Top Three: E3 Edition

Below are the Top 3 #E3 items shared in our @RoyaltyExpert Twitter feed:

Cedar Boschan and Evan Van Zelfden @gamelawpro at the Video Game Bar Association #VGBA #E3 cocktail reception sponsored by @LathamWatkins

• A day of surprises at the start of #E3 | VentureBeat

• EA: "We have to start building new #IP that might feel like a big risk today" | gamesindustry.biz

We extend an invitation for those of you visiting the next E3 event in Los Angeles:

Los Angeles Calendar: June 25, 2015 Music Publishing Valuation Panel

The Association of Independent Music Publishers will present music valuation panel discussion on June 25 at Lawry's in Beverly Hills, California.
Registration is now open - click here to register!

AIMP Catalog Valuation Panel:  Beyond the MultipleThursday, June 25 at 11:30 amLawry's Restaurant in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaTickets & Information: Click Here

Join the AIMP for lunch as speakers delve beyond the multiple to reveal how parties from buyers to banks price music assets.  Music valuation expert and AIMP Treasurer Cedar Boschan will moderate this highly informative discussion among world class valuation experts, so mark your calendars for June 25.
Speakers:

Jason Somerville, Managing Partner, EIG

Josh Gruss, CEO, Round Hill Music

Dan Coleman, Managing Partner, Modern Works Music Publishing

Derek Crownover, Esq., Partner & Entertainment Law Practice Leader, Dickinson Wright 

Cedar Boschan, Founder, Boschan Corp

Maximize Future Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA) Royalty Earnings with these Drafting Tips from Cheryl Hodgson, Esq.

Trademark, copyright, music law & digital media attorney Cheryl Hodgson of Hodgson Legal

The best family law attorneys know when to include outside experts on their team.  When it comes to intellectual property assets, family lawyers turn to attorney Cheryl Hodgson of Hodgson Legal for her expert advice.

As part of our collaboration geared towards helping family lawyers and their clients navigate the arcane world of intellectual property assets, we invited Ms. Hodgson to share three key drafting tips for family lawyers to consider in cases when the marital assets include royalties:

1.     Audit rights.  Audit rights are a vital component to any agreement that includes payment of royalties, whether or not a dissolution is involved. Without the direct audit rights as well as the right to participate in an audit of the source of the income stream, there is no means by which to verify the accuracy of accountings from an ex-spouse, or payments received by the ex-spouse. Moreover, without an audit to identify an ex-spouse’s non-compliance with the marital settlement agreement (“MSA”), it can be difficult or impossible to identify evidence to support legal action and hold the ex-spouse accountable for failing to properly pay. Therefore, one should always include a thoughtful audit clause in the MSA that grants access to the contracts that create the income stream. Moreover, rights to piggyback on direct audit rights are imperative.  (See this post for more audit clause drafting tips.)

2.     Earnings Periods.  The MSA should address dates governing receipts and payments prior to the date of dissolution since payments may be earned long before they are received. For example, in the case of foreign performance royalties from the broadcast of music on television and in film, earnings during the term of the marriage may not be received or paid in the United States for a year or even longer.

3.     Transfers of Title.   A court order detailing rights in the divided assets should be drafted in a manner that is both clear, detailed, and binding upon third party payees of royalties. Entertainment related companies are often loathe to make changes in existing payment instructions without clear agreements, letters of directions, and in many cases, a court order that clearly identifies the assets and the parties covered.

# # # 

Don’t wait for the next post in our ongoing collaboration – read more from Ms. Hodgson today on her own website.  Better yet, for a personalized consultation, call Ms. Hodgson today at 310-623-3515 and follow her on Twitter @CherylHodgson.

