So, yeah, there you go. And clearly there are artists signing these things that dont dont know what theyre doing. He created the first-of-its-kind editing plug-in BriefCatch. We were broke college kids right after the recession. We were lucky because we were careful. The after section shows which changes Gruberman suggests need to be made. Kanye West vs. One thing that could be highly damaging in any industry is having a client going around feeling as if the company or even their lawyer is trying to take advantage of them. And the whole thing does feel very, very dated and and remote. Its an exclusion, a liability. Kanye West's recent Twitter rant has led to himrevealing the intricate details of his record label contract, which he initially signed over adecade ago. Before we do, Ross, I want you to tell me about yourself. But first, the record labels getting their money. He has also encouraged Black artists to sign with labels owned by Black people. I hope youre enjoying this episode of the contract tear down show. The rapper has put out nine albums over 17 years through Roc-a-Fella Records. However, Gruberman says this is still a good way to use plain language for understandability. Maybe even my own lawyer is not really looking at the language from my point of view. If at that time Ye has not recouped his royalties, the reversion date will be extended until the day after the last day in the accounting period after receiving a statement indicating that the royalty account has been recouped. Kanye West's Contract Late last year, Kanye West took to Twitter to vent his frustration about complicated contract language. This is a situation were in. This is what were going after. Island Def JamMusic Group also agreed to give Kanye the rights, title and interest in all of the masters for his sixth and seventh album, but only after the reversion datethe last day of the semi-annual accounting periodwhich is 20 years after the initial release of the seventh album. Rosss balanced language approach will help you meet your clients demands for both clarity and effectiveness. Should the labels be able to make a profit off of this? Again back to dependents. Its unfair for the party that lacks visibility into the way the other party is thinking about the numbers, Lewis says. The after section is where GE has broken down the text into something more friendly for business people. It shows this sort of left to right set up on this exclusion of liability document. A lawyers role is to improve deals, not charge for contracts we cannot understand or track. West created his first Yeezy shoes with Nike in 2007, and then . 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. 25. Several artists have voiced their own grievances in response to Kanyes call for transparency. The partnership was a nightmare for both Negrito and the label, he says. Prior toKanye's relentless tweeting session, heinformed his followers that he wasgoing to share 10 of his contracts with UMG, the parent label to his G.O.O.D. One hundredpercent of video costs of any video production costs in excess of $300,000 per video isrecoupable from audio-only record royalties. So we know recouped doesnt mean the same thing. Right. (Rex Features) Kanye West tweeted dozens of pages from his recording contract with Universal Music Group yesterday (Wednesday 16 September . THE GUEST: Ross Guberman is president of Legal Writing Pro, LLC and a consultant for law firms and courts. You know, the I remember the general counsel, GE Aviation said, you know, a 12th grader, a teenager should be able to read this. 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. Royalty portals need to show (and do not now) Every song you delivered, Every store you are in, How many streams per song Income per song. 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. Kanye shared a 2005 superseding agreement of his original 2002 recording contract and a handful . Advances are just loans!! While recording Donda, Kanye West paid $1 million per day to live in the belly of . 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. 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. Epic spent a fortune making that Karmin album. The first thing that changes about Record Deals is actually lawyers. Some are asking what took so long. 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. So I have to keep it versus this is archaic and useless. Theres theres a counseling function in addition to a drafting function that seems to be really important that lawyers didnt do here. The first is this one from LinkedIn. Ross Guberman [00:03:18] And so Im the president of legal writing prose, so Ive been doing workshops and consulting on all different aspects of lawyer writing and judicial writing for a couple of decades now. So, Ross, this brings us to this whole conversation about plain language in contract writing. Until then, Ross, I appreciate you being here. 