Guide Through the Legal Jungle

More Revenue for Recording Artists

While hit recording artists get the glamour, it is typically their songwriting counterparts who lock-in a financially secure future. Songwriters have multiple music licensing opportunities and can often live on royalties from hit songs for decades. In contrast, a recording artist’s royalties may dry up just a few years after release of a hit CD.

For recording artists, royalties paid through record labels have historically been a primary income stream. As sales of physical CDs decline, recording artists seek new sources of music-related revenue.

Fair Use and Non-Commercial Use

An acquaintance from a professional media association asked me if it was permissible to use approximately 10% of a song for a non-commercial video without obtaining a license. Here’s my response to that question.

Google Makes It Into the Dictionary

A Guide Through the Legal Jungle Trivia Question

The 2006 editions of the Merriam-Webster dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary include the term “google”. What validation for the California-based search company that goes by the same name! How likely is it that those in the Google corporate boardroom began back-slapping and high-fiving each other in celebration when they heard the news?

A.    Likely

B.    Not Very Likely

Tattoos as Protectable Art

Barney Davey, an art marketing author, speaker, consultant, and blogger, wrote and published a very favorable review of my book, The Permission Seeker’s Guide Through the Legal Jungle, on his Art Print Issues blog. Thanks Barney!

Barney’s discussion of my book yielded a question from Richard Harrison (www.salestipsforartists.com) regarding the rights of tattoo artists in their original designs.

Here’s Richard’s question and my response:

Is a 1959 “Non-Profit” Musical in the Public Domain?

A colleague asked about the public domain status of a short musical play that was written in 1959 in honor of a local event. The writers never intended to profit from the musical and in fact gave away recordings of the musical.

An interesting question. I would say that the fact that a work was given away does not by itself place the work in the public domain without some affirmative action by the creator to place the work in the public domain.

The Ins & Outs of Self-Publishing – Series Wrap-up

This is a bonus posting to finish my blog series on the Ins and Outs of Self-Publishing summarizing my remarks in a panel discussion on the “Ins and Outs of Self-Publishing” sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of the Women’s National Book Association. 

In Parts One and Two, I discussed using a traditional publisher and self-publishing using print-on-demand (POD) printing. In Parts Three and Four, I discussed publishing via vanity or subsidy press including  success stories of authors who self-published through a vanity press. In Part Five, I discussed self-publishing by working directly with distributors and wholesalers.

In this wrap-up posting, I’ll share with you some of my favorite books and resources on publishing:

 

The Ins & Outs of Self-Publishing – Part Five

This is the fifth posting in my series summarizing my remarks in a panel discussion on the “Ins and Outs of Self-Publishing” sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of Women's National Book Association.

In Parts One and Two of the series, I discussed using a traditional publisher and self-publishing using print-on-demand (POD) printing. In Part Three, I discussed publishing via vanity or subsidy press and in Part Four, I shared some self-publishing-via-subsidy press success stories. In this Part Five, I discuss self-publishing by working directly with distributors and wholesalers. 

The Ins & Outs of Self-Publishing – Part Four

This is Part Four of a five-part series summarizing my remarks in a panel discussion on the “Ins and Outs of Self-Publishing” sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of the Women’s National Book Association. In Part Three of the series, I began a discussion of publishing via vanity or subsidy press and I promised you some subsidy press success stories in my next posting.

The origins of the two success stories I want to share are Veronica Li and Carla Danziger, who were two of my co-panelists on the “Ins and Outs of Self-Publishing” panel.

The Ins & Outs of Self-Publishing – Part Three

This is Part Three of a five-part series summarizing my remarks in a panel discussion on the “Ins and Outs of Self-Publishing” sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of the Women’s National Book Association.  In Parts One and Two of this series, I discussed using a traditional publisher and self-publishing using print-on-demand (POD) printing. In this Part Three, I discuss publishing via vanity or subsidy press.

Vanity and Subsidy Presses

When preparing my remarks and hand-out for the panel, I asked some self-publishers and small publishers for feedback.  Feedback is what I asked for and feedback is certainly what I got! One publisher asked me why I would sully the name of self-publishing by including a discussion of vanity and subsidy presses so prominently in my remarks.

I believe that in today’s world it is narrow-minded to dismiss completely subsidy presses as a means of self-publishing. The negative view of vanity and subsidy publishing is grounded in bad behavior by some companies who preyed on the hopes and dreams of aspiring authors.
 

The Ins & Outs of Self-Publishing – Part Two

This is Part Two in a five-part series summarizing my remarks in the “Ins and Outs of Self-Publishing” panel discussion sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of the Women’s National Book Association.

During the panel, I offered an overview of how an aspiring author might get her book published. In Part One of this series, I discussed using a traditional publisher and began a definition of what it means to self-publish. I noted that there is debate over the definition of “self-publish” and listed three methods of self-publishing:

• Using Print-on-Demand Printing
• Publishing via Vanity or Subsidy Press
• Working Directly with Wholesalers and Distributors

Using Print-On-Demand (POD) Printing

Print-on-Demand printing, or POD for short, is a method of printing by which you print one book at a time. In other words, you do not have to print a book until you generate a sale for the book.