Behind child actors such as Iain Armitage, and child influencers such as Ryan’s World and Niana Guerrero, there are the contracts that made their success possible. California labor laws and the California Family Code require that contracts with minors include provisions to ensure that children are not exploited because of their youth. While not every
Most musicians want nothing more than to spend time creating and performing. But being a professional artist also involves running a business – a responsibility that not all musicians can undertake. Hiring an effective manager is one way that artists can ensure they have plenty of time to hone their craft. In addition to handling
The Writers Guild of America, known as the WGA, is a labor union that represents writers in television, film and new media. Because the WGA negotiates collective bargaining agreements with studios and has secured many benefits, including guaranteed minimum salaries, residuals, writing credits, pensions and health plans, professional writers tend to be members of this
There are many types of songwriters in the music industry. Like Taylor Swift, some songwriters write songs for themselves to perform. Others, like Meghan Trainor and Chris Stapleton, began their careers writing songs for other artists. For example, Trainor has written several hits for groups like Rascal Flatts and Fifth Harmony, while also writing most
A side artist agreement is a contract, typically between the main artist (or sometimes the artist’s label) stating the terms under which a vocalist or instrumentalist is hired to perform on one or more tracks. They are generally one-time employment contracts that establish that the side artist’s performance is a work-made-for-hire for the benefit of
Celebrity identities have been fraudulently manipulated in hyper-realistic videos, known as deepfakes, since the technology became widely available in 2017. In October 2022, Bruce Willis denied claims made by a deepfake company that he had “sold the rights to his face” in an apparent bid to extend his acting career past his retirement. Even though
The music industry is an economic powerhouse, earning an estimated revenue of $8.8 billion in 2021 alone. Despite the industry’s monstrous success, key players such as recording artists, record labels, songwriters, composers and music publishers – the heart and soul of the music industry –often leave a substantial amount of money on the table. The
A music publisher is an entity that promotes, licenses, sells, distributes and otherwise commercially exploits musical compositions. Even if you market and distribute your works yourself, you’re still acting as your own music publisher, which works fine for many new music, contemporary classical and other composers who write orchestral and large-scale works. Though some composers
WHAT DOES A FILM PRODUCER DO? Film productions involve many complex pieces and multiple parties, which is why there are often several individuals with the title of “producer.” A film producer is the person who initiates, coordinates and manages the creation and production of a film. Generally, the producer is involved throughout the entire process,
In my previous post, I sped through the history of fair use from Justice Story to the current statute, and strolled through a few examples of the analysis that’s typically used when applying the four factors of Section 107 of the Copyright Act, the statutory test for fair use. But while courts always construe the statutory factors, the “real” fair
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