Product Description

The No. 1 bestselling business book for bands!

If you belong to a band and love the art of your job, but sing the blues when it comes to the business, you need Music Law. Composed by musician and lawyer Richard Stim, the book explains how to:

find the right manager
buy, insure and maintain equipment
get gigs and get paid
tour on a budget
use samples
do covers legally
protect your copyright
trademark your band's name
choose a recording studio
sell your music
manage your website
understand record contracts
deal with taxes
and much more

Music Law provides all the legal information and practical advice musicians need. The 5th edition -- completely updated to provide the latest in the law -- covers music downloads and other trends affecting the digital-music scene. It also provides up-to-date legal forms on CD-ROM.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78618 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 441 pages

Amazon.com
Some musicians recoil at the thought that their band is a business. They believe that their music is their art, and don't want to sully it with commerce. That's all well and good--but wouldn't you give up your day job if you had the chance? Music Law can help you see your band as a business and turn it into a successful one. Musician and attorney Richard Stim has filled this useful book with helpful advice on solving disputes between band members, dealing with lawyers, managers, and record companies, and even the increasingly important matter of sample clearance. The advice is extremely thorough; for example, the chapter on band names includes information on researching your band's name to ensure it isn't already in use, what happens if two bands have the same name, and even how to register your band's name and logo. Because he advises getting all agreements in writing, Stim has provided dozens of sample agreement forms, both as blank hard copies in the book and as templates on the enclosed disk. Throughout the book, Stim provides important legal advice, all translated from stilted legalese into simple English. Both big and little names get into these difficulties sometimes; the book is peppered with cautionary tales of real musicians and their legal squabbles. Music Law can help you avoid such pitfalls and get your band's business running smoothly--so you might be able to quit that day job, after all. --C.B. Delaney

From Independent Publisher
Lots of musicians hit the big time, enjoy a brief stint in the limelight, and much later are seen in a state not far from that in which they began their odyssey, which is to say fairly down and fairly out. It's the old myth: creative people can't be/don't have time to be/shouldn't have to be bothered with the drudgery of business. What happened when no one was looking, was that throughout the 20th Century, life for artists and entertainers became ever-increasingly complex. Types and amounts of taxes multiplied. The paradigm of big bucks from performances and little bucks, if any, from royalties and licensing was turned upside down and inside out. Publishing and derivative options increased. More than ever, musicians have to pay attention to the business side of the music and the intellectual property side of the business. Someone has finally written a book that really helps the music makers in their struggles with earning a living and retaining some of what they earn. Richard Stim starts with the basics: use an attorney on major deals; develop written agreements; treat your band (and by extension, your solo career) as a business. He moves on to partnership agreements (most bands are partnerships); taxes; attorney relations; performance agreements; and the entire panoply of copyright, recording and publishing issues. Well organized, practically designed, and clearly written, the book has one tiny fault. It should have been called Every Band's Business Bible. It's that good, and that necessary.

Moses Avalon,author of Confessions of a Record Producer
"I usually hate books written by attorneys. This one is an exception."

Customer Reviews

Gives you the rules to the Music Game
I came in not knowing much of anything about the music industry...and after reading this book from cover to cover (its a long book), I can say I learned a lot. The book is very easy to read, with real and made-up examples, and simple language. The author does a great job breaking down the rules of the industry. It does not tell you how to run your operation or how to market a hit record...it just lays out all the rules for you to either follow, break, or bend.

The best chapters were about song ownership, copyrights, publishing, royalties, and taxes. Actually, the taxes chapter was really enlightening. You can tell a lawyer wrote this book from that chapter.

Great book
I've been in a band for several years, and unfortunately, everyone else that has been in my band has never had the experience of running it as a business. We have been skating by all these years just doing gigs, but now we are planning on releasing a CD and this definitely makes things more complicated. This book has been a godsend. Very informative and USEFUL information. Other music law type books are informative, but haven't been very useful on the level we needed it. You can use what is in this book right away. Its easy to read and understand.

Absolute Must have for Non-Lawyers in the Music Industry
There comes a time in a musician or band's career when they get serious about what they're doing and need to start focusing on legal aspects of their endeavors. This book is and indispensable reference for that situation.

The book is written in easy to understand layman's terms. It covers a fairly broad range of subjects, and provides pointers to other resources for more in depth cover of the covered subjects.

One more notable point about the book is the pre-fabricated contracts and legal forms that it comes with. They seem to be solid, could be useful in a number of situations, and are explained thoroughly.