07 Sep 100% Juiced 1993
FROM STREET LEGAL TO EASY STREET
The first responsibility of the artist is to himself.” (Miles Davis, 1961)”You have to learn how the business works. You have to knoiv how deals are made. You have to look at the casualties in real life. If you don’t learn how to survive, that will be you! They’ll flush you right down the toilet the minute they can. They’ll squeeze you dry. So unless you adopt somewhat of a capitalistic philosophy, you will get raped.” (Billy Joel, Musician Magazine, 1993)
Love him or despise him, you have to admit the billion dollar man knows well and true what he’s rapping about and he doesn’t beat around the bush.
The same might well be said about John Kenny, the second of the keynote speakers at the 100% Juiced! music business seminar set to take place this Sunday in the Ithaca Auditorium at Brisbane City Hall. A highly regarded national expert on legal matters relating to intellectual copyright (the modern term for the ownership of anything you creatively produce as an individual), John Kenny has demonstrated the audacity to represent both Rose Tattoo and lndecen|Obsession. “The opportunities are there,” It takes balls to run a cred-chancing forward play like that, but Kenny likes to work in the clinches and under the scrums. Though his present legal outlet, Kenny and Co focuses on company law and intellectual property, John clearly hasn t’ forgotten his Sydney roots as a young legal representative of such late 70s Oz icons as Mi-Sex and Dragon. With current and recent music industry clients of a diverse nature, and a growing role as a lecturer in Queensland centres of learning, Kenny s’ forthright presentation at 100% JUICED! this Sunday will be “written from the perspective of a musician working ui a professional band in Brisbane at present.” “Essentially,” notes Kenny, “a musician band member is likely to encounter eight different kinds of agreements – namely:-
1. Partnership with fellow band members;
2. Live performance with venue owners;
3. An agreement with the agency chosen by the band to obtain work;
4. A management agreement;
5. A production agreement with a local studio, especially if the band decides to self-finance and distribute their own CD product, prior to achieving interest from a major record company;
6 & 7. Hopefully and ultimately a recording contract and a publishing agreement in respect of the exploitation of the band s’ songs; 8. Merchandising agreements to exploit other aspects of a band s’ presence and stature.”
John feels that the players in the local scene can make a difference in relation to six of the above eight contracts. The opportunities are there,” he insists, n“ow it is a question of whether the local managers, musicians, agents and venues wish to find new, fairer and more effective ways of running industry.” “With one of the liveliest alternative scenes in the country, the question is: can innovation in the business of music in Brisbane match the innovation in the music?” Only time will tell – the ramifications of 100% JUICED! will go a long way towards determining how soon and how smoothly* such an evolution in Sunshine State rock culture could become a reality. And a welcome one at that. “If Brisbane,” ponders John Kenny, “is to start producing national and international level artists and continue to remain based here, it may not be good enough merely to have a distinctive Brisbane sound, the opportunity and the challenge is to have a distinctive way of doing business in Brisbane.” John will also focus on an introduction to the basics of that thorny question of copyright in musical works “This is a very misunderstood area by musicians,” claims Kenny. “But the whole copyright issue is crucial for musicians. Their songs are their birthright! By grasping the mechanics of copyright, they can hang on to the most valuable asset they will create while they are musicians.” This is gourmet food for serious mental digestion. Now I know that lawyers at large don t’ exactly hold down a cool image with the average muso in these times of recession. They have often been cast in the role of leeches who overbill and underdeliver.
Recently I read somewhere in an overseas musical journal that the world music business is basically controlled by 50 American showbiz lawyers Personally I would have thought it was much less than that figure. In North America, speaking from experience, I can assure you that all too often dealing with lawyers can be like crossing a mine field. The only guarantee being that whatever you’re pursuing is going to cost you heaps.
Our infant emerging Brisbane music scene is different. Different even from the scenario that Billy Joel paints at the top of this piece. But not all that much different. John Kennys’ contributions to your music industry mindset will be worth the price of admission alone because this sort of info normally doesn t’ come easily or cheaply. If you r’e really serious about what you’re doing, w e l’l look forward to seeing you in the Ithaca Auditorium, Brisbane City Hall, on Sunday for an experience that is sure to broaden your particular playing field of musical enlightenment. And the best of good luck to every one of you for the musical future.
