Friday, May 27, 2011

An Evening Interview with Entertainment & Business Attorney Alonzo Alston

I was happy that for my last week in my Advanced Entertainment Law we were given the assignment to search for a potential attorney to interview that has experience in our fields and can assist us in our business plans. I went about on my search and hit gold very quickly when I was referred to a Mr. Alonzo M. Alston of North Carolina and was even happier when he decided to have a two hours plus long chat with me at the end of his busy workday. Below is an excerpt of the conversation that Mr. Alston and I had as we exchanged questions, thoughts and opinions on common legal matters in the music industry and for independent recording labels.

Attorney Alonzo M. Alston ( lawyers.justia.com)

Q: Hi Mr. Alston. How are you? Can you please state your name and job title and what it is that you do in entertainment business?

A: Yes. My name is Alonzo M. Alston aka Mac (giggles). I am an Entertainment and Business attorney in North Carolina. I mostly deal with litigation and IP work.

Q: How do I best protect myself against copyright infringers on my clients’ and staff’s lyrics and sound recordings?

A: Please have a legal budget for copyright infringement lawsuits at your company. Get business insurance and get incorporated. Everything needs to be registered. Do not forget about producer agreements. Honestly, I do not think piracy is as big an issue as people think. If you are going to do a website as you say you will for your business, only provide snippets of your artists’ music on it.

Q: What are some website concerns a business like mine should watch out for, in your opinion?

A: Look out for hackers! YouTube is always amazing for promotion on your website. Try to always control your sound/editing on your website. Be careful what you put on your site and don’t think that no one is paying your site any attention. As you grow in popularity and even before, someone will notice lol.

Q: How do you reduce liability issues with software or websites?

A: Try to keep everything in-house with your staff. Just like you said you were in reading about in class, make sure all of your workers understand the privacy laws and electronic agreements. Get the right permissions and keep what you can keep “original” content on your website. Like you mentioned, have a website disclaimer apologizing if you were to infringe.

Q: What do you think about these 360 deals that record labels are creating in order to gain on all the profits an artist is ranking in?

A: For the most part this is great for the record labels and bad for the artists. The relationship an artist has with his label is important in this deal. It is only good when the artist is able to get 50% of everything and the label has the artist involved in many parts of the industry.

Q: Have you ever come across a client claiming joint ownership on a work after the fact?

A: Oh yes. Agreement is highly important! Anyone can claim they did a song so you need a formal agreement in place. Registration has to be done in the beginning. People tend to forget that when they’re making music, they have to get their business together too. There aren’t too many cases of attorneys wanting to do these types of cases and a lot of times it is because the client is broke!

Q: What is the best method for when negotiating a license fee for a permission request?

A: Read as many books as you can on this. Know what the compulsory royalty rate is. Negotiate for a fraction of the cost if you are only using a fraction of a song. Research the sample and explain to the copyright owner that you just need a master license so you can make them rich! Do your best to talk directly with the copyright owner because that will help you.

Q: What are some works/products/services that in your practice you have seen recording labels trademark or copyright most often when starting a business?

A: A lot of urban recording labels are very slow when in comes to copyrighting their music until the business grows. They lose out. They only get more serious when merchandising is involved. I will like to stress the importance of having an accountant and lawyer around for any contracts and to keep track of your revenue streams and numbers as much as you can as an owner or music publisher, if you choose to go that route. Allow the attorney to help you manage.

Me: Wow, great advice. Thank you Mr. Alston for the wonderful expert advice this evening. Excellent. 

Mr. Alston: You’re very welcome. Have a good evening and I hoped this helped and call me for anything else and for any questions you may have in the future. Goodnight! 

Mr. Alston can be reached at the following:
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