Musical America Blogs

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: Every time someone sends us a contract, its always a lengthy document with lots of legalese that no one understands. Is there anything wrong with having a simple, one page agreement that everyone can easily understand and will sign? A lot of people mistake “legalese” […]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: Hypothetical: A theatrical production company would like to produce a tribute musical production to a songwriter using only the songwriter’s music being performed by the cast of the production. The production would be held at a community theater which is not licensed by ASCAP or any […]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: A presenter wants to breach our engagement contract by cancelling. Our cancellation clause says that, in the event of cancellation, we get 50% of the engagement fee or actual damages. They are offering 50%, but at this stage want the full fee. If you have […]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    We were in the process of booking one of our singers with an orchestra, when we encountered the following Force Majeure clause in the orchestra’s contract: “If, as a result of any event beyond the control of the Orchestra, including, but not limited to, war, national calamity, strike, labor […]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    I work for a small performing arts organization which performs each year in a tax-payer funded, non-traditional space. The venue makes itself available for rental as an event space. In the past, we have been allowed to pay them a reduced rental rate in exchange for a full-page ad […]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: The management company where I work has asked me to sign a non-compete agreement saying that, if I ever quit or am fired, I would be prohibited from working as a manager or agent anywhere in the world for one year after I leave. The […]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: I’m dealing with a presenter who wants to cancel two weeks out due to poor ticket sales. While it’s not a huge engagement fee, my artist has already contracted its performers and paid out expenses for the date as its part of a bigger tour. […]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder Our group got a bad check from a venue for a performance. We called them and they sent us a new check, but that bounced, too. Now they won’t return our phone calls. Is there anything we can do? Many venues, especially smaller non-profits, wrongly […]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: Loved your recent Musical American newsletter article on ethics.  As a manager, I was very interested when you wrote: “Indeed, the time is long overdue to start considering changes to the long standing paradigms and business models between managers and artists that, for many reasons […]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: An artist we have been representing for over 10 years just told us that he is leaving our roster and will be joining the roster of another management company. We didn’t have a written agreement, but we’ve never needed one as we’ve always believed that […]