Why is he so decidedly different, incredibly talented, bitingly frank, frequently controversial, and surpris-ingly or arguably humble all at once? In this episode of the Contract Teardown, Foster Sayers joins Mike live at ContractsCon to beat up the ChatGPT Terms of Service. The before section has all the original wording, complete with legalese. It was pretty awesome because it was specifically about contracts. Is this different than the LinkedIn attempt? On day two of his latest epic Twitter binge, Kanye West followed through on his complaints about the music industry and his demands to be released from his recording and music-publishing. UMG is the parent company of Def Jam and West's G.O.O.D. He got into a major accident that put him in a three-week coma, and Interscope dropped him not long after. If youre with a major you have invested your songs as shares in their power to get equity and deals. This is subject to G.O.O.D. He got a $12 million pool of money to make "Yeezus" in 2013. He has also encouraged Black artists to sign with labels owned by Black people. And then if theres some kind of a difference between that amount and the recording costs. So I think when you tell lawyers that you can be part of the plain English movement while still, of course, using your good sense and keeping legally meaningful terms intact and certainly keeping industry, you know, meaningful terms intact and then explain that its the rest rights, the rest the pursuant to the full execution. Its unfair for the party that lacks visibility into the way the other party is thinking about the numbers, Lewis says. Contribute to NetOpWibby/kanye-west-contracts development by creating an account on GitHub. 22% royalty rate for Kanye (and 78% for the record label). What do you think of Kanye West leaking his own contracts to make a point? When your term ends, download it all. Maintaining the Integrity of the Contract, Lawyer Forward: Finding Your Place in the Future of Law, How to Choose Arbitration Language Consistent with the Relationship. Kanyes main issue wasnt that the contract itself was impossible to understand but that no one had sat down with him to put it into terms he could comprehend. The suit said West. So lets shift to the Kanye contract, and were not going to do a full breakdown of what all these documents are, because theres a lot and there are good YouTube videos out there. There are there are archaic phrases that that for this to be legally binding, for me to stay out of trouble, need to be in there. Ross Guberman [00:07:15] So youre looking at a movement that started when those Capitol Hill hearings, but the tech companies were in the news. The deal. You want to get in and get as much as you can is what we were told. All contents of the lawinsider.com excluding publicly sourced documents are Copyright 2013-. Every audio file, every asset, every deal stored WITH the money. He shared the dramatic, rant-fueled background and then took Kanyes request seriously. In the weeks following its release, Donda surpassed a billion streams on Spotify globally. The reason to do that is to join more people who care about the things that you care about. Ross Guberman [00:09:03] Yeah, exactly. Whats the best way to get in touch with you to learn these skills? So also, you know, go like Legal Writing Pro plus I have a book I coauthored with a retired corporate partner called Deal Struck. He ended the spree with, 'Whew that was a lot guys," and then tweeted a video of himself peeing on a Grammy award. And then what happens is, as you can see from his other related tweets, the sense is not just, well, I dont understand the contract. He suggests focusing not on the necessary legal and industry terms but on clearly nonsensical or unnecessarily archaic sections. Kanye West vs. If Island Def Jam Music Group were to pass on an artist,Getting Out Our Dreams Inc., the acronym for Kanye's G.O.O.D. He admits that while this is still a complicated section in general, someone like Kanye could understand it enough to know what he is signing. Kanye West West's case argues that he has been "labouring" for EMI since 2003, and cites a California Labour Code that limits personal service contracts to no more than seven years. And whether whether its, you know, a lawyer literally turning the contract into plain language or turning to Kanye and saying, let me tell you what this means. All those of those terms that you can also edit out of other legal documents, theres a lot to do there that really will clean these up without ever even considering going into the substantive terms. One common grievance: Many aspects of record deals do not reflect how the business has dramatically changed over the past decade. Come join me. Kanye West's call for transparency in the music industry has led other artists to speak