Mark Your Calendar: Cinco de Mayo

The Recording Academy and California Lawyers for the Arts will present a music industry panel discussion May 5 at The GRAMMY Museum in Downtown, Los Angeles:

The Legal Landscape for Compensating Content CreatorsTuesday, May 5 at 6:00 pmThe GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles, CaliforniaTickets & Information: Click Here

The below experts will discuss why music revenue and royalties are at all time lows, the history of music distribution, how content creators (and artists) are paid, the applicable laws and legislation, and the present and future landscape for creating and selling music.
Panelists:

• Jay Cooper, Esq., Greenberg Traurig LLP
• Dina LaPolt, Esq., LaPolt Law PC
• Cedar Boschan, Boschan Corp. & Auditrix, Inc.
• Edwin McPherson, Esq., McPherson Rane LLP

Moderator:

• Keith Cooper, Esq., de la Peña & Holiday LLP

The GRAMMY Museum will be open at 6:00 p.m. for attendees to view the exhibitions. The program runs from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The museum entrance is on Figueroa, between The Farm of Beverly Hills and Flemings.

Paid parking is available in nearby public lots.
Click here for more details.

2015 Quarter 1 Top 10 @RoyaltyExpert

Below are the items that had the highest engagement during the first quarter of 2015 on our RoyaltyExpert Twitter feed:

1. February's digital console sales drop 3.7%  http://t.co/Th9E0U85z4
2. Spotify launches today on PS4 and PS3 with PlayStation Music  http://t.co/YxoKVXG9v1
3. Allocation of Copyright Damages for Co-Owners - In re Isbell Records, Inc. | McDermott Will & Emery - JDSupra  http://t.co/a3HNW0EHR0
4. Boeing Patents Force Field Technology  http://t.co/xsPcM8gRc6
5. Machinima gets another $24 million in funding from Warner Bros.  http://t.co/1mQxC93Tto
6. GameMaker Studio creator acquired for $16.4 million  http://t.co/emDdnZmLkm
7. Why Being Under-Funded Could Actually Help Your Business  http://t.co/GquGaEsvl5
8. 20 Percent Of Mobile Gamers Are Mobile-Only | alistdaily http://t.co/sbbpOwxKpT
9. 15 Stephen Hawking Quotes That Will Change Your Life  http://t.co/xRKZe1iy10
10. Physical Game Sales Hit 24-Year Low in Japan  http://t.co/scVOe0UWkS

Introducing Boschan Corp.

Dear readers,

It is my great pleasure to announce that audit and forensic expert services successfully launched this week at Boschan Corp., the sister company of Auditrix, Inc.

Boschan Corp. is dedicated to empowering attorneys to optimize client claims / counterclaims through:

• Contract and royalty audits
• Damages, property and restitution valuation

Personally speaking, I am thrilled to return to an entrepreneurial role focused on music, IP, interactive and other select clientele, not to mention a commute that saves hundreds of hours!

Please update your contact records as follows:

Cedar Boschan
President & CEO

Boschan Corp. & Auditrix, Inc.
8383 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 800
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Web: Boschan.com
Tel: 424-248-8866
E-m: clientservice@boschan.com

I hope to hear from and see you soon!

Have a wonderful week ahead,
Cedar

March 2015 Music Business Top Ten

Here are the top ten music industry highlights from our Auditrix twitter feed:

1. Cheryl Hodgson moderated a fantastic panel discussion about brands and music at the California Copyright Conference:

   

   Pictured L-R: Navine Karim - Legal Counsel, Red Bull Media House; Kyle Hermans - Brand Innovation, Gap Brands; Cheryl Hodgson - Music Attorney and Founder of Brandaide; Marshall Eskowitz - Marketing Executive, Creative Artist Agency

2. By David Oxenford, who represents #broadcasters: Songwriter' Equity Act Reintroduced - What Does It Propose?
3. Hollywood Reporter: We nominated our favorite power lawyers! 
4. Daily Mail Online: Jay-Z to pay Swiss jazz musician 50% of royalties after 'stealing' his instrumental for 'Versus'
5. Fast Company: Spotify Unveils A Bold New Brand Identity
6. New York Post: Spotify to spend $1B on renewal deal with Universal Music
   
   
   
7. Billboard: 'Blurred Lines' Trial Verdict: Jury Rules Against Pharrell Williams & Robin Thicke
8. Disruptive Competition Project: Transparency at the Intersection of Music Licensing and Antitrust
9. Sonicbids: 5 Not-So-Obvious Revenue Streams for Musicians
10. Digital Music News: 12 Reasons to Fire Your Bandmates