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 is seen at a Donda listening event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 22, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. The defined terms, look, the defined terms are this is conventional, we dont want to completely revolutionize everything theyre necessary because of this intersecting set of agreements. Kanye West's battle against his music publisher, EMI, has moved back to the courts after talks between the two sides failed to produce a settlement. Although, there is a concern here. Well make sure you get a deal as well. Everybody go get it. Major record labels will typically receive 75%-95% and the artists 5%-25% of royalties. This past Wednesday, September 16, Kanye West, in an attempt to " change the music industry for good ," shared his recording contracts with Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam Recordings, and Universal. He says that what he wants to do specifically is move the entire music industry into the 21st century because he didnt feel like that was adaptive. Over the course of dozens of tweets, West. At no point was Kanye allowed to object to a track being on the record if it achievedTop 100 chart success on any national trade publication at any time prior to when the Greatest Hits album was released. Labels are taking risks on any given signing and need to make offers that keep the company profitable. That said, Yeezy made it clear that his mission has been to inform the masses of the inner workings of his record label contacts, which he deems unfair, in hopes of trying to get UMG to budge on letting him buy his masters. Twitter users, who were waiting to get their hands on the documents after much suspense, were completely underwhelmed. Kanye West has been slapped with a lawsuit by music publisher EMI after attempting to get out of his publishing deal by claiming the contract equates to slavery.. And thats why the color coding comes in. Right. Its actually gotten a lot of press. Youve got a before and an after, and Ill share with you guys as well the sort of color coding that Ross is using for the different kinds of language on here. Theyre paying for all of the promotion of music videos and concerts because its coming out off the top. Another example is General Electric. Kanye West Contracts : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Kanye West Contracts Topics Kanye West Collection opensource Language English Uploaded for archival purposes. 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. Prince Vinyl Records. Mike Whelan [00:00:23] In this episode, we revisit Kanye Wests leaked recording contract with drafting expert Ross Guberman. The deals not bad what is that based on? Negrito asks. On day two of his latest epic Twitter binge, Kanye West followed through on his complaints about the music industry and his demands to be released from his recording and music-publishing. Well, what we said the provision means is not what it means, but again, you need to know. . And guys, this is a super long document. The papers indicate that he started on a royalty deal frequently afforded to upcoming artists, which later evolved into a more artist-friendly pressing and distribution deal that gave Kanye more of the profits and bigger budgets as he became a superstar. Musicto other labels within the UMG group of labels, if no other UMG group of labels wants to enter into an agreement through G.O.O.D. Twenty-two percent of royalties were to be given on both the sixth and seventh albums. mrbonesHOK The decline centered around controversial anti-Black and antisemitic comments and other erratic behavior. Search the history of over 797 billion We were going to take whoever gave the most money., As artists, we know its something thats been happening, but we get used to a lot of things, like voting numbers or police brutality. So, you know, the fine print, so to speak, does exclude the rewrites on the right. The 43-year-old rapper has conceded after his. So this is something later in the series, I imagine theres a back story, you know, tense, tense discussions about the money part. All those of those terms that you can also edit out of other legal documents, theres a lot to do there that really will clean these up without ever even considering going into the substantive terms. Kanye West's first record label he signed with was a pretty major institution. But as the music industry comes out of its 20-year tailspin, with streaming fueling new growth, artists arent satisfied with that arrangement, and many are demanding newfound power. What am I looking at here? In fact, according to one of his recent Instagram posts, the Three Stripes offered to buy Ye out of his contract for $1 billion. Mike Whelan [00:14:30] So then talk to me about this after Im looking at the after version of the profit sharing agreement. Ross Guberman [00:20:11] Yeah, I think part of that is really bracketing off, just as you are saying, words and phrases that a lawyer knows have substantive value. Plain language for understandability the recession labels getting their money, who were waiting to get their hands on right. Suggests need to make a profit off of this & # x27 ; first. Profit off of this after much suspense, were completely underwhelmed of Music videos and concerts because its coming off. The other party is thinking about the numbers, Lewis says of contract! Deal with BMG West paid $ 1 million per day to live in the belly of language in contract.! Ge has broken down the text into something more friendly for business people it means, but,. 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