The rest went for recording costs, sample clearance, and other costs involved in making the album. Of that, two-thirds ($8 million) was an advance for him to keep. And we have to be very careful, of course, you know, translating things like provisos like provided, however, that in dealing with Shell and the like. NO other business in the world takes a look at the business, buys shares, starts to profit when it profits. Some of the phrases are unnecessarily complicated. He ended the spree with, 'Whew that was a lot guys," and then tweeted a video of himself peeing on a Grammy award. So Im going to give a couple of examples, Ross, that you shared with me about how some of these businesses are doing this, shifting over to plain language. Practical in the sense that its tracking reality while still hopefully remaining faithful to the original. It was an emotional breakdown about contracts, which just doesnt happen enough. We don't know - still - who the next US president will be, but we do know who it won't be - Kanye West. Ross Guberman [00:15:01] Yeah, Kanye could read this. So we want to talk briefly about this profit sharing piece, this image here, because theres a lot of language that might lead to artists not understanding that theyre getting into that pretty crappy deal, honestly. So heres an amendment. It is not uncommon for a label to take their cut, then take out expenses, and then pay the artist. If West went over the $4-million budget in making the album, he would have to pay . And it was actually really hard to get through because they were just images. As far as the actual deal goes, Kanyes isnt particularly bad: Music lawyerswho spoke with Rolling Stone call Wests deal standard for an artist at his level. Well make sure you get a deal as well. And then if theres some kind of a difference between that amount and the recording costs. Maintaining the Integrity of the Contract, Lawyer Forward: Finding Your Place in the Future of Law, How to Choose Arbitration Language Consistent with the Relationship. And they dont completely replace the jargon that lawyers need to include. Labels are taking risks on any given signing and need to make offers that keep the company profitable. During his rant, Kanye declared that he would move the entire music industry into the 21st century, and he means to do this using clear and discernable language. In the docs forKanye's exclusive recording agreement, information includes that grantor's royalty account and the production budget for the applicable recording project will be charged with a record cost item of $30,000 per album (or $3,000 per side for a project for the recording of less than an album). And whether whether its, you know, a lawyer literally turning the contract into plain language or turning to Kanye and saying, let me tell you what this means. Kanye West signed singer-songwriter Teyana Taylor to his record label, G.O.O.D Music, in 2012 while she was in the midst of production on his album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . Whats the best way to get in touch with you to learn these skills? He said, were going to transparently change every album deal, every publishing deal. The contract indicates that these figures would increase with each release, and Kanye West and his company would receive 20 percent of each minimum after notifying the label that the. . Mike Whelan [00:00:23] In this episode, we revisit Kanye Wests leaked recording contract with drafting expert Ross Guberman. Right. All Rights reserved. Logic tweeted that Def Jam refused to pay for a remix of his recent song Perfect that would feature Lil Wayne. Push this button right here that will allow you to join Law Insider at a premium subscription. We need plain English contracts. Mike Whelan [00:24:07] That is perfect. Almost no artists recoup so the system obviously doesnt work, but its tempting. He was also responsible for50 percent of the total amount of out-of-pocket expenses incurred or paid by Roc-A-Fellain connection with the preparation of his album's artwork. For Kanye's follow-up to TheCollege Dropout, which wasLate Registration, Roc-A-Fella gave him anadvance equal to the excess of $3.5 million over recording costs. Until then, Ross, I appreciate you being here. As artists, we know its something thats been happening, but we get used to a lot of things, like voting numbers or police brutality. "We get used to these things and then sometimes, theres a wakeup call, says one artist. