The Business of Entertainment

Should an indie label have their artists sign a recording agreement right away?

2008-07-27T14:37:00.001-04:00

I received a call on Friday from a client who has been spending money on
the production of a record for a band, but the band has signed no
agreement with the label. This is very dangerous and I advise all
labels not to spend a dime until the artists have been signed to your
label. Generally, if a label has spend money on an artist or a band AND
THE BAND IS AWARE OF SUCH SPENDING AND CONSENTS, the label is entitled
to recoupment. But the label must prove that the artists had knowledge
of such spending and consented. This still doesnt lock the artist in
with the label. The label should have an entertainment attorney from
the beginning to alleviate these problems.
An exclusive artist
agreement should be negotiated and signed by both the label and the
artist before a dime is spent!!! If you do spend money, you run the
risk of not getting any return from your investment.

Grow Up America! Comic Con is not for you

2008-07-25T13:20:00.001-04:00

I had the worst day yesterday. My flight was suppose to leave NYC for LA at 7am but it didnt leave until 1pm!!! Any way, Im out here in LA to meet with clients a few court hearings and to find possible distributors for my upcoming online wine retail site (I will keep everyone posted). The weather is great and Im looking forward to eating some good food. I also got an invite to Comic Con in San Diego this weekend, but I can be seen with all the geeks!!! I was not a big comic book fan as a kid, but my younger brother loved the Incredible Hulk (He's not a geek, but can be childish at times). Ive always wondered what drives those individuals to dress up like ficticious characters and prance around San Diego and drool over there favorite Sci Fi out of work actor. Unbelievable. I think Comic Con will be even bigger this year because of the box office success of comic based movies like The Incredible Hulk and Batman's The Dark Knight. I just hope these same people that are contributing their effort, money and time to Comic Con will also go to the voting polls in November. Maybe then I wont think they are so weird.

The Fashion of Toronto..better than I expected

2008-07-21T15:57:00.001-04:00

Im here in Toronto on vacation with my parents and I am pleasantly surprised to see decent fashion. As an attorney in NYC who is use to seeing women with a great fashion sense (especially with the sexy stilettos and sandles every where), I am shocked to see that the women of Toronto are wearing colorful stilettos, sexy ruffled blouses and showing off there nicely polished toes. This is a big change from my trip to Toronto in 2005 in which I saw just the opposite; over-sized t-shirts, thong flip-flops and a very bohemian feel. Several designers such as Anna Sui and Valentino have obviously done a great job with marketing and it shows. Keep it up TORONTO! You will make the fashion map yet....

Entertainment is everything!!

2008-07-20T21:56:00.000-04:00

Hello world! My name is Corey Boddie and Im an entertainment attorney with offices in NYC and Atlanta, GA and this is the beginning of my daily blog. On this blog you will read about new trends within the film, music and fashion industry, pointers for new artists, actors, production companies, designers, producers and record labels trying to break into the business along with tidbits of my daily life. I will invite everyone to ask me questions pertaining to the music industry and I will try my best to answer them. Let the games begin!!!!!