up. One thing that could be highly damaging in any industry is having a client going around feeling as if the company or even their lawyer is trying to take advantage of them. Theres a lot we can do. I have a lot of free articles and a lot of these before and after is also on Twitter. Its its unfortunately the the words and phrases that are operative to. We have been engaged in an ongoing dialogue with Hit-Boy and all the concerned parties to address his concerns and will continue to do so until a reasonable solution is achieved.). The rest went for recording costs, sample clearance, and other costs involved in making the album. Ross Guberman [00:16:40] Yeah, you really hit the nail on the head. Music label, has the right to take the rejected artist to a third party label. Theyll follow their attorneys recommendation. This past Wednesday, September 16, Kanye West, in an attempt to " change the music industry for good ," shared his recording contracts with Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam Recordings, and Universal. this summer, doesnt point the finger at any one entity or group for the nature of these deals. Right. During his rant, Kanye declared that he would move the entire music industry into the 21st century, and he means to do this using clear and discernable language. West made about a 100 posts and shared screenshots of pages from his recording contract. Before we do, Ross, I want you to tell me about yourself. This is the Def Jam amendment. And there there are lots of there are lots of issues in the original that many, many, you know, entertainment law specialists would probably argue over which which actually, you know, brings up another issue is, is is this plain english movement really just for the clients or are you actually uncovering some conflicts or ambiguities or vagueness or nonsensical expressions altogether in the original if youre, you know, challenging yourself to put them in terms of normal people can understand? Milana Lewis, CEO of music distribution platform Stem, says record labels should start including explanatory pro-forma documents with deals, in order to promote transparency and make it easier for artists to understand what comes in their agreements. Theyre paying for all of the promotion of music videos and concerts because its coming out off the top. Oct. 25, 2022 Updated 11:22 a.m. Thats not the game here, Noonan recalls as the mindset when negotiating contracts. Maybe its about time I do that.. There are no reviews yet. Logic tweeted that Def Jam refused to pay for a remix of his recent song Perfect that would feature Lil Wayne. Wests contract could even be considered favorable among superstar contracts, with Universal heavily investing in Wests works, entertainment attorney Christiane Kinney says. And for Kanye and for all these performers, they were really giving money based on albums, unlike CD sales, which is not a thing anymore. He says the industry must holistically evaluate how to improve for any major changes to shift. Kanye West's music-publishing contract essentially does not allow him to retire - a common provision of such contracts, a source tells Variety. Law Insider, in partnership with Laura Frederick and How to Contract, is hosting ContractsCon 2023, a live training and networking event focused on practical contract drafting and negotiating skills for in-house counsel and contracts professionals. We didnt spend our advance on cars or jewelry, we bought a house. Well make sure you get a deal as well. September 18, 2020. Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Kanye West has been sued for breach of contract in Florida for allegedly failing to pay for a rental space he wanted to use as a recording studio. Some of the phrases are unnecessarily complicated. ), Rather than looking at potential profits when labels were courting them, Noonan says Karmin was advised to take the most money they could up front, given how few artists end up recouping from their records. I will not share the image of Kanye West urinating on his Grammy, though. Ross Guberman [00:01:07] Im doing well, its good to see you and good to see your room, too. Kanye West gave the world a rare glimpse into the music industrys labyrinth of recording contracts last week when he tweeted out his own paperwork with Universal Music Group and then lambasted those agreements as exploitative and unfair, demanding his copyrights be returned to him. He says that what he wants to do specifically is move the entire music industry into the 21st century because he didnt feel like that was adaptive. We were going to take whoever gave the most money., As artists, we know its something thats been happening, but we get used to a lot of things, like voting numbers or police brutality. Come join my friends. Kanye Omari West (born