February Financial News Recap - Music Royalties

MIDEM as we know it may be no more, but the music business always kicks off the new year with The Grammy Awards.  This year, we celebrated nominated clients during #Grammy #Week with many out of town guests from New York, The Southeastern US and Texas (see photo here by Christianne Kinney, Esq. featuring Tamera Bennett, Esq., Ken Freundlich, Esq. and Auditrix founder Cedar Boschan at the Fox Rothschild Pre-Grammy Party)

Our music royalties highlights so far this year:

• A popular post on the Auditix blog "Five Things to Consider Before Filing a Music Copyright Case" by trial lawyer Gerard P. Fox, Esq.
• Cedar Boschan was re-elected to a second term as national treasurer of The Association of Independent Music Publishers.  She was also honored to be featured in discussion with the following music industry professionals in Berkeley at California Lawyers for the Arts' "Crossing the Digital Divide" 32nd Annual Music Business Seminar:
• Keith L. Cooper, Esq., Partner who heads de la Pena & Holiday LLP's new Los Angeles office and focuses on clients in  transactional, copyright and trademark matters, as well as lawsuits
• Angela Rose White, Esq., COO of David Rose Publishing Co. where she concentrates on music publishing/administration of a catalog including “The Stripper” 
• Mikael "Count" Eldridge, San Francisco-based record producer and filmmaker (projects include DJ Shadow, Frank Sinatra, Radiohead, John Cale, No Doubt, RUN DMC)
• Vivek Sridharan, Esq., Partner at Counsel LLP who advises on digital strategy for independent record labels, music technology start-ups
  
  The panel discussion focused on digital distribution of music and its impact on the music business.
• Green Hasson Janks published its final Entertainment Newsletter (GHJ is switching to a blog, to be announced soon)
• Cedar and her team at GHJ attended several educational programs about the music industry, including an International Panel at the AIMP and the first music-oriented program held by The Beverly Hills Bar Association in quite a while:

February 18, 2015 at The Beverly Hills Bar AssociationMusic Industry Update: Getting a Manager, a Record Deal, and the Money in 2015
L-R: Dean Wilson, President, Three Six Zero Group, Dina LaPolt, Attorney, LaPolt Law PC, Donald Passman, Partner, Gang Tyre Ramer & Brown, Rand Levin, Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, Universal Music Group, Dinah Perez, Law Office of Dinah Perez

• We also attended The AIMP's International Royalties program featuring:
• Michel Allain, Director General/CEO, FastTrack (Paris, France), who cogently pointed out that, unfortunately, $1M Euros equals $1M U.S. Dollars
• Ger Hatton, Director General/CEO, International Confederation of Music Publishers (Switzerland)
• Teri Nelson Carpenter, President & CEO, Reel Muzik Werks/AIMP Vice President
• Check out our top tweets here!

Top Tweets YTD from the Auditrix 2015 Twitter Feed

Below are the popular tweets from the Auditrix twitter feed, which focuses on music economics and royalties, during 2015 YTD:

• Duff McKagan on royalty audit of Geffen: "Well, they didn't pay us on something like 6 million records."
• YouTube Music Key Drew Criticism from Indies
• Apple spent up to $50 million for a music data company 
• Swedish songwriters called for more clarity and fairness over digital royalty distribution
• Sly Stone testified in royalties lawsuit against his former manager and won   
• Katy Perry's lawyers demanded takedown of 3D printable Left Shark and filed a trademark claim for Left Shark
• Federal District Courts "have been improperly applying a quantitative and not qualitative #copyright analysis... "
• Elvis Presley Turns 80: What Is the King's Legacy Worth?
• Sony's Lynton said: No Plans to Sell Music Publishing Business
• The Best Time to Release Your Album: A Month by Month Guide
• The U.S. Copyright Office Embraced Big Shake-Up to Music Licensing Regime 

Best Unfinished Twitter Conversation with Glenn Peoples @ Billboard and John Strohm @ Loeb

• Jas Prince Sued Birdman For Drake Royalties
• Tony Braxton's Ex-Husband Auctioned Off Royalties To Pay Back Child Support
• Kiplingers: Shouldn't Music Streaming Sites Pay Higher Royalties?
• Medium: Why Do All Records Sound the Same?