Chapter 9 Consulting

According to Song Ya's plan, the song Thrift Shop (second-hand store) should best be stuffed into Little Lowry's new album. After all, part of his "inspiration" comes from the music company owner with pink suit and bass.

The 'adaptation' design of the original song in his mind is that Little Lowry is in charge of the rap part, and the bass boss will sing those very brainwashing choruses.

Little Lowry, he doesn't hate him, and if he avoids the failure of Little Lowry's new album, Tony's "employment" problem can be solved, and he can also get the royalties of lyrics and music.

But in this way, he had to implement the plan as soon as possible before the official production of Little Lowry's new special cassette, and there was not much time left.

The purse is even less ample.

The LCD numbers on the timer kept beating. He made up his mind and sat down opposite Goodman.

"liquid!"

Goodman imitated the black's tone and demeanor: "You made an extremely correct decision, BRO!" He clenched his right hand and stretched out to Song Ya.

Song Ya didn't respond, but stared at him coldly with a straight face.

"Excuse me."

Goodman persuaded, "Forget what I did just now, SORRY, SORRY..." He withdrew his fist in embarrassment, and apologized frequently, "I was so excited just now, and business is not good recently... Mr. Song, I am very sorry terribly sorry."

Most of the time, other races are quite afraid of black people's tricks. Even honest black people will occasionally use this to test each other's reality. Song Ya has traveled through such a long time, and she has been able to flexibly grasp the proportions. The key is The eyes must be murderous.

"Just call me Alex, first question."

Taking advantage of the other party's small flaws, Song Ya is now 80% sure that the other party has no strong background, and he is not very courageous. He relaxed a little, took out his notebook and compared it and asked: "Conclude with someone under the age of 18." Does the contract have to be signed by the guardian?"

"certainly."

Goodman hurried to the file cabinet and opened a drawer, "Or the guardian signs a power of attorney and entrusts others to act as guardian." He found a document and handed it to Song Ya, "This is a standard power of attorney , but if you want to entrust partial guardianship, you need the help of a lawyer. Wait..."

He scanned Song Ya carefully from top to bottom, "How old are you this year?"

"Fifteen, what's the matter?" Song Ya looked at the file and answered casually.

"FXXX!"

Goodman cursed angrily: "I was tricked by you just now, you little clever ghost!"

As for your cowardly behavior just now, it doesn't matter if you are found out, "The second question..." Song Ya continued to ask.

"What did you write? It's too inefficient for us to ask and answer one by one."

But I didn't expect Goodman to be the kind of character who pushes his nose and face. In order to compensate for the timidity just now, he stretched out his hand and pulled the notebook from Song Ya's hand, "Let me take a look, um, the copyright transfer of the song, the music album The interests are divided into..."

He muttered about finding relevant documents from the filing cabinet, and threw them to Song Ya one by one.

"That's about it, but to be honest, these standard format files don't work." Goodman sat back in his seat, "These laws are very flexible. Hollywood and the music industry have their own ways of playing. Find a good agent. People are the most important."

"I checked the information, isn't there several associations that can protect the rights and interests of songwriters and song copyrights?" Song Ya asked.

"Are you talking about ASCAP (American Association of Composers, Writers and Publishers), BMI (American Association of Broadcast Music)?" Goodman explained: "First of all, they will only provide services for the rights and interests of association members. You have to pay a certain amount of money, BMI is more expensive, ASCAP is cheaper, and then you have to publish works,

do you have? If so, they will usually send you an invite. "

"No, I came for legal advice for my first song." Song Ya answered truthfully.

"You see, this is the problem." Goodman spread his hands: "If you have not published your work and been invited, you are not eligible to become a member, and if you do not become a member, it is difficult for you to publish your work publicly. This is a paradox. Is it right?"

Song Ya was a little dizzy, "What about the copyright? The copyright of my lyrics won't be lost, right? For example, being taken over by a music company or something."

Goodman smiled, "This possibility is unavoidable. Hollywood supports so many agents, managers, lawyers, accountants, etc. Why? Isn't it because there are too many such things?"

"It's still the same sentence, find a good agent." He suggested again.

"What if I meet a 'bad' agent? According to what you said, if I don't publish my work publicly, no agent will be interested in me, and if no agent is interested in me, I will not be able to publish my work for the rest of my life. This is also a paradox!" Song Ya was a little frustrated, the gap between ideal and reality was a bit far.

"It's hard enough to get into this business, kid."

Goodman pointed at Song Ya, "I have seen a lot of black...cough...African children like you, sitting in the back of the bus, humming, listening to the Walkman while holding a pencil Write and draw on a small piece of paper, dreaming of becoming famous, right? Unfortunately, the reality is very cruel, and the capitalist society will naturally weed out a very small part of the pyramid. How many famous and surnamed songs have been produced in Chicago in the past ten years? If you divide it by the population ratio, you can get the probability of your success. And those boys and girls who go to Los Angeles to find their dreams, how many people can play good roles in a year? Most of them are losers , your eyes can’t see that’s all. Face up to your abilities and don’t spend money on unrealistic dreams.”

"Nonsense, am I the same as them? I'm a time traveler with cheats!" Song Ya rolled her eyes and complained secretly.

The two communicated for a while, and Goodman felt that Song Ya didn't look like he was going to give up, and he didn't bother to persuade him: "In terms of copyright, I will give you some advice. First of all, you must keep all the evidence, including your lyrics and music. Don’t throw away the manuscripts and waste manuscripts during creation. They can be used in copyright lawsuits. It’s best to record demos of all the songs you create, because singing is also a kind of copyright.

"Second, you can take the lyrics and demo to ASCAP for a copyright record, which costs about 20 dollars. Note that this is just a record, and it does not mean that ASCAP recognizes your copyright. If you want ASCAP to recognize your copyright, you probably have to Then it costs hundreds of dollars and months because they have to do stuff like comparisons and you still can't get a membership."

"Finally, it is a good strategy for the first few years to enter the industry to increase the share ratio for agents. Anyway, the agent contract should not exceed three years. If you are not satisfied, you will change when the time comes. If you can really enter the industry, you are eligible to become As a member of ASCAP or BMI, at that time, the various assistance provided by the association can also share the work of some brokers, and many difficulties you are facing now will not be difficult when the time comes."

After finishing speaking, Goodman pointed to the timer, and exactly fifty-five minutes had passed.

Song Ya felt that he was still very conscientious, and he had benefited a lot, so he got up and shook hands with him solemnly, "Thank you." He took out thirty-five dollars and handed it to the other party.

"Uh... The consulting fee is a consulting fee. You also need to pay the information fee, which is ten dollars a copy." Goodman pointed to the documents that Song Ya put into the briefcase.

"..."

Song Ya quickly took out all the documents, picked out a useful guardian entrustment agreement, took out another ten dollars, and returned it to Goodman along with other documents.

"Stingy!" Goodman scolded, and he carefully checked the banknotes he received, "You are from Nancheng, right?" He asked suddenly.

"Yes, why?"

"Be careful of those who pay the contract in cash." Goodman flicked the banknotes in his hand: "You Nancheng black...Africans like to accept cash payment because they can evade taxes. Once tax evasion, after the tax season , he breached the contract, but you dare not sue him easily, because the contract exposed him only to face a lawsuit, and you have to face the IRS, understand?"

Song Ya knows how powerful the IRS is. Al Capone, the most famous Chicago gangster, fell into the hands of the IRS, which is more terrifying than the FBI.

Thanks again, he left GOODMAN Law Firm.