What the “Blurred Lines” Lawyer Taught All Artists

What the “Blurred Lines” Lawyer Taught All Artists

This is not about copyright infringement. It’s about how not to get effed by your own entertainment lawyer. I hope my artist friends will check it out, and I hope it helps. What the “Blurred Lines” Lawyer Taught All Artists For a minute, forget about the “Blurred Lines” verdict, the lyrics and whether or not you love Marvin Gaye. The New York Times just ran a profile on Richard S. Busch, the lawyer who won the $7.4 million case for the Gaye estate. In explaining how he did it, Busch says something I hope all artists caught: “By being on the outside,” he said, “everyone who hires me knows that they get 100 percent of my loyalty.” Why is that noteworthy? Because there’s an assumption that you can hire an entertainment attorney — that’s the guy on your side, remember — and not get 100 percent of his/her loyalty. It’s pretty hard to win a legal battle with a lawyer who might not be riding with you. You’d think loyalty was a given, but, as Busch casually explains it, that’s not the case. Read on at Cuepoint. What the “Blurred Lines” Lawyer Taught All...
Appraising Amanda Palmer’s New Patreon Campaign

Appraising Amanda Palmer’s New Patreon Campaign

Read Appraising Amanda Palmer’s New Patreon Campaign on Cuepoint. Amanda Palmer is good people. No, she’s great people. She came to a songwriting class I taught at Yale, and opened her heart, mind and soul to my students. She tweeted to her fanbase and for one slice of a second, we trended on Twitter. (I did not get the screengrab. Dammit.) Now she’s got a Patreon campaign, and I think the experiment will prove fruitful for her. As I write, she’s up to $20k per piece of content after just one day. So. Fruitful. In short: Meet the future of the tip jar. Appraising Amanda Palmer’s New Patreon...
Actually, It’s Kanye Who Doesn’t Respect Artistry

Actually, It’s Kanye Who Doesn’t Respect Artistry

A post-Grammy thought, for Cuepoint: Not called to the podium for any reason, Kanye nonetheless concocted an excuse to take the trip. He gained nothing, unless life is to be gauged by attention. But what he lost is more interesting. In short: you don’t call out to respect artistry by disrespecting the artists you want the world to respect. That is, unless you don’t respect artistry yourself. Kanye West Does Not Respect...
The Sometimes Platinum Window

The Sometimes Platinum Window

My experience auditioning for a record label. Dedicated to anyone who has done something weird. I reminded myself that there was no one to ask for permission. I could play solo, and write the words I needed to say. I could record, live tight, and strip my life to its essence, with its familiar silence and the weight of everything being exactly where I left it. I could go on without anyone, but I didn’t want to. What I wanted was a team. Everyone wants a team. Even dogs group together in the wild. https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-sometimes-platinum-window-43a71a2c24e8 This is the latest from “The Solo Show,” my ongoing collection of essays, playlists and stories. Check out the growing library and follow along here: https://medium.com/@mikeerrico   The Sometimes Platinum...
The dying art of the last song on the also-dying art of the “album.”

The dying art of the last song on the also-dying art of the “album.”

Plus: A 59-song playlist of happy(-ish) endings. [This is an excerpt from “Hi. I’m Your Songwriting Professor,” from the ongoing story series “The Solo Show,” by Mike Errico, on Cuepoint.] “…I love the last songs on albums, the ones where the agendas and obligations lift like the dampers of the piano, allowing all creative strings to vibrate at once. This is when the artists reveal themselves, tell their inside jokes, and foreshadow their ambitions. I know that the whole idea of an “album” always was a construct — once upon a time, album length was determined by the amount of music a graphite disc could hold — and if that construct disappears completely, no one will even know what I’m talking about. There won’t be “last songs,” there will only be “unpopular” ones. UnPop music. Maybe that’s what I like.” Check out the rest of the article here: The dying art of the last song on the also-dying art of the “album.” And see what I’m talking about with this playlist of last songs from “albums”...
The Reason You Love “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

The Reason You Love “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

The Peanuts universe is depressive, violent and predatory. It took Vince Guaraldi to make it feel like Christmas. In “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is entering its 50th year, and the soundtrack has become the Dark Side of the Moon of holiday favorites. Check out this piece I wrote for Cuepoint. The Reason You Love “A Charlie Brown...