How to Turn Your Music Into Royalty Checks - Legal Aspects of Songwriting in the Digital Age | Online

About this workshop series

The workshop will explain legal and business principles and strategies intended to maximize earnings as a songwriter, with an emphasis on the challenges presented by digital technologies. The workshop will also provide best practices to avoid being sued as a songwriter or publisher. The workshop will utilize music and video clips, as well as real-world contracts, to illustrate important points.

Part I will focus on the basics of music publishing. Topics include copyright basics, the roles of music publishers, types of music publishing deals, copyright reversion, income streams, and royalties.

Part II will provide an overview of songwriter contracts. Participants will learn the basics of split sheets, licenses, and publishing agreements, with an emphasis on the most important deal points in music publishing agreements.

Part III will focus on best practices for avoiding litigation. Topics include copyright infringement, sampling, use of celebrity names and trademarks, etc.

Takeaways

• Basic understanding of copyright in the music industry
• Basic understanding of how songwriters and music publishers make money
• Basic understanding of the most important deal points in music publishing contracts
• Basic understanding of why songwriters got sued and how to avoid those pitfalls