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Protect Your Name
How important is it to own the rights to your own name as a group or artists? well it is very important, so that is the subject that I will talk about this month for Guitar Clinic. When groups get together most of the time usually some one within the band, or if you are a solo artist you pick a name to be identified artistically by, or you use your own name. 90% of the time when a group or solo artist pick a name they do this giving little or no thought to the legal aspect of owning this name. There have been many cases where this has turned out to be very tragic for a group or solo artist. I will give you an example, group A from a small town in country somewhere starts a band. They start to rehearse and practice and start to be come very good, good enough to the point they decide to record some material, press some CD's to sell. Group A starts to perform publicly and they start to build a very large fan base, not only in their local city, but through other states of the country they live in. Group A because of their popularity has been able to make deals with record store owners through the various states to sell their CD's and merchandise in these stores. Things seemingly are going perfect for group A, their name is popular they have a very big fan base now, and they are making money, and starting to get interest form several different record companies. One day a letter is received by one of the members of group A from a law firm stating that they are in violation of using the name that they have chosen, the law firm also in the letter that group A has built their success on the name of the group that they represent, so all earnings by group A will be have to be disclosed, and will be sought after by the group that the law firm is representing. The law firm in the letter proof that the group they represent has the legal right to the name that they have been using. So now group A has to immediately stop using the name that they have been using, all of their products must be removed from the stores where they are being sold, the record labels do not want problems so they loose interest, and group A has legal problems, they will have to hire legal representation to represent them in a case that they will loose. From this example you can see the importance of registering your name, or even better getting a trade mark for your name and group logo, this trade mark will protect your name and logo internationally, and once your trade mark has been accepted no one will be able to use your chosen name or logo. Will this cost money? yes it will, but you have the choice of paying a little money now, or a lot of money later in a legal entanglement! I can not mention enough the importance of protecting and owning your own name artistically. In this age of Internet also make sure that your domain names are protected and registered for as long a period is legal, make sure you renew your domains before the time period is up.
If you guys have any questions about this months column please feel free to contact me at www.myspace.com/vernonneillyband or through email at vern@boosweet.com. I will be happy to share information with you that will help you protect yourself as an artist. Also remember to send me your question about music business subjects, if I pick your question for my column you will receive some cool stuff from me!
Ciao