{"id":1363,"date":"2023-04-04T14:53:30","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T18:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/?p=1363"},"modified":"2023-04-04T14:53:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T18:53:30","slug":"so-you-want-to-break-into-the-music-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/so-you-want-to-break-into-the-music-world\/","title":{"rendered":"So, You Want To Break Into The Music World?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Originally published by Harvard Law Today, April 4th, 2023<\/a>]<\/p>\n

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Managers of several high-profile rap and pop musicians discuss working with artists and the music industry at a Harvard Law symposium<\/h2>\n
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Students from Harvard Law’s Recording Artists Project welcomed artist managers and label executives from across the music industry including Binta Brown, CEO & Founder of omalilly projects and manager of popular Chicago-based rapper Vic Mensa; Matthew Baus, co-founder of Bad Habit Records; Muyiwa Awoniyi, manager of Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems; and Rayan Falouji, manager of rapper redveil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Apr 04, 2023<\/div>\n
By Brett Milano<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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So, you want to break into the rap or pop music world? Then you\u2019d better start getting your business and legal skills together.<\/p>\n

The Harvard Law School Recording Artists Project<\/a>, known as RAP, was established in 1998 to provide expertise and pro bono legal assistance to the creative community. Last Saturday, the group, led by current co-presidents Landon Harris \u201923 and Andrew Choi \u201923, presented a daylong seminar, \u201cLocal Sounds, Global Impact,\u201d which included a panel of industry professionals, a showcase of local artists who\u2019ve worked with RAP, and breakout sessions afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you create something out of nothing, you\u2019re in a business,\u201d said Boston music producer Rob Kelley-Morgan<\/a>, introducing the event. \u201cThe minute you make a song, the minute you record your voice, you\u2019ve just created a product. And that product needs to be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strategies to protect and promote that product was the focus of the main panel, moderated by RAP Events Director Ify White-Thorpe \u201924. Each of the four panelists was a prominent artist manager or record-label owner; while they came from diverse backgrounds, they all grew up with the same love of music.<\/p>\n

The one lawyer on the panel was Binta Brown<\/a>, who manages the popular Chicago-based rapper Vic Mensa<\/a>. Later this semester, RAP will be bringing Mensa to the Harvard African Diaspora Conference, where he will speak about the music festival he launched this year in Ghana with Chance the Rapper.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I looked at career paths, I wanted to be like Clive Davis [Arista Records founder, HLS \u201956] or Walter Yetnikoff [the late CBS Records president],\u201d Brown said. \u201cThey each had law degrees and I saw how that could be helpful. I also had a deep and profound love of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from Columbia Law School, she worked in the prestigious firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which represented high-profile entertainment companies including Time-Warner and DreamWorks. \u201cMy journey has been unorthodox for artists\u2019 managers, but I am hoping it won\u2019t remain so.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she doesn\u2019t believe in doing legal work for her artists, those skills still come in handy. \u201cI can read contracts really fast, and I can have a conversation with their attorneys and understand what they\u2019re saying. When the artist has a manager who can understand the attorneys and the businesspeople, you can\u2019t hide the truth from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, the artist is the quarterback, and I\u2019m the coach,\u201d said Rayan Falouji, who manages the 18-year-old rap star redveil<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a developed trust over time, and you have to let them fall on their face sometimes. Artists are naturally sensitive people, and you can\u2019t tell someone what their vision is \u2014 There\u2019s no \u2018You have to do the song or the cover art this way.\u2019 Sometimes the artist is right, sometimes I am, but you have to let the road pave itself. As long as he\u2019s not doing something that would tank his career \u2014 like saying \u2018I\u2019m going to drop this country song as a rapper.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes it makes sense to pull back and let an artist live, he said, especially when you manage a youthful artist. He said that redveil\u2019s recent trip to India will likely provide fuel for his work to come.\u00a0 \u201cOne of my mentors had an artist who took two years to make an album. After that, he made three in a month. He just lived, and it\u2019s the living that makes them write and articulate about the state that they\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew Baus, who runs the Bad Habit label, recalled a specific incident with an artist he previously managed, the Nigerian star Burna Boy<\/a>. Last spring, Burna Boy insisted that \u201cLast Last\u201d would be the first single from his latest album, when the label had marked a different song for a high-profile rollout.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat move changed our trajectory for the rest of the year,\u201d Baus said. \u201cHe wanted to go onstage at the Billboard Music Awards, and perform a song that was not out yet. When someone is that specific, you need to follow their energy \u2014 and sometimes you have to follow crazy. You have to be the one that brings sanity, and sometimes you make impossible things happen.\u201d And in this case, the artist\u2019s instincts were sound; the song went on to be an international chart-topper.<\/p>\n

As Baus pointed out, everyone there was in two businesses: The arts business and the entertainment business. \u201cThe arts business is \u2018This is me; this is the story I want to tell.\u2019 The entertainment business is \u2018Who\u2019s buying this, who\u2019s going to the shows?\u2019 The artist\u2019s identity is the bottom line. Everything else plays into marketing, staying true to your mission statement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes you also have to say no, added Muyiwa Awoniyi. His own artist, the Nigerian-born star Tems, recently went viral for the extravagant dress she wore at the Oscars. Other ideas, he said, prove less workable. \u201cOne artist wanted to shoot a video that never came out, because it was basically impossible. It\u2019s important that you and the artist are on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a legal breakout session afterward, RAP\u2019s supervising attorney, Clinical Instructor Sam Koolaq \u201916<\/a>, addressed a smaller group of artists, producers and young entrepreneurs. And he asked the question on most peoples\u2019 minds: How do musicians get paid? Most of the answers, he said, fall into two categories: Trademark income (merchandising, touring, etc.) and copyright income. Every time somebody buys a particular song, two copyrights are being honored: One for the recorded performance, the other for the written song. And the widespread popularity of sampling has brought an unprecedented number of copyright infringement cases.<\/p>\n

Artists, he said, have dealt with sampling copyrights in different ways. The most prudent approach is to make an arrangement with the original copyright holder before releasing the track. The risk here is that the sample may be vetoed, and the song never released. Other artists simply choose to release the song and deal with the copyright later; this creates its own risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d caution there that it costs more money if your song does well, \u201cKoolaq said. \u201cIf your song gets five million streams, the copyright holder may say \u2018We\u2019ll take a piece of that.\u2019 That was something Lil Nas X learned the hard way [after the major success of his sample-heavy \u2018Old Town Road\u2019].\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, he said, such arrangements are great if you\u2019re the copyright holder. \u201cNine Inch Nails got some mansion money out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Originally published by Harvard Law Today, April 4th, 2023]   Managers of several high-profile rap and pop musicians discuss working with artists and the music industry at a Harvard Law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,20,11,19],"class_list":["post-1363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-entertainment-industry","tag-entertainment-law","tag-recording-artists-project","tag-student-practice-organization-spo"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"ahorn","author_link":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/author\/ahorn\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}