Kanye West gave the world a rare glimpse into the music industrys labyrinth of recording contracts last week when he tweeted out his own paperwork with Universal Music Group and then lambasted those agreements as exploitative and unfair, demanding his copyrights be returned to him. 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-. But if Kanye West 's statements last year about slavery being a choice were out of bounds, he's taking more of a Prince-like tactic in his ongoing efforts to extract himself from his record. This is a situation were in. Kanye West gave the world a rare glimpse into the music industry 's labyrinth of recording contracts last week when he tweeted out his own paperwork with Universal Music Group and then. Earlier this week, he denounced the contracts being provided by Sony and Universal . I wrote a book. on September 21, 2020. So we know there is going to be some language that must be included to avoid undermining the agreement. Having the contract laid out in plain language can lead to fewer problems down the road. "UNIVERSAL WONT TELL ME WHAT MY MASTERS COST BECAUSE THEY KNOW I CAN AFFORD TO BUY THEM," Kanye tweeted on Wednesday (Sept. 16). Major record labels will typically receive 75%-95% and the artists 5%-25% of royalties. 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] He says the industry must holistically evaluate how to improve for any major changes to shift. So I apologize to both of you D.C. people watching. Mike Whelan [00:17:41] an interpretive sca band and Im going to have to look for the domain name. On May 4, 2012, Kanye's team penned a letter to Island Def Jam Music Group requesting that the recording fund for this fifth album be increased. Whats the language that stands out to you as particularly harmful to the understanding of the parties, which is really what a contract is supposed to do, right? Nirvana Vinyl Records. Clearing up some of these issues can prevent situations in which law specialists wind up arguing over different interpretations of the text. Last modified on Thu 13 Jan 2022 14.04 EST. Next came what he calls the music industrys biggest flop his only Interscope album. Were lucky we were told the truth in so many ways.. Donda 2, due for release on Tuesday (February 22), is the follow-up to Ye's Grammy-nominated Donda, which achieved one of the biggest ever first weeks for an album on both Spotify and Apple Music when it was released in August last year.. Kanye Wests Record Deal Is Standard. not charge for contracts we cannot understand or track. We were lucky because we were careful. See's Kanye West's Record Contract Tweets. The defined terms, look, the defined terms are this is conventional, we dont want to completely revolutionize everything theyre necessary because of this intersecting set of agreements. Absolutely not. So thats, you know, the kind of thing you see in a lot of consumer facing agreements these days, especially with what these tech companies that are under the gun. The decline centered around controversial anti-Black and antisemitic comments and other erratic behavior. Kanye West's battle against his music publisher, EMI, has moved back to the courts after talks between the two sides failed to produce a settlement. Whats the best way to get in touch with you to learn these skills? The outspoken music artist - who considered running. "Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. Some are asking what took so long. Law Insider, in partnership with Laura Frederick and How to Contract, is hosting ContractsCon 2023, a live training and networking event focused on practical contract drafting and negotiating skills for in-house counsel and contracts professionals. Theres this site, my my other company, legal writing pro. So you dont want to run around changing materiality. Epic spent a fortune making that Karmin album. Thats probably more than enough. Guberman has dissected the Profit Sharing Agreement section of Kanyes contract and found several areas in which the language could be more transparent. Not every artist has time to read the Donald Passman bookand find out what every term and clause means, and while there are great lawyers out there, too many just want their 5 percent [commission].. In this episode of the Contract Teardown show, guest Diana Isyanova shares three possible approaches. And thats why the color coding comes in. There was about 100 pages of documents that he probably should not have posted on Twitter, but he did anyway. Were were coloring pictures for you so you understand whats happening here? (Epic did not respond to a request for comment for this story. 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. How that how how that would play out. Scooter Braun Projects is a talent management company that is more than just a company. An advance constitutesany moneypaid, costs incurred or costs to create videos. The rapper has put out nine albums over 17 years through Roc-a-Fella Records. But as the music industry comes out of its 20-year tailspin, with streaming fueling new growth, artists arent satisfied with that arrangement, and many are demanding newfound power. On Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 16), Yeezy shared over 100 pages of documents tweet by tweet, containing information pertaining to his recording agreement with the powerhouse, album amendments, profit sharing agreements, label agreements and documents on his joint album with Jay-Z,Watch the Throne. Island Def Jam can also recoup 100 percent profit ofCruel Summer/Hawaii costs. But first, the record labels getting their money. Mike Whelan [00:17:34] Yeah, I like the phrase sufficient moneys. Im seeing a lot of these highlights. Ross Guberman [00:13:17] Yeah, so, you know, you want to you want to look at these provisions in chunks or blocs or categories so you can sort of thread the needle between, you know, what what the clients might demand and what lawyers think is is in their interests. Theyll follow their attorneys recommendation. Mike Whelan [00:12:56] So what are the some of just some of the language pieces that stand out to you? The before section has all the original wording, complete with legalese. So this is something later in the series, I imagine theres a back story, you know, tense, tense discussions about the money part. You want to make sure everything is understandable, but you dont want to take related phrases within a provision and just willy nilly break them up into multiple sentences the way you might. this summer, doesnt point the finger at any one entity or group for the nature of these deals. Where you calling from? $26.59 New. He says that what he wants to do specifically is move the entire music industry into the 21st century because he didnt feel like that was adaptive. And there there are lots of there are lots of issues in the original that many, many, you know, entertainment law specialists would probably argue over which which actually, you know, brings up another issue is, is is this plain english movement really just for the clients or are you actually uncovering some conflicts or ambiguities or vagueness or nonsensical expressions altogether in the original if youre, you know, challenging yourself to put them in terms of normal people can understand? 2. The dates of the files range from 2005 to 2014. Twitter users, who were waiting to get their hands on the documents after much suspense, were completely underwhelmed. And we want you to know, even if the recording agreement to you indicate something else, this is whats going to happen. Thats why we brought contract language expert Ross Guberman onto the Contract Teardown show. 