Attorney Dina LaPolt is founder of LaPolt Law, P.C., an entertainment law firm based in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to her work representing prominent players in all areas of the music industry, she teaches at the UCLA Extension School as well as the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA. She is also a practicing musician and a former artist manager, who performs regularly with her band, “Trophy Girl.”
In this panel discussion held at a 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Sports & Entertainment Law Forum, panelists Cynthia Sanchez, Dina LaPolt, Todd Brabec, and Jeff Brabec discuss the life cycle of a song from a legal point of view. They discuss how songs are used for physical sound recordings, as synchronized tracks for video broadcast and reproduction, as digital downloads, as soundtracks for advertisements and video games, as elements of musical theater productions, greeting cards, remixes samples & mashups, toys, internet streams, and more. They also discuss the kinds of deals which are currently being made in such situations.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, presents to an audience at Loyola University, New Orleans a wealth of advice drawn from her careers as a musician, manager and lawyer. She discusses how to build the foundations for a career in music, how to hire a music lawyer, what to fight for in your recording contracts, what a management agreement should consist of, why you should be glad that people steal your music, and what it takes to become a music lawyer yourself.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer in Hollywood California, talks about getting into the music industry today. In order to break into the industry, she says, the first step to take is find a job with someone involved in the industry and be willing to work for free. Dina then discusses her experience of getting started as a lawyer and the various jobs she has had in the industry.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, discusses management contracts – when they’re necessary, when they’re not, and when, if ever, they should end.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, tells how she manages to fight for what she wants from record companies, but still remain friendly with the people she deals with there.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, reveals how a music lawyer makes money, who pays them, and how the various income streams work.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, discusses how her careers in music and in artist management led her to become an entertainment lawyer.
In this excerpt from a panel discussion held at a 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Sports & Entertainment Law Forum, the panelists discuss mechanical royalties – the income generated from the manufacture of physical recordings of a song, for example on CD, LP or other physical media – and how recent decisions by the Copyright Royalty Board have thrown the current statutory rates, and what is covered under what rate, into serious doubt. They also discuss who benefits and who loses in the current web of conflicting copyright and royalty rate rules, and how other nations handle mechanical royalty payments on sound recordings created in the USA.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, describes how she made the transition from musician and manager to lawyer, what it’s like to start a new career in the music industry, and what kinds of clients she deals with.
In this excerpt from a panel discussion held at a 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Sports & Entertainment Law Forum, the panelists discuss the copyright and royalty complexities that surround remixes, samples, mash-ups and similar repurposing of existing recordings – and how, in certain cases, failing to clear the samples on a song prior to recording means losing money every time the recording is licensed for third-party use.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, discusses the new types of deals and negotiation paths that are open to artists in the wake of the collapse of the music industry in 2000-2006, and how it’s changing what opportunities are available to new or emerging artists.
In this excerpt from a panel discussion held at a 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Sports & Entertainment Law Forum, the panelists discuss how songs are licensed for use in video games, and what it means in terms of licensing fees and royalty payments for publishers and copyright holders.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, offers advice to young independent artists on how to build the foundations of a long career, and on why a lawyer can be the most important person in their lives.
In this excerpt from a panel discussion held at a 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Sports & Entertainment Law Forum, the panelists discuss the patchwork of ways in which songs are licensed for use in TV and films in the USA, and what it means in terms of licensing fees and royalty payments for publishers and copyright holders. The panelists illustrate these complexities through examples drawn from projects like House, Life on Mars, Gossip Girl and Don’t Forget The Lyrics!.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, explains what Sound Exchange is, and how that organization handles payment to artists of public performance royalties generated by digital play (streaming, webcasts, internet radio). She also compares this situation, created by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1995, to how terrestrial radio operates, and to the public performance royalty structures in place in the rest of the developed world.
In this excerpt from a panel discussion held at a 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Sports & Entertainment Law Forum, the panelists discuss how compositions generate fees and royalties from merchandising uses. Examples cited are lyrics printed on clothing as well as compositions and master recordings licensed for singing toys and a musical toothbrush.
Dina LaPolt, an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, CA, discusses various ways in which the law and industry custom conspire to stiff artists out of money that is, in theory, theirs. She discusses in specific how Sound Exchange diverts some royalties away from artists, and how hiring a producer (or producers) to work your record can get expensive fast.
In this excerpt from a panel discussion held at a 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Sports & Entertainment Law Forum, the panelists discuss how the new vogue for catalog musicals (such as Jersey Boys and Mamma Mia) and how they can be an important revenue stream for composers lucky enough to have a song featured in such a show.