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. The first agreement in the series was around the time PDF were new. Language such as hereinafter referred to and to the extent that are generic legalese that can easily be simplified without affecting the overall meaning of the text. If you look at these agreements, though, from Kanye, that thats not just the CD references that are archaic. One strange structure commonly found in the record industry is the way profits are divided. During his rant, Kanye declared that he would move the entire music industry into the 21st century, and he means to do this using clear and discernable language. Advances are loans with 75% interest rates (or worse). Its an exclusion, a liability. The deal was huge, man, they give you money to live off of. Kanye West, also now known as Ye, has been named as a suspect in a battery report taken by the Los Angeles police department in the early hours of . Music won't offerservices or provide A&R or label services related to more than two rejected artists. Equity & Blanket Licenses are the majority of future new income. Ross Guberman [00:05:55] Yeah, I mean, its obviously a common plea, not just from Kanye West, but from all sorts of, you know, business executives to theres been sort of push and pull over the decades that people have been complaining about contract language for longer than either of us has been alive, of course. Should the labels be able to make a profit off of this? A Lawyers role is to IMPROVE deals. Almost no artists recoup so the system obviously doesnt work, but its tempting. One seems to be this issue of Ive got to check some legal boxes. Mike Whelan [00:07:53] Well, and heres another one from LinkedIn, this sort of two column set up in the license image. A written budget in itemized detail of anticipated recording costs was to be submitted to the label for approval and could be no greater than 80 percentof an amount equal to the applicable recording fund. And of course, this became a big story, in part because he totally undermined Taylor Swift some number of years ago about get wanting to get her masters back and saying, look, you just got to play the deal in this case. The Nike Air Yeezy 1 Prototypes beat the previous . The recording fund amounts for Yeezy's third through seventh albums were listed as follows:third album: minimum recording fund $300,000, maxing recording fund $650,000;fourth album: minimum recording fund $325,000, maxing recording fund $700,000;fifth album: minimum recording fund $400,000, maxing recording fund $850,000;sixth album: minimum recording fund $425,000, maxing recording fund $900,000;seventh album: minimum recording fund $450,000, maxing recording fund $950,000. "UNIVERSAL WONT TELL ME WHAT MY MASTERS COST BECAUSE THEY KNOW I CAN AFFORD TO BUY THEM," Kanye tweeted on Wednesday (Sept. 16). A pair of shoes designed and worn by the musician Kanye West have sold for $1.8m (1.3m) at auction - the highest amount ever paid for trainers. Join me and my friends. Histhird contract period consisted of15 percent of the royalty base with respect to master recordings during third contract period,15 percent of sales of an album in excess of 500,000 units and16 percent of sales of an album in excess of 1 million units. After the advance was recouped, 15 percent of royalties were to be given to both artists. Mike Whelan [00:08:46] Well, and on that one more example of an experiment before we get to Kanyes and trying to create this answer, his call for plain language, this GE image, they seem to be experimenting a bit again with changing the language. Looking back, I've thought many times about what makes Kanye Kanye. Entrepreneur and musician Kanye West lost his lucrative multi-year deal to design sneaker brand Yeezy for Adidas after making antisemitic comments. Ross Guberman [00:22:31] but definitely something to that. Thats why we brought contract language expert Ross Guberman onto the Contract Teardown show. G.O.O.D. Advances. Ye's business manager's inability to . Rock Kanye West Vinyl Records. For his second contract period, Roc-A-Fella gave Ye18 percent of the royalty base with respect to master recordings from the second contract term,18 percent of sales of an album in excess of 500,000 units and19 percent of sales of an album in excess of 2 million units. In follow-up tweets, he shared screengrabs of 10 documents that included a profit sharing agreement and a recording agreement. So if Im a lawyer and Im negotiating with another side and youre very practical about these things, like although the plain language movement is nice, in theory, youve got to negotiate with somebody else who might like that archaic language. Mike Whelan [00:19:16] Well, and on that, I, I sort of want to get to principles, to things that lawyers can learn from this example, which is really the purpose of this show. In the contract Kanye shared, a lot of the language used to describe this relationship is obviously archaic and can be simplified. Royalties. Theres a lot we can do. For years, the rapper has set release dates with his label, only to blow by them with . West made about a 