The lawyer that represents himself ....

[MattCurious]

... has a fool for a client.

First - hello First post etc.

Second - my question.

I've been out of music for a goodly while - becoming a lawyer in the interim - and have only returned to it in the last year or so; the business side is now starting to become relevant.

Worked on a collab (outside Taxi) with some reasonably well-known guys agreed splits, uploaded stems. Silence.

My musical background and experience of various folk in the industry tells me that I shouldn't be overly bothered about this - at my level of things this isn't exactly a business renowned for its mastery of paperwork.

On the other hand, my legal background has me twitching at the fact that nearly a month has passed (I have chased once) and I've yet to see paperwork.

It could be that the deal has died (in which case a call would be nice but no matter), or it could just be that these are typical timescales.

It occurred to me that this might be a good place to ask not only about this instance but in general terms too.

All advice appreciated, thanks

[remmet]

... has a fool for a client.

First - hello First post etc.

Second - my question.

I've been out of music for a goodly while - becoming a lawyer in the interim - and have only returned to it in the last year or so; the business side is now starting to become relevant.

Worked on a collab (outside Taxi) with some reasonably well-known guys agreed splits, uploaded stems. Silence.

My musical background and experience of various folk in the industry tells me that I shouldn't be overly bothered about this - at my level of things this isn't exactly a business renowned for its mastery of paperwork.

On the other hand, my legal background has me twitching at the fact that nearly a month has passed (I have chased once) and I've yet to see paperwork.

It could be that the deal has died (in which case a call would be nice but no matter), or it could just be that these are typical timescales.

It occurred to me that this might be a good place to ask not only about this instance but in general terms too.

All advice appreciated, thanks

Hi Matt - Welcome aboard.

In my day job, I'm a legal assistant/paralegal, and I spend a lot of time editing my attorneys' correspondence and legal writing. So of course I just had to jump in here and ask for some clarification.

If I understand correctly, you co-wrote a song and agreed on splits with your co-writers. However, from that point, things got a little hazy. You said you uploaded stems. To whom? Is the deal you referred to with a library, and is it the library's paperwork that you are waiting for? Or were you referring to the deal with your co-writers?

You said you chased once. I assume you mean you contacted, or attempted to contact, the person or company sitting on the paperwork. Did you reach someone? What was the result?

Knowing these things would help provide some context.

Richard

[MattCurious]

Thanks, Richard. Sorry for the late reply - been very busy.

I produced a backing track which was to be toplined by a production/management company for an act they are developing. Following agreement of the split by email the stems were uploaded to a dropbox for download by the production company. The paperwork in question is the split with the guys at the production company, who are also the co-writers. There was no reply to the email chaser I sent.

As we're talking English law here, I'm not overly concerned about infringement (we've agreed the split in an email and that's good enough for a contract); it's really more about approaches to the business side of music. Should I be chasing or not? Etc.

Many thanks
Matt

[mikeymike2000]

Hi Matt,

Do you have a phone number to call them? If so it may be worth it to just call and say hi I wanted to check in to see where this project is or if you received the stems etc.

Do you know them at all or is this a virtual co-write situation?

It is always hard to read the minds of others but just to put it out there if this is a well-known production house they are prob pretty busy and may simply not had the chance to get to this specific song. OR it may have taken a back burner status and they don't want to say something either way so the door remains open. (Not at all a good business practice but I have known some to be like that as opposed to just being honest and up-front)

Did they send you an agreement, did you send them one? Perhaps they are of the mind that the email exchange was the agreement... still they should reply to the chaser, I am just trying to get some more perspective on this for the sake of it.

[MattCurious]

Hi mikeymike - thanks for that.

Funnily enough I heard from them today; I gather there's some politicking going on at their end and the plan is to resume once that's dealt with.

As you say - nice for them to have touched base.

[HowardBHC]

I find a simple follow up on a consistent - (not constant or overwhelming) basis to check in is not chasing -but professional and appreciated. People tend to multitask and get busy.