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rock band

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siterock

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

I helped to form a band in 2000 which earned money. I was involved with them for about 10 years. I helped to write the music, and regularly contributed part of our income to go toward equipment, expenses, cd duplication, etc. We had a verbal agreement that the four of us were equal owners, though we never drafted any legal documents, and never acquired copyrights on the music.

Last year, I was charged with crimes I didn't commit. It caused a stir within the community that had formed around our band, including the members, and I was notified that I was no longer a member. My name has since been cleared.

Despite our verbal agreement, the guitarist was claiming all of the income on his personal taxes, yet demanding that we help pay the resulting taxes. He claims now that I was merely a "paid contractor". He notified me today that he's spent $2000 to copyright the music, leaving me out of the picture. He also claims that they no longer play any music that I had anything to do with, and that they intend to change the name.

I feel I've been cheated out of ten years of my life here. Is there any recourse available to me?
 


Antigone*

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

I helped to form a band in 2000 which earned money. I was involved with them for about 10 years. I helped to write the music, and regularly contributed part of our income to go toward equipment, expenses, cd duplication, etc. We had a verbal agreement that the four of us were equal owners, though we never drafted any legal documents, and never acquired copyrights on the music.

Last year, I was charged with crimes I didn't commit. It caused a stir within the community that had formed around our band, including the members, and I was notified that I was no longer a member. My name has since been cleared.

Despite our verbal agreement, the guitarist was claiming all of the income on his personal taxes, yet demanding that we help pay the resulting taxes. He claims now that I was merely a "paid contractor". He notified me today that he's spent $2000 to copyright the music, leaving me out of the picture. He also claims that they no longer play any music that I had anything to do with, and that they intend to change the name.

I feel I've been cheated out of ten years of my life here. Is there any recourse available to me?
I understand you feel cheated but this should be a good lesson for you. The next time you do business make sure you have a contract. At this point in time I don't see that you have much recourse.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
I understand you feel cheated but this should be a good lesson for you. The next time you do business make sure you have a contract. At this point in time I don't see that you have much recourse.
I am just sitting here shaking my head at what a HUGE mess these people made. The tax issues alone are staggering. OP is probably safer being out of the mess.
 

davew128

Senior Member
I used to do the partnership return for a well known jazz band and let me tell you, aside from the bickering between band members, less than stellar recordkeeping, refusal to pay or file returns in states they toured in, they were a joy to deal with. :rolleyes:
 

quincy

Senior Member
siterock, all of the music (both the written compositions and the sound recordings) were automatically copyrighted upon creation. There is no need to register creative and original works for them to have copyright protection.

With registration, however, comes not only a public notice of copyright ownership in a work, but also a presumption by the courts of ownership in the works registered. Registration also enables a copyright holder to collect statutory damages from an infringer of the registered works.

If you and those in your band collaborated on the music, and if you and those in your band did not specify in a written collaboration agreement (or in any written agreement) the rights, responsibilites and percentages of ownership of the rights in the works, a court would presume ALL of you EQUALLY share in the rights (and in any profits generated by the music).

With that said, however, if your music has now been registered under your other band members' names (with your name omitted), asserting your shared rights to the works at this point in time could prove for you a costly endeavor.

If the music is no longer going to be performed and you do not anticipate it will generate any income in the future, you could let the matter go and chalk up your whole experience with the band to, as Antigone said, a lesson learned.

If, on the other hand, you think the music may produce some revenue in the future (for the current band or through the licensing of rights in the works to others or through your own performance of it), and you want to be able to collect on your rightful share of this revenue, you will be best served by speaking with an attorney in your area. The attorney can help you get your name on the registered works. It may still be a battle for you to collect your share if your former band's accounting procedures are as bad as the band of dave's experience.

This is assuming, by the way, that you have already tried but find yourself unable to work all of this out amicably with the guitarist and other band members yourself.

I agree with both LdiJ and Antigone that the current situation sounds like a tax nightmare.
 
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