Before I begin, I wish to remain anonymous (for now) & I won't be exposing the artist I am talking about just yet either. But it is safe to say that he is the most vile & sicking abomination to come out of Drum & Bass since Roni Size - Playtime (I love you Roni but bleurgh!)
To cut to the chase I'm looking for some legal advice, I'm pretty sure I have all my bases covered and I've already gotten some great feedback from my a few in the know at some highly esteemed organisations within the industry but I'd love to get some advice from any one thats maybe been through something similar from a label's point of view or is in the general know regarding this kind of thing. Knowledge is power, as they say
So, let me begin..
This particular artist was paid handsomely and upfront for more than a handful of tracks. Due to a recent break down in relations over a gig booking (I was also his agent for a brief spell), in which he explained that he expected me to work for free after a promoter failed to pay the final part of the fee that was owed. Now, having spoken to the promoter they explained that the reasons for this were that, and I quote' 'he played the worst set I've ever witnessed' they also described him as 'the most jumped up nobody I have had ever booked'. After 2 weeks of me working my arse off for this ball bag, firstly arranging the booking then trying to salvage the final part of the fee, he told me to do one and that he wanted nothing to do with me or my label. Now it gets interesting...the next day he threatens to re sign all the unreleased tracks I have with him on another label or give them away for free if I didn't start working as his agent again after realising that he would never get the rest of the fee without me (yes he begged me, it was the most pathetic embarrassment I have ever witnessed.... cringe o'clcock!). My label is pretty niche and we have little or no budget, all these tracks were purchased from money I had saved up from my modestly paid day job. I've also spent a ton on high quality mastering and have paid for a well known dnb video producer to shoot me a video out on the west coast of America to go along with one of the tracks.
I have written agreements and proof of electronic payments regarding the tracks. Not to mention tons of relevant dialogue over months of working together with this cretin.
If any one has any advice for me that would be great on the best way to deal with this then that would be great, although the feedback I've received from the various industry professionals has filled me with plenty of confidence so far.
As yet the artist has done nothing but he has assured me that he will.
If any one does have any advice then please email me at msecret644@gmail.com, at the moment I'm looking to keep this whole situation as low key as possible so would prefer to have a chin wag behind closed doors.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and won't go unnoticed.
To cut to the chase I'm looking for some legal advice, I'm pretty sure I have all my bases covered and I've already gotten some great feedback from my a few in the know at some highly esteemed organisations within the industry but I'd love to get some advice from any one thats maybe been through something similar from a label's point of view or is in the general know regarding this kind of thing. Knowledge is power, as they say
So, let me begin..
This particular artist was paid handsomely and upfront for more than a handful of tracks. Due to a recent break down in relations over a gig booking (I was also his agent for a brief spell), in which he explained that he expected me to work for free after a promoter failed to pay the final part of the fee that was owed. Now, having spoken to the promoter they explained that the reasons for this were that, and I quote' 'he played the worst set I've ever witnessed' they also described him as 'the most jumped up nobody I have had ever booked'. After 2 weeks of me working my arse off for this ball bag, firstly arranging the booking then trying to salvage the final part of the fee, he told me to do one and that he wanted nothing to do with me or my label. Now it gets interesting...the next day he threatens to re sign all the unreleased tracks I have with him on another label or give them away for free if I didn't start working as his agent again after realising that he would never get the rest of the fee without me (yes he begged me, it was the most pathetic embarrassment I have ever witnessed.... cringe o'clcock!). My label is pretty niche and we have little or no budget, all these tracks were purchased from money I had saved up from my modestly paid day job. I've also spent a ton on high quality mastering and have paid for a well known dnb video producer to shoot me a video out on the west coast of America to go along with one of the tracks.
I have written agreements and proof of electronic payments regarding the tracks. Not to mention tons of relevant dialogue over months of working together with this cretin.
If any one has any advice for me that would be great on the best way to deal with this then that would be great, although the feedback I've received from the various industry professionals has filled me with plenty of confidence so far.
As yet the artist has done nothing but he has assured me that he will.
If any one does have any advice then please email me at msecret644@gmail.com, at the moment I'm looking to keep this whole situation as low key as possible so would prefer to have a chin wag behind closed doors.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and won't go unnoticed.
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