Musical America Blogs

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: I have a small venue. All 3 licensing companies are claiming I need to pay them for my karaoke and music that occurs weekly, but the bands that I have sign contracts making sure they only play their original music, nothing copyrighted. These companies have been [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein I just got a notice that a venue where I booked one of my artists is closing. I have a written engagement contract that was signed by the venue over a year ago. The notice I received says that they have run out of money and are cancelling their season. Can [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein THIS WEEK’S BLOG IS BEING WRITTEN FROM THE MIDWEST ARTS CONFERENCE IN GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN WHERE ROBYN AND I ARE TEACHING SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS. HERE’S A SHOUT OUT TO THE INCREDIBLE STAFF AT ARTS MIDWEST!! And now back to our regularly scheduled blog… We re-booked a popular classical artist to perform [...]

By Robyn Guilliams What is the difference between a “non-profit” organization and a “tax-exempt” organization?  I hear these terms used interchangeably – do they mean the same thing? Great question!  These terms do not mean the same thing.  All tax-exempt organizations are non-profits; however, not all non-profits are tax exempt. When an organization wishes to [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein Dear Law & Disorder: After we booked an artist, the artist’s agent booked them to perform two weeks later at another venue 25 miles away from us. It’s a smaller venue that charges less for tickets than we do. This will impact our sales. Can we cancel? I was told that [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein HELLO – How can an organization that presents music programs, and puts some of them on the Internet, find a good general release form for artists/speakers to sign? The tricky part about forms is not finding them, but choosing which one is right. There are lots of sources for good general [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein Hello Law and Disorder, We have met numerous times at conferences, (I love going to your sessions!) and you have been very helpful with questions about our presenting contracts. We also rent our facility and I now have a question about that side.  We recently received a letter from BMI stating [...]