The effectiveness of any nonprofit organization- especially in the arts world - starts with a strong and well trained board of directors. This is often the weak point of smaller organizations, but it doesn't have to be that way.
In this one hour session, we'll explore the role of the board of directors in a nonprofit organization, best practices for governance of the organization, liability issues for those who serve on nonprofit boards, and basic insurance related issues.
Podcast Episode: Taylor Swift, the Power of the Audience and Licensing Agreements
Recording artist Taylor Swift is waging a very public campaign against the company that owns many of her master recordings. Her audience seemingly is following suit. Social media is providing people a way to broadcast threats. We live in divided times.
A private equity firm ends up with control of Ms. Swift’s master recordings.
Analysis of the real root of this story is in this episode: the negotiation of the original licensing or production contracts and how those contracts can control the future conduct of the parties. Listen to the episode for more detail.
Likeness Rights and Digital Resurrection
People in the entertainment business (and everyone else) have been reading the news that the late actor James Dean was cast in an upcoming film project. Dean, who died in 1955, will be digitally resurrected through CGI technology. Dean - well, not exactly James Dean, but the likeness of James Dean - will “act” in an upcoming film that I’m not even going to name because of my personal aversion to this.
Many people, not just film industry people, are expressing their displeasure with this. I am one of them. We have seen this before, with Disney’s use of the likenesses of the late Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher in the film Rogue One. I wrote about that extensively here.
From a legal standpoint, there are two important questions: 1) How did this happen? and 2) How can people control their likenesses after death?
Read moreEmployment Law Update: Independent Contractor or W2 Employee?
To determine whether a worker is a W2 employee vs. an independent contractor, the IRS looks at several factors, but the most important factor is the amount of control the employer exerts over the worker’s behavior.
What this means is whether the employer directs or controls how the worker does the work. A worker is an employee when the business has the right to direct and control the worker. The business does not have to actually direct or control the way the work is done – as long as the employer has the right to direct and control the work.
The behavioral control factors fall into several categories:
Type of instructions given;
Degree of instruction;
Evaluation systems; and
Training.
Tuk's Rules, Ep.20: Legislative Update on PA House Bill 561
PA House Bill 561 is a tremendously dangerous piece of legislation that has passed the PA House 115-12. This Bill - if passed in its current form - will prohibit liquor licensees (hotels, bars, restaurants) from paying young musicians who are performing there. Watch the video below for more detail. This Bill is moving VERY quickly through the legislative process.
CALL TO ACTION:
Find your PA Legislator by clicking here.
Call and email your PA Senator to object to the nonpayment of performers.
The Pennsylvania House Makes the Economy Even Worse for Working Musicians
The Pennsylvania House passed HB561, which allows liquor licensees (hotels, bars, restaurants) to hire minors to perform as musicians, but the same bill expressly prohibits any payment to those performers for their services.
This Bill passed the House by a vote to 185-12 with 5 absent. You can find the roll call of the vote right here.
If this Bill becomes law, there are serious implications for working musicians:
The performance fees that establishments are willing to pay are going to decrease;
It institutionalizes the fiction that young/beginning performers should perform (read: work) for free and give away their labor;
This is a boon for establishments that can now book minors for zero dollars rather than hire professionals;
This also impacts DJs who work clubs, because my reading of this Bill includes DJs also.
One of two things is possible. One alternative is that the State Representatives who voted for this legislation are totally ignorant of the economic difficulties musical performers face. Alternatively, the State Representatives who voted for this legislation are aware of the difficulties that musicians face and are indifferent at best or at worst, dismissive or hostile to the needs of musicians.
You can read the text of HB561 below:
Pennsylvania 2019 HB561 Introduced by Bryan Tuk on Scribd