"B# Newsletter Q& A"

Two very important scenarios are explored in
this Q&A issue:

* The concern for mixed gender relationships
within bands

* When writers who collectively own songs
in one band leave and become members in
other bands, with all writers using the same
material

Please read and feel free to send me your
thoughts to kenlove@...

Thanks,

Kenny Love, Publisher/Editor
"The B# Newsletter"
________________________________________

"Kenny:

I am a member of a new musical group that is
just forming with both males and females. Call
me sexist, but I am dead set against females, as
I have been in a group before that ended
because of internal relationships that began.
What's your opinion?"

J. Snow
=====

J:

In my opinion, as with any business venture,
and as is the formation of bands (despite the
denial of some musicians) some ground rules
should be laid out and agreed upon/voted on by
all members in the group before proceeding
further. The most important aspect, obviously,
is the group's success, regardless of the gender
within.

There is no shortage of successful mixed gender
groups, and there is no reason to judge this new
act by an act in your past and assume that it
will not be successful.

Additionally, there are some incredibly talented
female artists, and would be unfortunate to allow
such an element that can be easily resolved by
addressing it now to, otherwise, sacrifice the
band's best success.

Also obvious, is that no one can dictate the
relationships of or between others. However, it
will go a long way to bring this potential
situation of concern to you out in the open and
discuss it upfront and beforehand, and have all
members agree upon a commonality.

kl
_________________________________________

"Mr. Love:

Our 7-piece band that contained three writers
broke up several months ago. All writers worked
and composed all songs together. Now, all
writers are in separate new bands and are using
several of the same songs for their new music
releases. Depending on the success of each
band, what is the potential fallout?"

James R.
=====

James, I'm not sure that I have ever
encountered this situation or heard of it, but
here is the best that I can do, in terms of a
response.

I believe that, as with the above situation, all
writers should consider creating some sort of
(written) agreement that allows all writers to
use the compositions in full. Because, if this (or
something similar) is not implemented, and I am
certainly not an attorney, but it is possible that
any of the other writers could have block use
of the material with his/her name attached to it.

Additionally, if one of the bands becomes very
successful while the other bands do not, a
writer in the less successful band(s) could also,
possibly, file suit that his/her name or
association was used without permission with
the successful band.

Now, in my opinion, this would be financially
senseless and abnormal, since the writer(s) in
the less successful band(s) would only stand to
gain financially since he/she is a writer, but with
jealousy/envy being what it is in human nature
and, particularly, within the music industry, far
stranger situations have occurred.

So, go with the agreement/contract scenario
with all writers beforehand. Because, you may
be very glad on several accounts in the future
that you did.

kl
_______________________________

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