Are you a production company or a distribution company in the area of music production and marketing and would you like legal advice regarding your ongoing activities? Or are you, as an artist, band, DJ, agency, event planner, or sponsorship partner, seeking legal support within the scope of contract negotiations or specific legal dispute? Are there ambiguities within the scope of the cooperation with the collecting societies (e.g. GEMA, [German Society for Musical Performance and Mechanical Reproduction], GVL [German Collecting Society for Performance Rights])? Or do you require legal help working with the artists' social insurance?
What we offer
For our clients in the music industry, we can handle the design and negotiation of all necessary contracts, consulting and representation in acquiring all of the necessary rights and approvals, and the legal advice within the scope of distribution and marketing.
At the beginning, there will be a review of the legal situation, particularly regarding the copyright, licensing, and contractual aspects of the planned project, as well as regarding the strategic plan. We will specify the wording of the contracts using the particulars of the specific case, we will guide or support the negotiations with participating parties, we will advise and represent you in negotiations regarding distribution campaigns and handle the consulting regarding market presence with respect to rights to your own name, personality rights, title protection, trademarks, and competition law. We will support the music production, from a legal perspective, from the beginning all the way to the end. We will indicate to you any potential risks and notable processes in connection with your project and will work together with our clients to find solutions for the avoidance thereof and/or a legal solution.
Furthermore, our advice covers all questions connected to sponsorships and advertising campaigns; distribution campaigns; name, copyright, and identifier measures; and media exploitation measures in all existing media (TV, radio, Internet, YouTube, Facebook, twitter, mobile devices, etc.).
We will handle the consulting regarding the founding of a band, label, or a publishing company as well as the structural changes within the scope of a band, label, or publishing companies already in existence, and will support you in the financial structuring, completing contract negotiations, and enforcing claims. And finally, we will advise and represent our clients in the process regarding collecting societies and the artists' social insurance.
Our activities also include the tracking of contract violations, copyright violations, or other rights to intellectual property by means of an official warning, in proceedings for a temporary injunction, or complaint proceedings, which are part of the special strength of our law practice due to the many years of practical experience and the technical expertise of the attorneys and specialized lawyers.
Scope of performance
Creating, reviewing, and negotiating contracts, such as
- Contracts with production companies, (co-)producers, artists, musicians, composers, and lyricists
- Sampling, remix, soundtrack, advertising, and film score contracts
- Concert or performance contracts, guest performance contracts
- Contracts regarding the founding of a band, label, or publishing company
- Artist, producer, and master licensing agreements
- Management and agency contracts
- Rights administration agreements (GEMA/GVL)
- Publishing and sub-publishing contracts
- Sponsorship agreements
- Contracts regarding right to your own name for artists, groups, albums, and/or musical pieces
- Merchandising contracts
- Event, concert, and artist support agreements, touring agreements, and contracts regarding venues
We can also handle the following:
- General consulting and representation in copyright, identifier, and competition law
- Consulting in connection with acquiring and assigning rights and consulting and support in digital rights management
- Consulting within the scope of founding a band, label, or a publishing company regarding the legal form, the corporate contract, the registration, and the industrial law project
- Consulting regarding compensation and distribution of revenues
- Consulting for media exploitation, publishing and creating reports in all existing media (Internet such as YouTube, Facebook, radio, TV, etc.)
- Consulting and representation with respect to collecting societies
- Consulting and representation regarding the law on social insurance for artists
- Out-of-court representation in warning notice proceedings
- Tracking of contractual violations, copyright or other protective right violations out of court and in court before all district and regional courts in Germany in the course of temporary injunctions or complaints
- Enforcement of cease-and-desist agreements by asserting contractual penalties or fines
Costs
We normally offer these services to you calculated according to the time spent at a suitable hourly rate. We believe that cost transparency and cost reliability obviously form the basis of successful cooperation. We will be happy to provide you with an estimate of the expected costs and the cost risk before taking the job.
