...

---------- Post added at 11:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:08 AM ----------

PS-- I forgot something you mentioned in your initial question. "Copyright Control," "Controlled Composition," and the like are contract phrases that generally refer to copyrights that are directly controlled by the songwriter (or other owner), as opposed to being part of a publishing catalogue. So there is no inherent problem with the phrase being in your agreement; the issue would be _who_ copyright control is assigned to in the paperwork, and if you have/would sign any other subsequent paperwork like LOC copyright "change forms" assigning rights to someone else. You don't necessarily need a lawyer for every single thing in the music business, but when you are first starting out or when the potential is really big, you should probably spring for a consultation. If you don't have any money (although you've got at least $1200 now! lol), you could try contacting the VLA (Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts).
You could also find out how much Moses Avalon would charge for an on-line consultation. www.mosesavalon.com .

GJ
 
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