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 Tweets About His '10' Recording Contracts: 'I Need Every Lawyer in the World to Look at These' In his latest string of tweets about his recording deals Wednesday (Sept. 16),. All Rights reserved. He dumped them all on Twitter. There are no reviews yet. If West went over the $4-million budget in making the album, he would have to pay . We didnt spend our advance on cars or jewelry, we bought a house. And then on the contract lingo, contract language side, we approach it differently. In early October, Ye, the rap artist and mogul also known as Kanye West, posed during Paris Fashion . Labels generally hedge their bets on younger artists not just so the labels can reap considerable profits, but in order to protect their ongoing existence: Most artists who get signed wont break through, and the success of one major star can help make up for those bad bets. Mike Whelan [00:08:46] Well, and on that one more example of an experiment before we get to Kanyes and trying to create this answer, his call for plain language, this GE image, they seem to be experimenting a bit again with changing the language. (In response, the label played down the conflict: 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, Anokute manages several clients including Curtis Waters, who recently, While Anokute points the barrel primarily at the labels dishing out deals arguing that these deals perpetuate the very inequalities for black artists that the, If you have a kid who knows nothing about law and sees all this money, these contracts are 60 pages long, who the fuck is reading that? Anokute says. Miguel Candela / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images file Cruel Summer/Hawaii costs shall befully cross-collateralized with Kanye's main royalties account. A pair of Kanye West's Nike Air Yeezy 1 sneakers for sale for $2 million at the Sotheby's show in Hong Kong on April 16, 2021. Rosss balanced language approach will help you meet your clients demands for both clarity and effectiveness. The once hesitant label has now hit the. Theyll follow their attorneys recommendation. Ross Guberman [00:22:31] but definitely something to that. Ye's business manager's inability to . 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. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Roc-A-Fella is obligated to pay such producers a higher fixed amount (the "higher amount") for the applicable project, Grantor's royalty account and the production budget for the applicable recording project will be charged with a recording cost item equal to the higher amount in lieu of the amounts set forth in the preceding sentence. Music. Within the deal, Kanye was obligated to release six albums, inaddition tohis initial effort, TheCollege Dropout(2004), within a 12-month span. 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. He declared his contract was industry standard, but that didnt mean it was fair. Ross and I dig into Kanyes request for plain language drafting and whether its even realistic. Record Companies have to buy into you, not loan you. NO other business in the world takes a look at the business, buys shares, starts to profit when it profits. This method perhaps isnt as friendly to consumers as LinkedIns method, but its close enough to the source material and still understandable. Right, right. GOOD Music (stylized as G.O.O.D. Welcome to Law Insiders Contract Teardown Show, where we bring smart friends like Ross Guberman over here to break down some contracts. Right. 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. Right. Right. Island Def JamMusic Group also agreed to give Kanye the rights, title and interest in all of the masters for his sixth and seventh album, but only after the reversion datethe last day of the semi-annual accounting periodwhich is 20 years after the initial release of the seventh album. Ross Guberman [00:03:18] And so Im the president of legal writing prose, so Ive been doing workshops and consulting on all different aspects of lawyer writing and judicial writing for a couple of decades now. Im going to give people a little bit of background on the Twitter rant about contracts. If you want to be on a future contract tear down. If youre part of a team, just email us if youre in house or in a law firm. I will never work for a major record label again, Anokute says. We didnt spend our advance on cars or jewelry, we bought a house. Not every artist has time to read the, Amy Noonan, who records as Qveen Herby and was formerly half of 2010s pop duo. Almost no artists recoup so the system obviously doesnt work, but its tempting. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ET . Russ and I are going to do a pretty fun and weird thing today. We want to hear it. Logic tweeted that Def Jam refused to pay for a remix of his recent song Perfect that would feature Lil Wayne. I think thats probably not happening even for the aviation contracts, nor is it really realistic here, but. The breakdown for this amount was:$1.5 million was to be distributed to record the album. Like youre youre still youve got a complicated sentence with clauses. Tell me how this is more understandable again for someone, not a 12 year old, but someone like Kanye in the decision making phase. This past Wednesday, September 16, Kanye West, in an attempt to " change the music industry for good ," shared his recording contracts with Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam Recordings, and Universal. So heres an amendment. And you guys, if you want to see this contract and want to get the show notes from this tear down where we can link you to these documents and to other resources that interpret the document, just go to lawinsider.com/resources. W aiting for a Kanye West album can be an excruciating, interminable experience. So tell me, is the language on the right? Music, is no. So so talk to me about this profit sharing piece. You know, this first sentence youre still seeing, first of all, the first sentence is six lines, right? And according to the general counsel, its worked wonders. Challenging yourself to put things in terms people can understand without affecting the overall meaning can uncover ambiguities, saving you time in the long run. But they were reluctant to strike a deal with the young producer/rapper. Labels are taking risks on any given signing and need to make offers that keep the company profitable. It shows this sort of left to right set up on this exclusion of liability document. Royalties. Right. this summer, doesnt point the finger at any one entity or group for the nature of these deals. While Anokute points the barrel primarily at the labels dishing out deals arguing that these deals perpetuate the very inequalities for black artists that the labels have said theyre looking to change he acknowledges that labels alone cant take all the blame for unfriendly artist deals. If you want to run around changing materiality then on the Twitter about. The some of just some of just some of these issues can prevent in... Contract laid out in plain language drafting and whether its even realistic can! Nor is it really realistic here, but, not loan you we bought a house some... 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