Wisconsin Entertainment Forms - Wisconsin Entertainment Law

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Wisconsin Entertainment FAQ

What is entertainment law? 

Entertainment law generally encompasses industries involving motion pictures, television, music, publishing, and theatre. These industries have special economic and business considerations that involve nearly every area of law including copyright, trademark, trade secret, rights of privacy and publicity, securities, tax, tort, corporate law, labor law, constitutional law, international law, and so forth. The law of copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and patents each play a role in protecting creative rights.

The personal service agreement is a primary legal instrument in the entertainment industry. This agreement is negotiated between an artist and a company that manufactures, promotes, and distributes the artist's goods or services. The agreement often commits the artist to produce exclusively for one company for a certain period of time. Personal service agreements are often governed by statutes, and are often the subject of litigation because of the restrictions placed on the rights of artists to perform or create for other entities.

How are royalties earned and collected? 

A significant amount of income for entertainers can be acquired in the form of profits from a royalty agreement. The first step to a royalty agreement begins, for example, when a songwriter pens their original piece. From being produced in tangible form, the artist receives a copyright. The writer then may wish have their song exposed and published by a recording company. The songwriter will assign a copyright to a publisher who will market and promote the material. Those that wish to use the copyrighted material will then begin the process of establishing royalty agreements and be issued a license. The proceeds from the sales and use of the copyrighted material by anyone will then be required to pay royalties to the publisher which represents the writer selected.

Tips for Preparing Wisconsin Entertainment Forms

  1. Don’t enter into any oral entertainment agreements. Too frequently, individuals working in the entertainment business prefer oral agreements. Despite the fact that kind of contract is legally binding, utilizing it as your legal tool might lead to lengthy disputes over clauses that could be ignored in the course of negotiations.
  2. Ensure that you control the drafting process. Even if you intend to review the Wisconsin Entertainment Forms’s structure carefully before signing it, it’s preferable to make a number of reviews to be on the safe side. After that, make the needed changes to the stipulations as you revise the document. In this way, you’ll avoid the legal issues that might occur down the road, be it a performance contract or arts agreement.
  3. Make sure that each signer of the document gets their fair share. You can do this by inviting a third-party auditing consultant who can create an review report. For example, they can check whether an performer gets the right amount of royalties from a film’s broadcasting. However, to prevent auditing, make sure you include proper wording in the contract regarding all financial provisions from the outset. You can get all the needed documents to sign the deal in the entertainment industry in the US Legal Forms online catalog, bundled with information on how to put together Wisconsin Entertainment Forms as well as other papers.
  4. Determine clear terms regarding how to end the contract. Before drafting Wisconsin Entertainment Forms, all parties in the contract must outline their requirements of how they would like to terminate it. If you work, for example, with a third-party representative, be sure they don’t have the authority to extend the agreement on your behalf.