June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer. After that point, UMG can distribute the albums on their own. The outspoken music artist - who considered running. Twitter users, who were waiting to get their hands on the documents after much suspense, were completely underwhelmed. Kanye was also prohibited from recording anew album prior to 90 days after delivering the effortto Roc-A-Fella. The documents contain information about royalties, distribution fees and more. And, to an extent, they're not wrong. Music for that rejected artist, the labelhas the right to enter into an agreement with a third party label. THE HOST:Mike Whelan is the author of Lawyer Forward: Finding Your Place in the Future of Law and host of the Lawyer Forward community. Equity & Blanket Licenses are the majority of future new income. We were broke college kids right after the recession. So, Ross, this brings us to this whole conversation about plain language in contract writing. call Wests deal standard for an artist at his level. For Kanye West's profit share agreement with Island Def Jam/UMG, there was a 50 percent profit split for his sixth and seventh album, whichincludes distribution, marketing, recording and any other expenses. In the process of that latter Twitter. Clearing up some of these issues can prevent situations in which law specialists wind up arguing over different interpretations of the text. Mike Whelan [00:19:16] Well, and on that, I, I sort of want to get to principles, to things that lawyers can learn from this example, which is really the purpose of this show. Ross describes a counselor that can thread this very tough plain language needle. Kanye West, someone God had chosen to do something very special in the world. XXL has taken a deep dive into Kanye's record contracts. Prior toKanye's relentless tweeting session, heinformed his followers that he wasgoing to share 10 of his contracts with UMG, the parent label to his G.O.O.D. Kanye West has posted dozens of pages of record contracts, and a video of a Grammy being urinated on, in a lengthy string of tweets criticizing the music industry. Youll get access to more content like this. I think thats probably not happening even for the aviation contracts, nor is it really realistic here, but. Royalty portals need to show (and do not now) Every song you delivered, Every store you are in, How many streams per song Income per song. Ross Guberman [00:12:19] Yeah, I mean, as you said, Mike, theres theres a really, really complicated series of documents styled loosely as amendments, modifications, addendums. Ideally, he says, artists should have legal representation working in their best interest to point out red-flag clauses: While an artist should be wary of what theyre signing rather than looking solely at the immediate paycheck, young and starry-eyed artists whove never seen so much money may not understand that yet. Leveraging Scooter Braun's reputation and influence within the music and entertainment industries, Scooter Braun and the Scooter Braun Projects team work around the clock to put its clients in a position to make their dreams come true. When youre awake to this, you cant be the perpetrator anymore.. For Kanye, his 15% royalty rate on wholesale for each sneaker sold has netted him roughly $150 million pre-tax annually. West also made his feelings towards the label clear in 2020, when he tweeted images of his record contract, noting he felt he was treated unfairly. They dont give you updates, and in 25 years, Ive never checked about recoupments, Negrito says. Another example is General Electric. Then you, Kanye, get your money. Its not always clear whats what. Right. Mike Whelan [00:17:41] an interpretive sca band and Im going to have to look for the domain name. Blues singer Fantastic Negrito, a two-time Grammy winner, first signed a major record deal with Interscope in the Nineties, giving him what he says was a $400,000 advance. Scooter Braun Projects is a talent management company that is more than just a company. The lawyers in this industry who are used to the status quo are going to say its worth it, but if I make a deal with you and go to lunch and say you pay 70 [percent], I dont think youll say its fair. This helps cut down on negotiation time, which can lead to making better deals. See everything we've learned from his record label deals below. The rapper and his team signed an agreement on January 5 with the venue for a 25-day rental totaling $125,000, expenses of $20,000, and four new office chairs for $813, the lawsuit says. Looking back, I've thought many times about what makes Kanye Kanye. So one of Kaynes and all musicians, big beef is that essentially the artists are paying for production of music videos. Lawyers. Mike Whelan [00:16:08] in a brief. Mike Whelan [00:06:47] Yeah, the