Erin M. Jacobson - Music Publishing Deals & How to Become An Entertainment Attorney

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Erin M. Jacobson is an internationally recognized attorney, experienced deal negotiator, and a seasoned advisor of intellectual property rights who protects musicians, songwriters, music publishers, and a wide variety of other music professionals. 

Ms. Jacobson’s clients include Grammy and Emmy Award winners, legacy artists and catalogues, heirs and estates, and independent artists and companies. Ms. Jacobson regularly handles all types of agreements within the music industry, with an emphasis on music publishing, licensing, and catalogue acquisitions. In addition, she is one of the leading attorneys on copyright recapture and termination issues. 

Ms. Jacobson also places special emphasis on her work with legacy clients and their catalogues, as her knowledge of both classic music and current industry practices places her in a unique position to protect and revitalize older catalogues. 

Ms. Jacobson has been named as one of the “Top Music Lawyers” by Billboard, as well as a Super Lawyers Rising Star and one of the Top Women Attorneys in Southern California. In addition, Ms. Jacobson is a frequent author and speaker, and has been featured in publications including Billboard and Forbes, and on networks including ABC and the BBC. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP). 

Ms. Jacobson is the author of the book, Don’t Get Screwed! How to Protect Yourself as an Independent Musician. She also founded and owns Indie Artist Resource, the independent musician’s resource for legal and business protection. Indie Artist Resource offers templates for agreements most needed by independent musicians, as well as a variety of educational materials to empower independent musicians to make informed decisions about their careers. 

More information on Ms. Jacobson and her law practice in Beverly Hills, CA can be found at www.themusicindustrylawyer.com. 

Indie Artist Resource can be found at www.indieartistresource.com.

Highlights from this Episode
**times based on audio version
[3:25] Why this new book? 
[5:20] Common Bad Advice in the Music Industry 
[8:30] Registering singles with US Copyright office 
[11:25] Mistakes independent musicians make 
[12:54] Registering music and collecting royalties 
[15:20] Decision to go into Entertainment Law 
[19:50] The process to become an Entertainment Attorney    
[25:15] How an Entertainment Attorney finds clients 
[28:52] Artist’s getting into bad deal 
[34:22] Explaining publishing deals or Pub Deals 
[36:40] Standard publishing deal structure 
[40:50] Artists getting ownership of a song they didn’t write 
[49:40] Value a publishing company adds for the artist 
[53:37] Songs that count towards your publishing deal 
[55:00] Getting a co-publishing deal 
[59:45] Benefit of being on a label 
[1:02:03] Rapid Fire - Getting to know Erin Jacobson 

Links to people, places, and things mentioned
Copyright Masterclass with Davey Jay 
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) 
ASCAP 
BMI
SESAC 
GMR 
SoundExchange 
Harry Fox Agency 
Indie Artist Resource
[BOOKS]
Don’t Get Screwed! How to Protect Yourself as an Independent Musician by Erin Jacobson
All You Need to Know About the Music Business by Donald Passman 

Get in touch with Erin M. Jacobson

Website: http://www.themusicindustrylawyer.com
Indie Artist Resource: http://indieartistresource.com
Book: https://dontgetscrewedbook.indieartistresource.com
Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1736110918/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1736110918&linkCode=as2&tag=iarllc-20&linkId=0016527910220ea12800b25ff906f85
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMJmusiclawyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicindustrylawyer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themusicindustrylawyer/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MusicIndustryLawyer

Kamal Moo - Entertainment Attorney and Author of The Straightforward Guide to the Music Biz on Becoming an Entertainment Attorney, Record Deals and Protecting Your Art

You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher |

For decades, people in the music industry said that the Donald Passman book, All You Need to Know About the Music Business, is the bible of the music business. It probably is, but that doesn’t make it the best book for everyone to start with. It’s a book that very legally dense, challenging to understand without a basic understanding of the business, and talks about scenarios that definitely 99% of artists will not encounter in the first few years of their careers. But they will write a song, maybe even co-write a song, record a song, and even release it too. You might be a producer or aspiring indie label owner, or you might negotiate your first management deal. Entertainment Attorney, Kamal Moo, introduced a new book in 2020 called “The Straightforward Guide to the Music Biz,” and this book is my favorite new guide to understanding basic legal terms, scenarios that a musician will encounter right from the start of their careers, and much more. 

Kamal Moo is an Entertainment Attorney based in Los Angeles, CA. Since 2010, Kamal has been working as an Entertainment Attorney, he also teaches law as an adjunct professor, has been on the road, managed artists, and is now giving back to the next generation of musicians with his new book. In this conversation, we talk about how he became an attorney in the music industry, the new book, record deals, working with Janet Jackson, and much more. 

To learn more about Kamal Moo visit https://www.kamalandrew.com/.  

