This morning I was running through my RSS feeds and came across another great post from Andrew Dubbers New Music Strategies blog. The post was an interview with Stuart Price, intellectual property lawyer and Managing Director of Birmingham’s Young & Lee Solicitors who offered his top 5 tips for independent music business’s. Having access to good legal advice is really important for any artist, particularly when your looking at signing any type of deal which relates to music copyright and ownership. I’ve known quite a few artists who have signed away the copyright to their music without really understanding the implications. Legal advice can be expensive so I thought I’d let you know of 2 sources of free legal advice for musicians and artists.
The NZ Music Commission offers free legal advice to musicians and is worth looking in to if your looking for help with a range of legal issues. Check out their website or simply give them a call on 0800 469642.
Another option is the pro bono legal advice offered by The Creative People’s Centre and McLaughlin Law who provide legal advice and guidance to those involved in the creative industries. Now as you probably know I’m currently the website manager for the CPC website and have worked closely with David McLaughlin on the CPC project for the last 6 months. I’ve had quite a few of the artists I work with get together with David to look through contracts or discuss copyright issues and they’ve always found it really helpful.
You should really consider both of these options as a starting point if you ever need help with any legal aspects of your career as an artist. You know it makes sense!!
Tags: advice, Industry