100 posts and shared screenshots of pages from his recording contract. Milana Lewis, CEO of music distribution platform Stem, says record labels should start including explanatory pro-forma documents with deals, in order to promote transparency and make it easier for artists to understand what comes in their agreements. So, yeah, there you go. "And y'all still gave him contracts, documentaries, endorsements . So you keep those and then you also, of course, in your sector or industry, want to keep those terms of art as well. Report: Kanyes Anti-Semitic Rhetoric Led to Assaults, Vandalism, If you have a kid who knows nothing about law and sees all this money, these contracts are 60 pages long, who the fuck is reading that? longtime A&R exec Chris Anokute, Anokute manages several clients including Curtis Waters, who recently went viral through his TikTok hit Stunnin. While Waters was courted by many major labels,at Anokutes counsel, he signed a shorter-term 60-40 profit-split deal with BMG. Ross Guberman [00:08:11] Yeah, this is a big issue. GOOD Music (stylized as G.O.O.D. Watch to see how three transactions handled alternative dispute resolution options. And theyre advised accordingly by an attorney at law whos telling them to sign this contract, and they say this contract is standard. Whats your background? After that point, UMG can distribute the albums on their own. When your term ends, download it all. Its actually gotten a lot of press. In the event that Kanye's sixth album, Cruel Summer,exceeds 2.65 million units according to the label's track equivalent album sales or "TEAS," Island Def Jam promised to increase Yeezy's seventh album advance by $500,000. Using plain language isnt just a benefit to clients. This is the same deal your favorite artist signed, this is their label. What do you expect a young, naive artist to do? ET. The rapper has put out nine albums over 17 years through Roc-a-Fella Records. So so as I play this in the background, tell me about some of the phrases that youre seeing in this that are just driving you nuts. The once hesitant label has now hit the. KANYE WEST, an individual, and WEST . And theyre advised accordingly by an attorney at law whos telling them to sign this contract, and they say this contract is standard. The reason to do that is to join more people who care about the things that you care about. You dont want to change reasonable efforts where you dont necessarily want to rewrite the word severable. THE HOST:Mike Whelan is the author of Lawyer Forward: Finding Your Place in the Future of Law and host of the Lawyer Forward community. For that LP, there was a recording fund amounting to$2.5 million. But, Ross, if people want to get in touch with you and get a sense of how to differentiate, I mean, this seems to be the hard skill is differentiating between this is a legally significant and archaic, but its significant. Leave. Ross Guberman [00:01:07] Im doing well, its good to see you and good to see your room, too. The 43-year-old rapper has conceded after his. Though he had promised an album in 2020, he then refused, claiming that his record contract was a form of. You know, the I remember the general counsel, GE Aviation said, you know, a 12th grader, a teenager should be able to read this. $20.99 Used. But if Kanye West 's statements last year about slavery being a choice were out of bounds, he's taking more of a Prince-like tactic in his ongoing efforts to extract himself from his record. I will not share the image of Kanye West urinating on his Grammy, though. Ross Guberman [00:01:18] If it works, right? Lets get back to the show. So this is right up my alley and Im calling from calling from the Capitol, right outside the Capitol and Northern Virginia. Whats the principle here? You know, this first sentence youre still seeing, first of all, the first sentence is six lines, right? For Kanye West's profit share agreement with Island Def Jam/UMG, there was a 50 percent profit split for his sixth and seventh album, whichincludes distribution, marketing, recording and any other expenses. Adidas said on Tuesday that it was cutting ties with Kanye West, ending what may have been the most significant corporate fashion partnership of the rapper and . Its also important that headings dont provide their own meaning all by themselves. So lets shift to the Kanye contract, and were not going to do a full breakdown of what all these documents are, because theres a lot and there are good YouTube videos out there. In 2011, Kanye and Jay-Z joined forces musically and created theirWatch the Thronejoint album. Who made this up so that record companies get 70 percent of the money? He tweeted them so I made PDFs. He was given a $6 million advance for his seventh album with $3 million designated to recording costs. Ross describes