Why You Should Do a Trademark Search Before Registration

There are a lot of people who want to register trademarks, but few that actually want to do a proper trademark search before filing an application for trademark registration.  Why is this?  Because the searches are expensive! But here is what most people don’t realize, you can’t just plug your…

Continue reading

Do You Own It or Just Share in the Income?

People often get confused with the various income streams present in the music industry and in addition, how those income streams interact with copyright ownership. A person who owns all or a portion of a copyright will also share in the income from a composition, master recording, etc.  However, people that…

Continue reading

Who gets a Writing Percentage?

If you write your own music, you may want to ask yourself:  are you giving away a writing percentage to people who didn’t write with you? The common practice of giving people a songwriting percentage who didn’t contribute to a song is becoming even more frequent in the music business.…

Continue reading

Benefits of Copyright Registration

Many people wonder about the benefits of copyrighting their music with the United States Copyright Office. Registration of a copyright is not required for your work to be protected by copyright, however, there are certain benefits and protections of the law that you will only get with registration. For example, you cannot file…

Continue reading

Why Your Band Needs a Partnership Agreement

It’s the age old music business tale of woe:  four guys form a new band and are convinced they will be famous; the band members swear they are “brothers” and will always be a tight-knit family; things go well and the band is seeing success; money and girls start surrounding the band; and…

Continue reading

Don’t Give Songwriting Credit to People That Didn’t Earn It (Why You Need a Split Sheet)

A Songwriter Split Agreement is one of the most important agreements for any musician sharing songwriting credit with others. A Songwriter Split Agreement will allow you to clearly indicate the percentage each co-writer owns of a composition.  This protects your interest in the composition and also reduces any confusion or arguments regarding…

Continue reading

Indie Artist Resource is here!

  Welcome to INDIE ARTIST RESOURCE  the Independent Musician’s Resource for Legal and Business Protection. All offerings are available now for purchase and we will be adding additional products in the near future. Please sign up for our newsletter for articles, updates on new products, coupon codes, and other goodies we will…

Continue reading