Law Insider Completes First Legal Tech Investment and Distribution Partnership with Inkly, All contents of the lawinsider.com excluding publicly sourced documents are Copyright 2013-. Advances are just loans!! We get used to these things and then sometimes, theres a wakeup call . But first, the record labels getting their money. Many young artists dont realize how recoupment works, in which a label fronts the money for artists advances and expenses like recording and marketing, to be paid back to the label through royalties later. Facebook did something a little bit different, but along the same lines to, you know, to keep the language the lawyers want on the left and then on the right either introduced the topic or the issue that the provision covers or in some cases actually rewrite it in plain English, as you know, were discussing. Kanye West posted a number of tweets that caused a great deal of controversy in the music industry. One seems to be this issue of Ive got to check some legal boxes. Theres a lot going on here. (Epic did not respond to a request for comment for this story. UMG is the parent company of Def Jam and West's G.O.O.D. The remaining$1millionwas to be paid upon completion. Looking back, I've thought many times about what makes Kanye Kanye. (Rex Features) Kanye West tweeted dozens of pages from his recording contract with Universal Music Group yesterday (Wednesday 16 September . Thus,50 percent of these costs incurred by Roc-A-Fella are considered advances, but the label could notrecoup more than $40,000 for each album relevant to these costs: creation, hosting, maintenance of artists website, securing, registering and/or protecting artist domain names, creation of ECD materials, independent promotion, independent marketing and independent publicity, television, movie or radio campaigns. Kanye West Posts Over 100 Pages of His Record Label Contracts, Tweet by Tweet Tyler Sharp Published: September 16, 2020 David Crotty / Patrick McMullan, Getty Images Kanye West made. Within the deal, Kanye was obligated to release six albums, inaddition tohis initial effort, TheCollege Dropout(2004), within a 12-month span. Royalty portals need to show (and do not now) Every song you delivered, Every store you are in, How many streams per song Income per song. Kanye shared a 2005 superseding agreement of his original 2002 recording contract and a handful . If you push this button, youre going to save big. Ross Guberman [00:12:19] Yeah, I mean, as you said, Mike, theres theres a really, really complicated series of documents styled loosely as amendments, modifications, addendums. So I apologize to both of you D.C. people watching. Youll get access to more content like this. 1990 Kanye's mother, Donda West, helps a then 13-year-old Kanye pay to cut his first record in a basement studio. Ye by Kanye West (Record, 2018) (9) 100% agree - Would recommend. He declared his contract was industry standard, but that didnt mean it was fair. Dependents. Absolutely not. So the tool, the tool were looking at brief catch, you know, there you go. For Kanye, his 15% royalty rate on wholesale for each sneaker sold has netted him roughly $150 million pre-tax annually. A Lawyers role is to IMPROVE deals. Right, right. Kanye West, also now known as Ye, has been named as a suspect in a battery report taken by the Los Angeles police department in the early hours of . Artists re-signing these stops. Ross Guberman [00:22:31] but definitely something to that. Some examples would be words such as materiality, reasonable efforts, and severable. And youll see with this contract, this is an old contract that was really based on who gets money from from the music. Ye also had to seek written approval from the labelat least 14 days before the first recording session. Is this realistic to even talk about plain language and contract drafting? So I have to keep it versus this is archaic and useless. Right. And guys, this is a super long document. It's unclear if it actually will. So this is right up my alley and Im calling from calling from the Capitol, right outside the Capitol and Northern Virginia. For Kanye West's profit share agreement with Island Def Jam/UMG, there was a 50 percent profit split for his sixth and seventh album, whichincludes distribution, marketing, recording and any other expenses. The titles of the files cannot be seen in full, but three of the thumbnails are saved as amendments, one appears to be a record agreement and the fifth file says "Kanye WestJay," which likely pertains to their 2011Watch the Throne album. Of that, two-thirds ($8 million) was an advance for him to keep. Addeddate 2020-09-21 23:04:27 Identifier KanyeWestContracts Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t0jt91382 Ocr How do I nudge a contract toward plain language without undermining the agreement? ET. Those are four ways to keep the conversation going. Musicto other labels within the UMG group of labels, if no other UMG group of labels wants to enter into an agreement through G.O.O.D. The 43-year-old rapper has conceded after his. Well make sure you get a deal as well. Were at sales@LawInsider.com. Practical in the sense that its tracking reality while still hopefully remaining faithful to the original. 