Davey Jay - A Copyright & Publishing Foundation Masterclass with Entertainment Attorney Davey Jay

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Davey Jay returns to the podcast for a copyright and publishing foundation masterclass. In this episode we discuss everything you need to know to get started with building a foundation knowledge of how copyright and publishing works. Davey Jay discusses the benefits of registering your copyright. We cover how mechanical royalties, performance royalties, and synchronization licenses work. Also, you’ll learn which codes you need to obtain to make sure all of your online streams and digital plays are being tracked correctly. The benefits of SoundExchange, and why every artist should sign-up. How do you properly cover or sample a song, and make money from it, and much more.

To learn more about Davey Jay, check out our round one episode on the show, where we discuss how she got started as an entertainment attorney, tips for those wanting to get into entertainment law, common deals, red flags with record contracts, and much more.

A few Copyright & Publishing terms to be familiar with:
Mechanical Royalties: Each time a song is reproduced on a physical or digital recording, the song owner is entitled a payment from the company doing the reproduction. The standard per copy set by the United States Copyright office is $0.091.

Performance Royalties: Every time the song is performed live (by the original artist or a cover), or the song is played on radio, over a jukebox, over speakers at a business, non-interactive streaming and interactive streaming, or any other public setting, the songwriter is entitled a performance royalty fee.

Synchronization License: A song used in sync with video, such as YouTube, Commercials, TV Shows, Video Games, or any other video, the song owner is entitled a payment at a negotiated rate, by the company using the song in their video.

Performance Rights Organizations (PRO's): In the United States, those are ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. These organizations represent the songwriters and publishers, and collect performance royalties. SOCAN in Canada, and PRS in England.

Two Copyrights for a Song: One for the composition (melody and lyrics), and one for the sound recording (the actual recording of the song, aka the Master). Register at https://www.copyright.gov/. 

Harry Fox Agency: Handles mechanical licenses.

From https://heroic.academy/indie-guide-music-copyright-publishing/

Highlights from this Episode
(3:38) Updates since part 1
(4:58) Topics and FAQs in Music Law 101
(6:48) Legal protection for a brand new song
(7:40) Benefits of copyrighting
(9:58) Process for registering songs
(10:58) Types of Copyright
(12:23) Copyrighting Singles/Albums
(13:47) PROs
(16:00) Businesses and licensing
(18:52) Soundexchange
(21:40) Royalty rate
(23:30) ISRC codes
(26:55) Mechanical Licenses
(29:38) Synchronization and Master use Licenses
(33:16) Songs with multiple writers
(36:52) Split Sheets and Collaboration Agreements
(38:09) Publisher share and writer share
(40:14) Benefits of having a publisher
(42:33) Co-publishing deals
(44:19) Advances in publishing deals
(45:02) Record deals and copyrights
(46:25) Cross collateralization
(52:23) Rihanna example
(55:57) Managers
(57:36) When to consult an attorney
(58:45) Band agreements
(1:00:00) Get advice form an attorney
(1:01:09) Choose a superpower
(1:01:49) First album and concert
(1:02:40) Recommended books and documentaries
(1:03:41) Mentors
(1:05:23) Recent Discovery
(1:06:43) Night of drinks with
(1:07:27) Fill-in-the-blanks

Quotes from Davey Jay
“In music law, the facts are very critical”
“As soon as you make an original work of authorship tangible, you have a copyright to it”
“Show people the big stick you’re gonna hit em with”
“Look into what they [PROs] are offering, as far as perks and benefits”
“Different types of streaming generate different types of revenue”
“There’s no set fees for Sync Licenses”
“Joint author and co-owners of the work…share everything equally, regardless of the level of contribution”
“The Appropriate publishing deal is entirely dependent upon where the songwriter is at that point in their career and who the publisher is”
“The publisher split is for any sort of licensing”
“Artists who end up broke is because they weren’t paying attention”
“Write your own music”
“Be careful with managers…they have the power to make or break you”
“When you’re starting a band is best to start with a band agreement”

Links to people, places, and things mentioned
Music Law 101
Will’s Pub Orlando
Lil Indies
U.S. Copyright Office
ASCAP
BMI
SESAC
Soundexchange
RIAA
ISRC Code
ISWC Code
Harry Fox Agency
Rihanna - Diamonds
REO Speedwagon
Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
Salmon Rushdie
Music, Money and Success
Alan Schlesinger
Hank & Cupcakes
Ruth Bader GInsburg
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Robin Williams
David Bowie

Contact
Meehle & Jay Business and Entertainment Law
Phone 407-792-0790

Davie Jay’s Definition of Making it
“Making it is, at the end of the day, feeling that you did good…”

Keep in touch:
chris.goyzueta@gmail.com
www.makingitwithchrisg.com
https://www.instagram.com/chrisgoyzueta/
https://www.facebook.com/makingitwithchrisg

Credits:
Host: Chris Goyzueta (Chris G.)
Producer: Jason Trosclair
Executive Producer: ONElive Creative Agency  
Music: Emily Kopp
Show Notes: Manuel Pachamoro