Mark Goldstein is Clinical Professor of Music Industry at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, and former Vice President of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, from which he retired in 2004 to teach full time. Prior to his time at Warner Bros., he worked in private practice and for other record labels. He has published articles on the business side of music, and occasionally guest-lectures on this subject.
In this panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, panelists Ken Abdo, Ann Chaitovitz, Jay Cooper, Mark Goldstein and David Nimmer discuss what they expect will happen as copyright ownership on music recorded since 1978 begins to revert from the labels that released the recordings to the authors of the music, and all the difficulties that will arise from this transition – for example, ongoing attempts by the RIAA to add music to the list of nine specific types of work for hire, the question of who exactly is the “author” of a sound recording, and how future evolutions in content delivery are likely to affect copyright and royalty regulations.
Mark Goldstein, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at USC’s Thornton School and former VP of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, discusses some legal aspects of today's music industry, and what the future holds for musicians and the music they make. In specific, he discusses the current vogue for "360 deals" and whether they have any future merit for artists or record companies, the current legal status of file sharing and sampling and how to avoid giving all your royalties away to someone else, and the real main source of most artists' income (hint: it's not album sales).
Mark Goldstein, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at USC’s Thornton School and former VP of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, introduces himself and his career, and discusses his current teaching and professional activities.
In this segment of a panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, the panelists examine the legal underpinnings of the current music copyright landscape, including the coming cascade of music copyright reversions from labels to artists, songwriters and producers, the debates over work-for-hire statutes (and whether recorded music may be considered work-for hire), as well as various revisions to US copyright law – including an attempt in 1999 by the RIAA to insert language in a copyright revision bill adding sound recordings to the list of nine specific types of creation which may be considered work for hire.
Mark Goldstein, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at USC’s Thornton School and former VP of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, assesses whether having a background makes you a stronger entertainment lawyer, and discusses some of the core skills that any good lawyer needs.
In this segment of a panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, the panelists discuss the slippage present in the term “author” as applies to the agent of record behind the creation of a sound recording, in the context of Federal copyright law.
Mark Goldstein, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at USC’s Thornton School and former VP of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, discusses the new vogue for "360 deals" in which a company takes a cut of every revenue stream an artist generates in exchange for more comprehensive support and budgeting, whether they make sense for labels and artists, and what the future of 360 deals will probably look like.
In this segment of a panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, the panelists continue their discussion of the slippage present in the term “author” as applies to the agent of record behind the creation of a sound recording, in the context of Federal copyright law – e.g., is the “author” the frontman, the band, the songwriter, the engineer, the producer, the backup musicians, or all of the above – and what happens when ownership of the copyright of a sound recording reverts to the author… whoever that is.
Mark Goldstein, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at USC’s Thornton School and former VP of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, analyzes the drop in music sales in recent years and whether digital sales are really making up for a significant portion of that shortfall, and discusses what record sales mean to artists hoping to build a real career.
Mark Goldstein, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at USC’s Thornton School and former VP of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, analyzes the drop in music sales in recent years and whether digital sales are really making up for a significant portion of that shortfall, and discusses what record sales mean to artists hoping to build a real career.
Mark Goldstein, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at USC’s Thornton School and former VP of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, discusses the current legal status of file sharing technologies and the ongoing battle between the music industry and file sharing services, in the context of the question - "is it worth killing file sharing over the issue of copyright infringement?" He also talks about various strategies for combating illegal file sharing and whether they are effective in the long run, and isolates the central lure of file sharing to consumers - convenience.
Mark Goldstein, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at USC’s Thornton School and former VP of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, discusses sampling - what it is, how it works, and the legal consequences of using any part of a pre-existing copyrighted recording in your own work. He discusses his own history working at Warner Bros., and recalls some instances in which artists found themselves having to pay a large amount of money for sampling a small piece of a work. He also clarifies the difference between a live layering of songs in a performance and sampling on a recording, and describes when a compulsory license is enough to clear a sample and when it is not.
Mark Goldstein, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at USC’s Thornton School and former VP of Business Affairs at Warner Bros. Records, shares advice for young musicians on what it takes to have a successful career in music - the skills, the commitment, how to assess the likelihood that you'll make it big, and how to know whether you need a label, a manager, or other team members.