2. The you know, the goal is not the same. Right. So, Ross, were going to tear down the contracts that Kanye shared. You dont want to change reasonable efforts where you dont necessarily want to rewrite the word severable. Ross Guberman [00:15:01] Yeah, Kanye could read this. Its all made from events. Theyre not to be I mean, this is classic, completely unnecessary, archaic language you see in a lot of commercial agreements. Ye's business manager's inability to . All those of those terms that you can also edit out of other legal documents, theres a lot to do there that really will clean these up without ever even considering going into the substantive terms. The deals not bad what is that based on? Negrito asks. Ross Guberman [00:16:40] Yeah, you really hit the nail on the head. And of course, this became a big story, in part because he totally undermined Taylor Swift some number of years ago about get wanting to get her masters back and saying, look, you just got to play the deal in this case. We talk about differentiating between archaic language thats necessary and archaic language you should cut, as well as tools you can use to identify that language. As far as the actual deal goes, Kanyes isnt particularly bad: Music lawyerswho spoke with Rolling Stone call Wests deal standard for an artist at his level. But there theres a lot you can do there, as the GE example has shown. So lets talk a little bit. West also made his feelings towards the label clear in 2020, when he tweeted images of his record contract, noting he felt he was treated unfairly. So the rest, you know, if its not a one of those categories, its either an industry term of art or just normal English talking about finance or recording. Moments later, Kanye shared screenshots of five files. A lot of people say they sign a million-dollar deal, but you dont get a check for $1 million, Noonan adds. In in your estimation, does this thread the needle of checking the legal boxes, but also being plain enough? Theres no more independent plants, no more putting all these CDs in a truck and shipping them from store to store across the country, Chris Anokute, founder of entertainment company Young Forever Inc. and a former A&R executive for labels including Capitol and Island Def Jam, tells Rolling Stone. Maybe its about time I do that.. Join me and my friends. Its all made from videos. Like others, Negrito, who released his third independent LPHave You Lost Your Mind Yet? Lets rewrite the deals to be understandable from first rate. Tell me what people are talking about. Come join my friends. Prince Vinyl Records. Theyre there of the, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, if any. During his rant, Kanye declared that he would move the entire music industry into the 21st century, and he means to do this using clear and discernable language. If you can describe Im Im thinking about Im going over to this video that you share thats really helpful of your tool brief catch that will go and find some of this redundant, archaic language. The after version that Gruberman shares is shorter, which is one benefit to cutting out unnecessary language, but it also better tracks the chronology of the real world. Its not always clear whats what. Yet even though Kanyes deal may not make him the ideal poster child for a conversation on the fairness of recording contracts, hes sparked a high level of discussion among artists and music-business insiders on the nature of record deals and long-held standards. If you want to be on a future contract tear down. THE HOST:Mike Whelan is the author of Lawyer Forward: Finding Your Place in the Future of Law and host of the Lawyer Forward community. See everything we've learned from his record label deals below. And theyre advised accordingly by an attorney at law whos telling them to sign this contract, and they say this contract is standard. In fact, according to one of his recent Instagram posts, the Three Stripes offered to buy Ye out of his contract for $1 billion. Portals. Kanye West had already been burning bridges in the music industry. Now we know where the funds will come from, so its its. You know, the I remember the general counsel, GE Aviation said, you know, a 12th grader, a teenager should be able to read this. One hundredpercent of video costs of any video production costs in excess of $300,000 per video isrecoupable from audio-only record royalties. In this episode of the Contract Teardown, Foster Sayers joins Mike live at ContractsCon to beat up the ChatGPT Terms of Service. Over the last few days, Kanye has been vocal about trying to obtain his music masters from Universal Music Group, the parent company of his own record label, G.O.O.D. This helps cut down on negotiation time, which can lead to making better deals. Ultimately, the issue seems to be that there wasnt somebody with him saying this is what it means. A month ago, Kanye West had an emotional breakdown on Twitter. Kanye West vs. In the docs forKanye's exclusive recording agreement, information includes