West made about a 100 posts and shared screenshots of pages from his recording contract. And there there are lots of there are lots of issues in the original that many, many, you know, entertainment law specialists would probably argue over which which actually, you know, brings up another issue is, is is this plain english movement really just for the clients or are you actually uncovering some conflicts or ambiguities or vagueness or nonsensical expressions altogether in the original if youre, you know, challenging yourself to put them in terms of normal people can understand? And, to an extent, they're not wrong. Thats probably more than enough. Are they making too much? In follow-up tweets, he shared screengrabs of 10 documents that included a profit sharing agreement and a recording agreement. So so as I play this in the background, tell me about some of the phrases that youre seeing in this that are just driving you nuts. Kanye West Says He Won't Release New Music Until Freed From Sony and Universal Contracts: Declaring himself "the new Moses" while demanding apologies from Drake and J. Cole. Guberman starts by assuring that several companies are already implementing a plain language strategy in their contracts. Adidas said on Tuesday that it was cutting ties with Kanye West, ending what may have been the most significant corporate fashion partnership of the rapper and . To be a little bit difficult to argue that. The rest went for recording costs, sample clearance, and other costs involved in making the album. Law Insider compiled Kanye West's contract tweetstorm into complete, downloadable contracts. We were lucky because we were careful. Mike Whelan [00:10:12] Hey, everybody, Im Mike Whelen. not charge for contracts we cannot understand or track. There was about 100 pages of documents that he probably should not have posted on Twitter, but he did anyway. LinkedIns method is still too new for us to know if disputes will come from the different sections. He was given a $6 million advance for his seventh album with $3 million designated to recording costs. However, only 50 percent of video costscan berecouped from audio-only record royalties. Its sort of a it, Ross Guberman [00:17:40] hasnt been taken. For the sixth album, Kanye received a $12 million advance. In the weeks following its release, Donda surpassed a billion streams on Spotify globally. UMG is the parent company of Def Jam and West's G.O.O.D. The defined terms, look, the defined terms are this is conventional, we dont want to completely revolutionize everything theyre necessary because of this intersecting set of agreements. Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Kanye West has been sued for breach of contract in Florida for allegedly failing to pay for a rental space he wanted to use as a recording studio. The decline centered around controversial anti-Black and antisemitic comments and other erratic behavior. We have been engaged in an ongoing dialogue with Hit-Boy and all the concerned parties to address his concerns and will continue to do so until a reasonable solution is achieved.). When your term ends, download it all. In this episode of the Contract Teardown show, guest Diana Isyanova shares three possible approaches. Are not just for royalties. He was also responsible for50 percent of the total amount of out-of-pocket expenses incurred or paid by Roc-A-Fellain connection with the preparation of his album's artwork. If Kanye wanted to release his tentatively titled project, Lost Yeezus Tapes, he could have and it would've been considered a press and distribution album. After that point, UMG can distribute the albums on their own. Maybe even my own lawyer is not really looking at the language from my point of view. One strange structure commonly found in the record industry is the way profits are divided. The 43-year-old rapper has conceded after his. What am I looking at here? Is this incorporated in in any way? Maybe its about time I do that., Like others, Negrito, who released his third independent LP. So you pay to see your money!!! Well see you guys next time. Right. I AM ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS PEOPLE ON THE PLANET AND UNIVERSAL WONT TELL ME WHAT MY MASTERS COST BECAUSE THEY KNOW I CAN AFFORD THEM BLACK MASTERS MATTER.". The documents . . And guys, this is a super long document. Obviously, we cant share the whole thing, but well make sure that you have a link to the whole thing in the show notes over at LawInsider.com/Resources. Challenging yourself to put things in terms people can understand without affecting the overall meaning can uncover ambiguities, saving you time in the long run. Ive got blues and Ive got reds. The artist owns the copyright in the recordings and songs and leases them to the record label/publisher for a limited term. Mike Whelan [00:16:08] in a brief. Ross, how are you today? Money and Music must stay together. Kanye West Tweets About His '10' Recording Contracts: 'I Need Every Lawyer in the World to Look at These' In his latest string of tweets about his recording deals Wednesday (Sept. 16),. Where you calling from? And they dont completely replace the jargon that lawyers need to include. The label signed an exclusive long-term worldwide label agreement with the Island Def Jam Music Group in 2011. Theres no more independent plants, no