Beyond the Fine Print: What Businesses Overlook in Contracts
What do a messy collection of sheet music and a band agreement have in common? The tendency to focus on the obvious and overlook “everything else.”
When organizing my music collection, I focused on my violin music, only to realize that I also have a huge collection of music for "everything else" - other instruments I have played over the years. Band members may agree how they create music and split provits but not on what happens when disagreements arise, they need more money, or plans change. In a contract, the answers may be buried in contract provisions that people dismiss as standard boilerplate boilerplate.
But business relationships aren't standard, and boilerplate can make the difference between harmony and discord in music and in business. Before signing a contract, have your attorney look at “everything else" - it could become the most important part of your agreement.
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Finding Harmony: What Musicians Can Teach Lawyers About Business Negotiations
A jazz pianist, an Appalachian fiddler, a saxophonist, a dream-grunge artist, a folk singer-songwriter, and a choral director walk onto a stage. It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but that's pretty much what happened at Strathmore's recent Artists in Residence concert. Although the musicians came from different backgrounds they found a way to create something amazing.
Their collaboration resembled what business and transactional attorneys should do. The other party in a negotiation shouldn’t be viewed as an adversary but rather, as a business partner-to-be. The focus should be on building relationships and finding common ground. And sometimes, that means making compromises so that everyone gets what they need for a win-win result.
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Contract Termination – Planning for the End in Advance
When the Beatles broke up in 1970, their shared business interests didn't end. And there were years of litigation defining how that would work.
Whether you're forming a band, entering a commercial lease, or starting a business, ending the relationship doesn't necessarily end the legal obligations. Income, bills, intellectual property rights, and other rights and responsibilities can continue long after business partners go their separate ways.
A well-drafted contract shouldn't just address how a relationship begins. It also should address what happens when it ends. There are standard contracts, but there aren't standard business relationships. Customized business planning while everyone is getting along can prevent expensive disputes later.
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Leaving Nevermore Behind -How to Work Effectively With Your Attorney
A raven’s disturbingly fixed stare at a coffee shop brings up thoughts of Edgar Allan Poe's poem and Alan Parsons Project’s music. In both the poem and the song, refrain of "nevermore" drones on incessantly without regard to what’s going on around it. Some clients take a "nevermore" approach when dealing with their attorneys. They research an issue, perhaps ask AI for a contract draft, or use a standard form and ask an attorney to approve it. But standard forms and AI can produce "standard" results, and most business relationships aren't standard. It's the attorney who adds the art and experience necessary to create a customized solution that creates a solution that meets the client’s goals.
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When Private Eyes Add Private Ears
With doorbell and security cameras seeming to be everywhere, the possibility of them recording conversations and events without proper consent has increased. Audio recording in particular can raise serious legal issues under wiretapping laws which can impose large fines and jail time for violations. These laws vary from state-to-state, and frequently, providing notice that someone may be recorded isn't sufficient. Before enabling audio recording businesses, property owners, and individuals should understand what they can -- and can't -- legally record. Read our blog to learn when “private eyes” can become legally risky “private ears.”
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Signed and Delivered -- but not Sealed
Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” isn’t about the seals that live in the ocean. Although the song is about committing to a romantic relationship, it also sounds like something an attorney might write about a contracting party. Long before people routinely signed their names to legal documents, wealthy landowners, nobles, churches, and other institutions used seals to show that a document was authentic. Stating that a document is signed “under seal” might seem anachronistic, and often that language is ignored. But it shouldn't be. Read our blog to learn how signing under seal can dramatically affect a party's legal rights and obligations and why it usually isn't advisable.
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Dolly Parton – a Role Model for Artists and Businesses Alike
Through talent, strategic branding, grit, and adaptability, Dolly Parton rose from poverty in rural Tennessee to become a global icon. Her entertainment career spanned recorded and live music, film, television, and publishing, and she also pursued a wide range of successful commercial ventures, including a theme park, food products, beauty and fragrance products, apparel, and home goods. Parton gave by to her community with her philanthropic initiatives, most notably the Imagination Library, which promotes early childhood literacy. Read our blog to learn how businesses, as well as musicians, can learn from Parton’s example as she sustained a 60-year career while remaining true to her roots, values, and brand.
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You May Not be Able to Post Your Own Photo Online – Here’s Why
It's more than an artistic decision when a coffee shop's ad features a simple photo of coffee with the patrons in the shop blurred in the background. Although the shop may have purchased the copyright from the photographer, that doesn't mean the shop can use people's faces in an ad. By blurring the people's images, the shop need not worry about obtaining consents. On the other hand, since a photographer owns the copyrights in photos they take, even a person who is featured in the photo can't post or copy it without consent. Read our newest article to learn about these and other pitfalls individuals, businesses, and music groups may face when they post photos on social media or use them in promotional materials.
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When Life Delivers Squirrels – How an Attorney Can Help You Future-Proof Your Business Relationship
I bought a bird feeder and mounted it on a tall, narrow pole because I wanted to keep the squirrels away from the birdseed only to discover the squirrels had no trouble climbing the pole. So, I bought a cone-shaped device called a baffle that's supposed to limit how high squirrels can climb. But that didn't quite go as planned. The squirrels quickly learned they could jump on top of the baffle and use it like a springboard to launch themselves onto the feeder. Then, on a rainy day, I saw a very content squirrel was comfortably eating the birdseed that had fallen to the ground while staying completely dry under the “squirrel umbrella” I had unwittingly installed.
People are naturally optimistic when starting a new business relationship or band -- that’s the way it should be. Most people may not have to deal with talented squirrels, but the hard reality is that all relationships changes over time. By working with an experienced attorney who can ask the hard questions at the beginning of a relationship and help develop a solid agreement that can help future-proof the relationship through its successes and challenges.
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John Cage Meets Goldilocks – Deciding Much Detail Should be in a Contract
For most of us, ASAP means to hurry up and rush to completion. In contrast, Cage's organ composition ASLSP means "as slow as possible," which has been taken to an extreme with a performance on the Halberstadt organ will last 639 years. Yet, extremes are rarely the best option. Moving too quickly can leave important questions unanswered. Moving too slowly can turn a useful project into an academic exercise. Attorneys face a similar dilemma when preparing contracts. Contracts aren't one-size-fits-all; they must be customized for each situation and relationship, and finding the amount of detail that's "just right" is what turns contract drafting from a science that can use a form or be performed by AI into an art that requires human input.
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