that grantor's royalty account and the production budget for the applicable recording project will be charged with a record cost item of $30,000 per album (or $3,000 per side for a project for the recording of less than an album). The label signed an exclusive long-term worldwide label agreement with the Island Def Jam Music Group in 2011. This is what were going after. Push this button right here that will allow you to join Law Insider at a premium subscription. Tell me how this is more understandable again for someone, not a 12 year old, but someone like Kanye in the decision making phase. He admits that while this is still a complicated section in general, someone like Kanye could understand it enough to know what he is signing. And thats, you know, damaging conclusion from many perspectives. Kenny Beats tweeted that something needs to change in the structure of the music industry to protect artists and specifically Black artists. And in a lengthy post on Instagram, Hit-Boy, whos produced platinum songs including Sicko Mode and N-s in Paris, said that multiple attorneys who have seen the deal he signed as a 19-year-old with Universal Music Publishing Group in the mid-2000s called it the worst publishing contract theyd ever seen. Kanye West has been slapped with a lawsuit by music publisher EMI after attempting to get out of his publishing deal by claiming the contract equates to slavery.. Mike Whelan [00:11:02] Hmm. For example, LinkedIn has made some effort to provide easy-to-understand language. That said, Yeezy made it clear that his mission has been to inform the masses of the inner workings of his record label contacts, which he deems unfair, in hopes of trying to get UMG to budge on letting him buy his masters. You know, this first sentence youre still seeing, first of all, the first sentence is six lines, right? Equity & Blanket Licenses are the majority of future new income. I mean, shoot, producers can take $15,000 to $20,000 a piece on each track. Again back to dependents. Soundtrack: The Great Gatsby. Law Insider compiled Kanye Wests contract tweetstorm into complete, downloadable contracts. Now, with a click of a finger, your music goes wide to 7 billion people if you want it to. Its an exclusion, a liability. Contract #1 [PDF] Contact #2 [PDF] Contract #3 [PDF] Contract #4 [PDF] Contract #5 [PDF] Contract #6 [PDF] Contract #7 [PDF] Contract #8 [PDF] Contract #9 New Recording and Publishing Deal Guidelines [ PDF] Most comprehensive library of legal defined terms on your mobile device. "Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. Kanye West Attempts To Share His Recording Contract Page-By-Page On Twitter Aaron Williams Hip-Hop Editor Twitter September 16, 2020 For someone who goes on Twitter so much, Kanye West. A lawyers role is to improve deals, not charge for contracts we cannot understand or track. He is no longer signed to Def Jam, his longtime record company; his contract expired with his 2021 album, "Donda." And Ye . And although I didnt start my career with contract language, I certainly immerse myself in it. Over the course of dozens of tweets, West. I AM ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS PEOPLE ON THE PLANET AND UNIVERSAL WONT TELL ME WHAT MY MASTERS COST BECAUSE THEY KNOW I CAN AFFORD THEM BLACK MASTERS MATTER.". Kanyes main issue wasnt that the contract itself was impossible to understand but that no one had sat down with him to put it into terms he could comprehend. Mike Whelan [00:04:08] wearing the shirt. Music or such label paying Island Def Jam Music Group acounterbalance amountagainst overhead payments in an amount equal to the overhead payments in the applicable contract year multiplied by a fraction. Absolutely. And examples of a couple of companies tackling the issue. Thats not the game here, Noonan recalls as the mindset when negotiating contracts. Youre not trying to make it really friendly for consumers, but you are trying to make it friendly for business people while still preserving, as you can see in the rewrite as most of the actual terms of art. Everybody go get it. Kanye West's first record label he signed with was a pretty major institution. Kanye West continues his campaign against major record labels. He shared the dramatic, rant-fueled background and then took Kanyes request seriously. Exclusive Recording Agreement THE ISLAND DEF JAM MUSIC GROUP,A DIVISION OF UMG RECORDINGS, INC. 1755 BROADWAY NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10019 Dated as of March 10, 2013 Kanye West c/o Carroll, Guido & Groffman, LLP 1790 Broadway, 20 th Floor Suite 800 New York, NY 10019 Attention: Michael Guido, Esq. August 6, 2021 3:35 PM EDT. Is this different than the LinkedIn attempt? The record label / publisher is a service provider that receives a share of the income for a limited term. Its its unfortunately the the words and phrases that are operative to. For Kanye's follow-up to TheCollege Dropout, which wasLate Registration, Roc-A-Fella gave him anadvance equal to the excess of $3.5 million over recording costs. Are they making too much? 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