‘The Long and Winding Road! – Mediation of Music & Performers’ Rights Disputes’

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The range of potential claims include:

– Band splits/departure of a member.
– Breach of confidence.
– Breach of contract e.g. of a booking agency contract, management contract,
music publishing contract, or recording contract.
– Breach of fiduciary duty under a management contract – which is linked to
claims for equitable compensation, rescission, and contract vitiation on the
grounds of undue influence and the doctrine of restraint of trade.
– Image rights (also known as ‘personality rights’ or ‘publicity rights’) i.e. an
artist’s proprietary rights in their personality, which is linked to branding
and endorsement. In England and Wales these rights are not codified.
Unauthorised use of a person’s name and image is litigated by claiming for
breach of contract; infringement of a trade mark; passing off; defamation and
malicious falsehood; breach of confidence; breach of advertising rules; or
breach of privacy.
– Infringement of copyright, plagiarism and sampling without consent.
– Violation of moral rights.
– Passing Off.
– Royalties – calculation and deductibles.
– Share of royalties – claims by session musicians.
– Songwriter split disputes.
– Trade mark infringement – e.g. the band’s name, which is linked to ownership of ‘goodwill’ in the name.

See my published articles:

– ‘Commercial Mediation of Music Disputes: https://lnkd.in/e-6R–iv
– ‘Commercial Mediation of Music Disputes.’ Published in the Law Society.
Gazette 01.12.2023: https://lnkd.in/e2BDGGfZ
– ‘Golden rule in commercial mediation.’ Published online in the Law Society Gazette, 13.05.2024: Golden rule in commercial mediation | Law Gazette: https://lnkd.in/eF_4KtcJ

By way of a refresher, in May I am going back and taking a ‘deep-dive’ into the ‘Mediation of Commercial Music & Performers’ Rights Disputes’, and will post about this in June.

I am going offline until then.

Meanwhile, Music Law, Performers’ Rights and Mediation Geeks (of which I am proud to call myself one!) can read my ‘PRACTICE NOTE ABOUT THE MEDIATION OF MUSIC & PERFORMERS’ RIGHTS DISPUTES’ Carl Islam [Draft 25.05.2024], on the ‘Mediation of Music & Performers’ Rights Disputes’ page at www.carlislam.co.uk. Please note that this is an incomplete work in progress. You will need to scroll down to find this. It runs to several hundred pages, so do not print it off! I have included it on my website for my own quick research reference and you are welcome to browse.