D
downwardspirals
Guest
i recently joined a musical project who has recorded 5 albums over the past 10 years. the independent music label they have recorded for has written the contract under the band founders name. the lead singer is not on the label contract, nor does she have any written band agreement. at the time the lead singer was in the band, she was living with the band founder. the two of them shared the royalites between themselves without any formal agreement.
after their first two albums, the relationship began to decline both personally and professionally. the bulk of the songwriting, as well as all other band duties, were performed by the band founder. the singer performed on only 1/2 to 2/3 of the songs, and spent much less time in the studio doing the work, leaving a burden for the band founder to fill in around her. the last album by the "band" was a hodgepodge compilation of remixes and random album tracks from their previous 4 albums, which was assembled without any input from the singer. she has not recorded vocals for the band in several years.
now that i have joined the band, we are finishing up recording for what is to be the final album of the band's contract. we plan to change the band name and find a new label just as soon as we fulfill our contractual obligations. however, the old singer has been bombarding us with phone calls threatening to "sue us" for the use of the band name, insinuating that our use of the name is not legal. to assuage her, we shortened the band name to just 2 of the 3 words. still, she is insisting that we must maintain a separate web page and promotions for this new album. she further insists that we have to change the name entirely! the singer is not currently performing or recording any music herself, yet she demands the rights to the band name for her own use.
as i said, there are no contracts between the singer and the band founder, nor are there any contracts between the singer and the record label. she insists that there is still some legal action she could take against us to prevent us from releasing an album under the band name. she further claims that she has rights to 50% of the band's royalites.
i would very much like to know where we stand on this matter. i believe i understand from the music law section that we still legally retain rights to the band name, as the founding member has released music under that name consistently since 1992, he has provided the bulk of the band work and songwriting, and he is the member on the record label contract. as we have not trademarked the name, i suppose she could begin performing under the same name, but to tell the truth, we really don't care if she does! we do, however, care about the royalties issue!!! is there anything you can point us to detailing how a contributing musician should be compensated, from a legal standpoint? are there any other legal issues that we should bear in mind?
sorry this message is so darned long. i hope i got my point accross well and that someone can help me out with some cold hard facts! my poor band mate is up in arms with this overbearing singer!!!
after their first two albums, the relationship began to decline both personally and professionally. the bulk of the songwriting, as well as all other band duties, were performed by the band founder. the singer performed on only 1/2 to 2/3 of the songs, and spent much less time in the studio doing the work, leaving a burden for the band founder to fill in around her. the last album by the "band" was a hodgepodge compilation of remixes and random album tracks from their previous 4 albums, which was assembled without any input from the singer. she has not recorded vocals for the band in several years.
now that i have joined the band, we are finishing up recording for what is to be the final album of the band's contract. we plan to change the band name and find a new label just as soon as we fulfill our contractual obligations. however, the old singer has been bombarding us with phone calls threatening to "sue us" for the use of the band name, insinuating that our use of the name is not legal. to assuage her, we shortened the band name to just 2 of the 3 words. still, she is insisting that we must maintain a separate web page and promotions for this new album. she further insists that we have to change the name entirely! the singer is not currently performing or recording any music herself, yet she demands the rights to the band name for her own use.
as i said, there are no contracts between the singer and the band founder, nor are there any contracts between the singer and the record label. she insists that there is still some legal action she could take against us to prevent us from releasing an album under the band name. she further claims that she has rights to 50% of the band's royalites.
i would very much like to know where we stand on this matter. i believe i understand from the music law section that we still legally retain rights to the band name, as the founding member has released music under that name consistently since 1992, he has provided the bulk of the band work and songwriting, and he is the member on the record label contract. as we have not trademarked the name, i suppose she could begin performing under the same name, but to tell the truth, we really don't care if she does! we do, however, care about the royalties issue!!! is there anything you can point us to detailing how a contributing musician should be compensated, from a legal standpoint? are there any other legal issues that we should bear in mind?
sorry this message is so darned long. i hope i got my point accross well and that someone can help me out with some cold hard facts! my poor band mate is up in arms with this overbearing singer!!!