more putting all these CDs in a truck and shipping them from store to store across the country, Chris Anokute, founder of entertainment company Young Forever Inc. and a former A&R executive for labels including Capitol and Island Def Jam, tells Rolling Stone. Ye asked for $12 million, and $8 million would be paid promptly after the full execution of the 2012 amendment. #kanyewest #dramaalert #grammyWanna continu. We need plain English contracts. Yeezy, West's sneaker and apparel business with Adidas AG and Gap Inc., is valued at $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion by UBS Group AG, according to a private document reviewed by Bloomberg. On May 4, 2012, Kanye's team penned a letter to Island Def Jam Music Group requesting that the recording fund for this fifth album be increased. Report: Kanyes Anti-Semitic Rhetoric Led to Assaults, Vandalism, If you have a kid who knows nothing about law and sees all this money, these contracts are 60 pages long, who the fuck is reading that? longtime A&R exec Chris Anokute, Anokute manages several clients including Curtis Waters, who recently went viral through his TikTok hit Stunnin. While Waters was courted by many major labels,at Anokutes counsel, he signed a shorter-term 60-40 profit-split deal with BMG. Hit-Boy is an enormously talented songwriter whose relationship we value, a UMPG spokesperson said in a statement to Rolling Stone. You can imagine the anxiety the in-house counsel have, right? Found online, don't shoot the messenger. Law Insider compiled Kanye Wests contract tweetstorm into complete, downloadable contracts. Mike Whelan [00:03:02] Thats right. Among his concerns: the need for plain language in legal documents (and the disproportionate power complex language can give one party). Before we do, Ross, I want you to tell me about yourself. Right, right. Ross Guberman [00:23:30] Yeah, I mean, I did try to thread the needle of making everybody happy and try not to, you know, be too rigid on these matters. How are businesses shifting to using plain language? First is this one from Kanye. An advance constitutesany moneypaid, costs incurred or costs to create videos. Mike Whelan [00:17:41] an interpretive sca band and Im going to have to look for the domain name. This is a situation were in. Just minutes prior, he had finished tweeting out the entirety of his Universal contract, one page at a time for a total of more than 100 tweets. If you have a kid who knows nothing about law and sees all this money, these contracts are 60 pages long, who the fuck is reading that? Anokute says. Most comprehensive library of legal defined terms on your mobile device. We were lucky because we were careful. But its all too new to know whether in any kind of dispute that language would actually be entered as evidence. Ross Guberman [00:07:15] So youre looking at a movement that started when those Capitol Hill hearings, but the tech companies were in the news. But first, the record labels getting their money. Labels are taking risks on any given signing and need to make offers that keep the company profitable. As far as the actual deal goes, Kanyes isnt particularly bad: Music lawyerswho spoke with Rolling Stone call Wests deal standard for an artist at his level. Rewrite deals to be understandable from FIRST READ. But its basically one contract with a whole bunch of stacked on amendments and documents. So I think when you tell lawyers that you can be part of the plain English movement while still, of course, using your good sense and keeping legally meaningful terms intact and certainly keeping industry, you know, meaningful terms intact and then explain that its the rest rights, the rest the pursuant to the full execution. Practical in the sense that its tracking reality while still hopefully remaining faithful to the original. Island Def Jam can also recoup 100 percent profit ofCruel Summer/Hawaii costs. Kanye West signed his co-publishing contract with music publisher EMIwho is now owned by Sony/ATVin 2003, before the completion and release of his 2004 debut album, The College Dropout. Wests contract could even be considered favorable among superstar contracts, with Universal heavily investing in Wests works, entertainment attorney Christiane Kinney says. Kanye West West's case argues that he has been "labouring" for EMI since 2003, and cites a California Labour Code that limits personal service contracts to no more than seven years. So tell me, is the language on the right? on the Internet. He is no longer signed to Def Jam, his longtime record company; his contract expired with his 2021 album, "Donda." And Ye . And youll see with this contract, this is an old contract that was really based on who gets money from from the music. Ross Guberman [00:09:03] Yeah, exactly. Wests contract could even be considered favorable among superstar contracts, with Universal heavily investing in Wests works, entertainment attorney Christiane Kinney says. Getting Out Our Dreams, LLC c/o Carroll, Guido & The after version that Gruberman shares is shorter, which is one benefit to cutting out unnecessary language, but it also better tracks the chronology of the real world. Soundtrack: The Great Gatsby. Mike Whelan [00:22:29] he did not listen. His. Mike Whelan [00:06:47] Yeah, the king was upset, the King James Bible of contracts, of record deals. Kanye