Musical America Blogs

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Hi Musical America, I am a Danish citizen and I plan to go to the Unites States on a promo tour in spring. I know that it is necessary to apply for an O-1B visa being a solo artist. I have a native US promoter who will petition for me. [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder, I am a music professor at a medium-sized state college. We have two questions with regard to live streaming some of our concerts and recitals. We, of course, have paid the ASCAP and BMI licenses/fees to cover the rights for live performances.  I believe the licensing agencies base [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: Last year I filed a P-1 petition for a group. I obtained a consult letter from AFM. When I filed a petition for their 2013 tour, the USCIS said I needed to get a new consult letter. I thought that union opinion letters are good for [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: Help! We are a small agency. We booked an engagement for one of our artists at a venue that has now cancelled the date. We had a series of emails with the venue confirming the date and fee and then sent them a formal contract that [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: May we loan music that we own for orchestral performances by other non-profit organizations (schools, community orchestras, etc? Would the other group still need to obtain performing/recording permissions? Could we be liable if they don’t? It depends how define “own.” If by “own”, you mean that [...]

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, Esq. No sooner had Super Storm Sandy begun crashing into the East Coast when my phone started ringing with cancellations. The most common question went something like this: “The presenter needs to cancel, but they already paid a deposit. Do we have to give it back? What the protocol?” The second [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. First and foremost: our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone recovering from and impacted by Hurricane Sandy. From property destruction to physical injuries and deaths, it has caused immeasurable damage. For those of us in the arts industry, its also caused cancellations and logistical nightmares, but performances can always [...]

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. I own the video footage of a performance by a dance company. Recently, I learned that another choreographer purchased a license from the dance company to recreate and perform the same work. However, they used a copy of my video to help in recreating the choreography. In other words, they [...]

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 [...]