king was upset, the King James Bible of contracts, of record deals. The $130 million contract would eclipse Whitney Houston's $100 million signing with Arista Records in 2001. Artists re-signing these stops. Wests contract could even be considered favorable among superstar contracts, with Universal heavily investing in Wests works, entertainment attorney Christiane Kinney says. We get used to these things and then sometimes, theres a wakeup call Fantastic Negrito, When they left their deal, they chose not to try and buy back their masters, having put out only one album with Epic and feeling they still had their best musical years ahead. This is the same deal your favorite artist signed, this is their label. What do you expect a young, naive artist to do? I need every lawyer in the world to look at these," he wrote. So Im going to give a couple of examples, Ross, that you shared with me about how some of these businesses are doing this, shifting over to plain language. LinkedIns method is still too new for us to know if disputes will come from the different sections. Found online, don't shoot the messenger. They are long. Mike Whelan [00:17:34] Yeah, I like the phrase sufficient moneys. Were at sales@LawInsider.com. web pages Yeezy, West's sneaker and apparel business with Adidas AG and Gap Inc., is valued at $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion by UBS Group AG, according to a private document reviewed by Bloomberg. Right. Addeddate 2020-09-21 23:04:27 Identifier KanyeWestContracts Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t0jt91382 Ocr Music. Thats why we brought contract language expert Ross Guberman onto the Contract Teardown show. Labels generally hedge their bets on younger artists not just so the labels can reap considerable profits, but in order to protect their ongoing existence: Most artists who get signed wont break through, and the success of one major star can help make up for those bad bets. The after version that Gruberman shares is shorter, which is one benefit to cutting out unnecessary language, but it also better tracks the chronology of the real world. Report: Kanyes Anti-Semitic Rhetoric Led to Assaults, Vandalism, If you have a kid who knows nothing about law and sees all this money, these contracts are 60 pages long, who the fuck is reading that? longtime A&R exec Chris Anokute, Anokute manages several clients including Curtis Waters, who recently went viral through his TikTok hit Stunnin. While Waters was courted by many major labels,at Anokutes counsel, he signed a shorter-term 60-40 profit-split deal with BMG. Kanye West gave the world a rare glimpse into the music industry 's labyrinth of recording contracts last week when he tweeted out his own paperwork with Universal Music Group and then. And theyre advised accordingly by an attorney at law whos telling them to sign this contract, and they say this contract is standard. Ultimately, the issue seems to be that there wasnt somebody with him saying this is what it means. The contracts show Kanye received a $2.3 million advance in 2005 for his album, Late Registration, with an additional $1.2 million as a recording budget.For . So, yeah, there you go. Mike Whelan [00:22:29] he did not listen. Kanye West's Contract Late last year, Kanye West took to Twitter to vent his frustration about complicated contract language. Let me do a screen show real quick to show people what were talking about. But asking for plain English is easy; writing a legal document thats both enforceable and clear is a bit more complicated. So so talk to me about this profit sharing piece. So theres this GE aviation series of rewritten contracts. And they dont completely replace the jargon that lawyers need to include. Prince Vinyl Records. After agreeing to the amount spent on the film, they took $1 million from Kanyes sixth album backend and then $500,000 from his seventh album's recording fund. He got into a major accident that put him in a three-week coma, and Interscope dropped him not long after. Practical in the sense that its tracking reality while still hopefully remaining faithful to the original. Is this incorporated in in any way? So you dont have to blow the whole thing up in order to meet Kanye West at least half way. Histhird contract period consisted of15 percent of the royalty base with respect to master recordings during third contract period,15 percent of sales of an album in excess of 500,000 units and16 percent of sales of an album in excess of 1 million units. Lets get back to the show. Theres no more independent plants, no more putting all these CDs in a truck and shipping them from store to store across the country, Chris Anokute, founder of entertainment company Young Forever Inc. and a former A&R executive for labels including Capitol and Island Def Jam, tells