a counselor that can thread this very tough plain language needle. ET . And thats, you know, damaging conclusion from many perspectives. We get used to these things and then sometimes, theres a wakeup call Fantastic Negrito, When they left their deal, they chose not to try and buy back their masters, having put out only one album with Epic and feeling they still had their best musical years ahead. Kanye West West's case argues that he has been "labouring" for EMI since 2003, and cites a California Labour Code that limits personal service contracts to no more than seven years. Right. Within the deal, Kanye was obligated to release six albums, inaddition tohis initial effort, TheCollege Dropout(2004), within a 12-month span. Ye by Kanye West (Record, 2018) (9) 100% agree - Would recommend. This is Kanyes contracts. Youre not trying to make it really friendly for consumers, but you are trying to make it friendly for business people while still preserving, as you can see in the rewrite as most of the actual terms of art. That was pretty awesome. Kanye West has been active on Twitter once again. Right. I mean, there there are many words and phrases that do need to remain intact because the risk of trying to translate them informally into common terms is is much bigger than any benefit. His musical career has been marked by dramatic changes in styles, incorporating an eclectic range of influences including soul, baroque pop, electro, indie rock, synth-pop, industrial and gospel. You want to get in and get as much as you can is what we were told. Artists like Kanye feel that they are being cheated. Portals. Last modified on Thu 13 Jan 2022 14.04 EST. And we want you to know, even if the recording agreement to you indicate something else, this is whats going to happen. 2. We were lucky because we were careful. So this is something later in the series, I imagine theres a back story, you know, tense, tense discussions about the money part. Law Insider Completes First Legal Tech Investment and Distribution Partnership with Inkly, All contents of the lawinsider.com excluding publicly sourced documents are Copyright 2013-. Maybe its about time I do that.. Again back to dependents. So youre seeing some attempt by LinkedIn. Contract #1 [PDF] Contact #2 [PDF] Contract #3 [PDF] Contract #4 [PDF] Contract #5 [PDF] Contract #6 [PDF] Contract #7 [PDF] Contract #8 [PDF] Contract #9 New Recording and Publishing Deal Guidelines [ PDF] So the rest, you know, if its not a one of those categories, its either an industry term of art or just normal English talking about finance or recording. So the tool, the tool were looking at brief catch, you know, there you go. He released his two Grammy-winning albums independently more than 20 years later, and he hasnt inquired about the recoupment on his first record in years. Thus,50 percent of these costs incurred by Roc-A-Fella are considered advances, but the label could notrecoup more than $40,000 for each album relevant to these costs: creation, hosting, maintenance of artists website, securing, registering and/or protecting artist domain names, creation of ECD materials, independent promotion, independent marketing and independent publicity, television, movie or radio campaigns. Advances are just loans!! Kanye West's music-publishing contract essentially does not allow him to retire - a common provision of such contracts, a source tells Variety. A pair of Kanye West's Nike Air Yeezy 1 sneakers for sale for $2 million at the Sotheby's show in Hong Kong on April 16, 2021. Some examples would be words such as materiality, reasonable efforts, and severable. All, the tool were looking at brief catch, you know, damaging conclusion from many.... Something else, this is a big issue one artist the money industry is the deal. Sneaker brand Yeezy for Adidas after making antisemitic comments refused to pay shared screengrabs of documents! And we want you to join law Insider at a premium subscription on Thu Jan. Tracking reality while still hopefully remaining faithful to the original that you care about the things that you about! Equity & kanye west record contract pdf Licenses are the majority of future new income Kanye feel they... Happen enough from many perspectives he said, were going to transparently change every album deal, every deal... Until then, ross, I & # x27 ; s inability to the. You care about the things that you care about s inability to still gave him contracts, just. To clients meaning all by themselves song Perfect that would feature Lil Wayne work, but its tempting,... So this is right up my alley and Im calling from calling from calling from the Capitol, right was... Premium subscription many times about what makes Kanye Kanye then take out expenses, and then theres... 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