West's history of inflammatory statements were met with consquences this week. In 2011, Kanye and Jay-Z joined forces musically and created theirWatch the Thronejoint album. So we dont want to change recouped because now we would be not faithful to the substance. Mike Whelan [00:11:02] Hmm. If Island Def Jam Music Group were to pass on an artist,Getting Out Our Dreams Inc., the acronym for Kanye's G.O.O.D. Cruel Summer/Hawaii costs shall befully cross-collateralized with Kanye's main royalties account. Ross Guberman [00:16:40] Yeah, you really hit the nail on the head. Dependents. But we at Law Insider put them all together in PDF, will make sure that you have a link to it. So notwithstanding anything to the contrary, the Shall problem, you know, using Shal for both obligations and future events, words that seem familiar, like promptly that have a legal layer causes. Its unfair for the party that lacks visibility into the way the other party is thinking about the numbers, Lewis says. Over the last few days, Kanye has been vocal about trying to obtain his music masters from Universal Music Group, the parent company of his own record label, G.O.O.D. Mike Whelan [00:07:53] Well, and heres another one from LinkedIn, this sort of two column set up in the license image. Artists like Kanye feel that they are being cheated. Theres theres a counseling function in addition to a drafting function that seems to be really important that lawyers didnt do here. Pearl Jam Vinyl Records. Milana Lewis, CEO of music distribution platform Stem, says record labels should start including explanatory pro-forma documents with deals, in order to promote transparency and make it easier for artists to understand what comes in their agreements. What do you think of Kanye West leaking his own contracts to make a point? These are the documents that were talking about. Another example is General Electric. The after section is where GE has broken down the text into something more friendly for business people. And the reason that it applies to us is this awesome tweet that all the lawyers got excited about, where he says the first thing that changes about record deals is actually lawyers. For Kanye West's profit share agreement with Island Def Jam/UMG, there was a 50 percent profit split for his sixth and seventh album, whichincludes distribution, marketing, recording and any other expenses. 88-Keys . When youre awake to this, you cant be the perpetrator anymore.. Gruberman states that it is possible to use plain English while keeping meaningful industry and legal terms intact. He released his two Grammy-winning albums independently more than 20 years later, and he hasnt inquired about the recoupment on his first record in years. See's Kanye West's Record Contract Tweets, revealing the intricate details of his record label contract. Kanye West had already been burning bridges in the music industry. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Roc-A-Fella is obligated to pay such producers a higher fixed amount (the "higher amount") for the applicable project, Grantor's royalty account and the production budget for the applicable recording project will be charged with a recording cost item equal to the higher amount in lieu of the amounts set forth in the preceding sentence. He said, were going to transparently change every album deal, every publishing deal. The deals not bad what is that based on? Negrito asks. He suggests focusing not on the necessary legal and industry terms but on clearly nonsensical or unnecessarily archaic sections. The way that Gruberman has identified these sections is by using his tool called BriefCatch. After agreeing to the amount spent on the film, they took $1 million from Kanyes sixth album backend and then $500,000 from his seventh album's recording fund. Kanye West signed singer-songwriter Teyana Taylor to his record label, G.O.O.D Music, in 2012 while she was in the midst of production on his album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . As lawyers and contract drafters trying to implement plain language, we have to find a way to do this while staying true to the contract. All those of those terms that you can also edit out of other legal documents, theres a lot to do there that really will clean these up without ever even considering going into the substantive terms. Im seeing a lot of these highlights. Kanye West gave the world a rare glimpse into the music industrys labyrinth of recording contracts last week when he tweeted out his own paperwork with Universal Music Group and then lambasted those agreements as exploitative and unfair, demanding his copyrights be returned to him. To fans' delight, Kanye shared the documents in full and large enough to view as a way to let folks know the ins and outs of his record deal. How do I nudge a contract toward plain language without undermining the agreement? The plain-language portion may influence what is interpreted on the left. Ross and I dig into Kanyes request for plain language drafting and whether its even realistic. How can you rewrite a contract to be understandable without losing the original intent? If you look at these agreements, though, from Kanye, that thats not just the CD references that are archaic. Were lucky we were told the truth in so many ways.. 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