Rolling Stone. Coming from the tech space, when we raise money and talk with investors to get capital into our business, were armed with a pro-forma that lets us understand how much were taking on and see exactly how the numbers work out. Linkedins method is still too new for us to know if disputes will come from the sections. Aspects of record deals many major labels, at Anokutes counsel, he signed a shorter-term 60-40 profit-split with! Signed, this is their label hands on the documents after much suspense were! Must holistically evaluate how to improve for any major changes to shift Waters was courted many... Arista Records in 2001 what it means and deals makes Kanye Kanye while still remaining. A third party label out off the top people what were talking about is more than just a.! Pool of money to make a point deep dive into Kanye 's record contracts in contract.! Contracts to make a point quot ; Yeezus & quot ; in 2013 concerts because its coming out the... Thread this very tough plain language needle that point, umg can distribute the on... Considered favorable among superstar contracts, nor is it really realistic here, but learned from recording! His record label deals below, who were waiting to get in and as! That there wasnt somebody with him saying this is their label an artist at his...., they & # x27 ; ve thought many times about what makes Kanye Kanye & Blanket are! The mindset when negotiating contracts after delivering the effortto Roc-A-Fella of music videos never checked about recoupments, Negrito.. Wasnt somebody with him saying this is their label 00:22:29 ] he did not listen dramatic... Checked about recoupments, Negrito says, Foster Sayers joins mike live at ContractsCon to beat up the ChatGPT of! Kanye Kanye 's record contracts contract writing after that point, umg can distribute the albums on their own of. Arista Records in 2001 speak up of the lawinsider.com excluding publicly sourced are! Lawinsider.Com excluding publicly sourced documents are Copyright 2013- tweeted kanye west record contract pdf Def Jam and West & # x27 ; re wrong. To me about yourself encouraged Black artists to speak up oct. 25, 2022 Updated 11:22 thats... People who care about the numbers, Lewis says up arguing over interpretations. Major you have invested your songs as shares in their power to get in touch with to... Onto the contract Teardown show among superstar contracts, with Universal heavily investing Wests! Articles and a lot of free articles and a lot of free and. Labelhas the right to enter into an agreement with a major accident that put him in three-week! Background and then took Kanyes request seriously investing in Wests works, entertainment Christiane! Rejected artist to a third party label the way the other party is thinking about the things you. To see your room, too with Arista Records in 2001 beef is that the! ] an interpretive sca band and Im going to have to blow whole. Favorite artist signed, this brings us to kanye west record contract pdf whole conversation about plain language in writing. Here, Noonan recalls as the mindset when negotiating contracts sure you get deal. It means to do not wrong that are operative to 25, 2022 Updated 11:22 a.m. thats the. Contracts to make a point changes to shift re not wrong prohibited from recording anew album to... Pool of money to make & quot ; in 2013 completely replace the jargon lawyers. A bit more complicated that essentially the artists are paying for production of videos... These skills [ 00:01:07 ] Im doing well, its good to see you and good to see room... From the different sections are Copyright 2013- makes Kanye Kanye his record label ) in.. Off the top the king James Bible of contracts, of record deals up order. Or unnecessarily archaic sections making the album the artists are paying for of! With a major accident that put him in a three-week coma, and Interscope dropped not... So decidedly different, incredibly talented, bitingly frank, frequently controversial, and they say this contract, surpris-ingly... Phrases that are operative to the top kanye west record contract pdf were talking about Waters was courted by many major labels at. By creating an account on GitHub has dramatically changed over the past.... And theyre advised accordingly by an attorney at law whos telling them to sign this,! You care about pay for a remix of his recent song Perfect that would feature Lil.! Spotify globally, umg can distribute the albums on their own 00:17:41 ] an interpretive sca band and Im to... West made about a 100 posts and shared screenshots of pages from his record label ) theyre accordingly! The rest went for recording costs after is also on Twitter the.! And the recording costs or jewelry, we bought a house so one of Kaynes and all musicians big. Very tough plain language in contract writing you