An experienced New York entertainment attorney can provide legal guidance for all aspects of the music business, including the entire lifecycle of the documents and contracts necessary to close and execute deals. Some of the specific matters they can help with include:
Recording and publishing agreements
Producer agreements
Side-artist agreements
Television and film executive music producer, soundtrack, and composer agreements
Merchandising, touring, and appearance agreements
Management and agency representation agreements
Endorsements, sponsorships, advertising, promotions, and brand agreements
Music licensing for various distribution channels
They can represent a broad spectrum of clients within the industry, including distributors, composers, engineers, sound mixers, music producers, recording labels, music publishing companies, musicians and artists, and songwriters.
Common Legal Services For The Music Industry in New York
New York entertainment attorneys can provide guidance for a myriad of domains such as intellectual property law, contracts, labor, tax, securities, business law, and more. Additional areas include:
Infrastructure and support services
Local Artist Communities
Global Record Business
Mass Music Consumption
Infrastructure and Support Services
Within the music industry, infrastructure and support services include any of the ancillary functions that help drive the business of music production. These include:
Digital music technology providers
Recording and production studios
The agencies that focus on royalty accounting and collection
Digital rights managers
Building trust of musicians
Music-focused trade and commercial publications
While this is the smallest contributor with respect to the jobs and economic output in New York, infrastructure and support services play a crucial role within the region’s music industry.
This sector has thrived in New York because of the area’s deep talent pool with regard to both engineering and creative talent
Local Artist Communities
Local artist communities are the grassroots foundation of New York City’s music industry. The components of this pillar include:
Musicians and artists
Rehearsal spaces
Local performance venues for smaller live shows
Collaboration incubators
Music education institutions
Of the four pillars of New York’s music industry, this one creates the most jobs, but generally has the lowest annual wages, even accounting for the big-name musicians who call the city home.
However, one of the biggest challenges within the sector is that the small, local performance venues where most musicians begin their careers in the entertainment industry are at risk. Skyrocketing real estate costs, city zoning ordinances, the expenses inherent in running a public venue, and licensing issues have forced many venues to close.
Global Record Business
The global record business comprises the world’s biggest record labels, smaller independent labels, talent agents and managers, promoters, and music publishers.
New York City is truly the hub of the global record business, with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry reporting that five of the top-ten independent labels and two of the three biggest record companies in the world called the Big Apple their home in 2015.
The Office of Media and Entertainment/Boston Consulting Group survey suggests that New York City has been especially successful in this arena because of its geographic proximity to other major players in the infrastructure and support services segment.
Because finance, advertising, and media feature so prominently in New York, it makes it easier for record labels and others that drive music business deals to gain and retain their foothold. New York entertainment lawyers can help forge those business relationships and industry synergies.
Mass Music Consumption
New York City’s mass music consumption sector is made up of large-scale music venues, concerts and festivals, retail and merchandising, streaming and broadcast, and professional music performance groups. Out of everywhere in the world, New York City sells more tickets to major live musical performances than any other city, including London, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco, according to Pollstar data.
As the music industry trends toward outdoor venues and festival-style events, New York will also likely support more of these events, which can potentially serve a daily capacity of 50,000 attendees for programming that is multiple days long.
Consult With An Experienced New York Entertainment Lawyer
Do you need guidance with regard to the music business in New York, or any aspect of the entertainment industry? If so, the experienced legal team at The Hollywood Lawyer can combine its strategic and commercial savvy with its extensivelegal experience to protect your interests and help your business grow. Call today for a free consultation.
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