Looking for advice on a legal issue. Here's what happened.
music producer claiming all royalties. I've been dealing with this for about 15 weeks now and the situation isn't improving.
The contract was signed 13 months ago. I have a copy of the original agreement. The total amount in dispute is approximately $141,000.
Am I overthinking this or is this a real legal issue worth pursuing?
I've handled similar cases. Here's my take on the legal issues.
This is a common situation and the law is fairly clear. Under the implied covenant of good faith, commercially reasonable.
Before taking legal action, consider sending a formal demand letter. In many cases, this alone resolves the issue.
Have you tried reaching out to your state's consumer protection office? They sometimes have free resources or mediation services.
I've seen this play out several times in my field.
What worked for me was escalating to a supervisor/manager. It took 1-3 months but was worth it.
I had a similar issue and ended up consulting with an attorney. It was worth the $200-300 for the initial consultation just to understand my rights.
NAL, but from what I've read, you should file a complaint. That said, definitely get a lawyer to look at the specifics.
Entertainment attorney based in Nashville here. I deal with producer-artist royalty disputes regularly and this is one of the most common issues in the music industry. The answer almost always comes down to what the producer agreement says about ownership splits and what type of royalties we are talking about.
There are several distinct revenue streams in music: mechanical royalties from sales and streaming, performance royalties from radio and live venues, sync licensing fees from TV and film placements, and master recording royalties. A producer claiming all royalties is almost certainly overreaching unless they also wrote 100 percent of the composition, which is rare. Even in work-for-hire arrangements, the scope of the producer claim is usually limited to master recording royalties or a percentage thereof.
If you have a signed producer agreement, check whether it specifies the producer royalty as points on the master (typically 3-5 points for independent producers) versus a percentage of publishing. These are very different things. If the agreement is ambiguous or silent on specific royalty types, courts generally construe ambiguity against the drafter.
At 141K in dispute, you need a music industry attorney, not a general practitioner. Many entertainment lawyers will take an initial call for free and some work on contingency for royalty disputes. The Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in your state is another good resource if cost is a barrier. Do not wait on this - the longer royalties flow to the wrong party, the harder it becomes to recover them.