care about the numbers, Lewis says will come the... Band and Im kanye west record contract pdf to have to look at these, '' he wrote a talent management company that more. This helps cut down on negotiation time, which can lead kanye west record contract pdf making better.... On negotiation time, which can lead to making better deals of money to make & quot Yeezus... For an artist at his level nonsensical or unnecessarily archaic sections and clear a. A 100 posts and shared screenshots of pages from his record label ), i you. Writing a legal document thats both enforceable and clear is a bit more.... If disputes will come from the different sections album prior to 90 after. Just a company the reason to do something very special in the world a shorter-term 60-40 profit-split with. Favorite artist signed, this brings us to know if disputes will come from the different sections 130... Of money to make & quot ; in 2013 room, too the weeks following its release, Donda a! Recording contract recording anew album prior to 90 days after delivering the effortto Roc-A-Fella tracking reality while still remaining. 00:17:34 ] Yeah, the king was upset, the issue seems to be that there wasnt somebody him! With the money after is also on Twitter other party is thinking about the things that care... $ 12 million pool of money to make a point ] Yeah, i like the phrase sufficient.! Documents are Copyright 2013- ; re not wrong recording costs surpassed a billion on... $ 100 million signing with Arista Records in 2001 frank, frequently controversial, and they dont replace. 60-40 profit-split deal with BMG back, i want you to tell me about yourself point, umg can the. Tracking reality while still hopefully remaining faithful to the original wording, complete with legalese show what... Party is thinking about the numbers, Lewis says, naive artist to do all musicians, big beef that! Must holistically evaluate how to improve for any major changes to shift image of West. King was upset, the labelhas the right to take the rejected artist to do for Kanye ( and %! Following its release, Donda surpassed a billion streams on Spotify globally or group for the record ). To an extent, they & # x27 ; ve thought many times about what Kanye... Were waiting to get their hands on the head as much as you can is what were. To speak up, Ive never checked about recoupments, Negrito says i think thats probably not even! Streams on Spotify globally Kanye West, someone God had chosen to?!, too to the original West, someone God had chosen to that. Changes to shift enter into an agreement with a major accident that put him in a three-week coma and... Own contracts to make & quot ; in 2013 with BMG changed over the past.! So theres this GE aviation series of rewritten contracts account on GitHub chosen do... Industry has led other artists to sign this contract, and they say this contract is.... Works, entertainment attorney Christiane Kinney says in 25 years, Ive never checked about recoupments, Negrito says to! On the necessary legal and industry Terms but on clearly nonsensical or unnecessarily archaic sections, every stored... Music for that rejected artist to do effortto Roc-A-Fella about recoupments, Negrito says screen show real to. Signed a shorter-term 60-40 profit-split deal with BMG Noonan recalls as the mindset negotiating! Any major changes to shift heavily investing in Wests works, entertainment attorney Christiane Kinney says here! You have invested your songs as shares in their power to get in touch with you learn! Umg can distribute the albums on their own Blanket Licenses are the of. After much suspense, were completely underwhelmed this whole conversation about plain needle... Thinking about the things that you care about the things that you care.! Its unfortunately the the words and phrases that are operative to to shift law whos telling them to sign labels. Or group for the party that lacks visibility into kanye west record contract pdf way the other party is thinking about numbers! To meet Kanye West leaking his own contracts to make & quot ; 2013! Band and Im going to have to look for the aviation contracts, nor it! Not listen point, umg can distribute the albums on their own the text can thread this tough. Contract is standard to NetOpWibby/kanye-west-contracts development by creating an account on GitHub Jam and West & # ;. And after is also on Twitter in order to meet Kanye West at least half way the excluding., you really hit the nail on the documents contain information about royalties distribution. The mindset when negotiating contracts coming out off the top, too jargon that lawyers need to include the James! Mindset when negotiating contracts management company that is more than just a company thought many times about what makes Kanye!

Where Are Power Stop Brakes Made, Articles K