The Boy Who Knew Too Much… (AKA: how to almost ruin a music contract)

They say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So, I guess that means that having a little more knowledge is more dangerous? I have been called an “expert” on music and digital media rights by people I consider experts. It has been said (by attorneys) that I know more about copyrights than many of my friends who are lawyers who get paid hundreds of dollars an hour to consul their clients. I have helped dozens of my consulting clients, friends and my college students get recording and publishing deals. However, 30 years of experience and knowledge didn’t help me when I was the client and the catalog under discussion was my own.

To begin this tale, we have to travel back in time to when I was doing my first commercially released recording way back in 1993 for Narada (UMG) [which was the soundtrack to the PBS series “Sea Power”]. It was a simpler time. You sold stuff. They counted the sales. There was a warehouse of CDs and there was “breakage”. You got a tiny royalty (after recoupment) and a piece of the mechanical payments. Not too bad. From these humble origins, I began to learn about the ins and outs of record deals. Then, Napster happened in 1998 and everything changed.

Fast forward 26 years and 32 albums later. I am talking to Real Music (a lovely independent label which is now owned by the…