OK, I know it is dreadfully boring, and butt ugly, but you really should know some of the rules upon which you operate your business.
You wouldn’t go to Las Vegas – sit at the Blackjack table and bet a grand on your hand – if you didn’t know the rules? Would you? (“I thought that was an ‘eleven.’ Yes, it is an ‘eleven’; but it is also a ‘one.’ Damn!”)
Even if you can afford a lawyer to come to your rescue when you screw up, you will certainly save time and money by educating yourself in the law – well, as much as possible.
The business of “Art” is not really much different from all the other businesses. (Oh yeah, how did that sound? Just another business?) If there is an opportunity to make some money, and you have talent, then you can be sure that some dirt bag is looking to screw you. In the “Art” industry, getting ahead often means taking advantage of “artists,” who usually aren’t experienced in the law. However, if you understand the basics of the law, there is less of a chance that the dirt bag will screw you. Now if you like getting screwed by dirt bags then read no further; when your time comes, you can, as they say, “lay back and enjoy it.”
It would do me good, to do you good. In other words: know the basics of the law; to minimizing the screwing. (Again, those of you who enjoy the screwing can pour yourself another drink or fire up another bowl and go watch “America’s Got Talent” – or the ilk.)
Okay, if you are still with me, the first and most important step in running your “Art” business is to accept the fact that it is a business.
Producing “Art” is your creative work and selling that “Art” is a business. Are you interested in selling your “Art”? Then legal knowledge is essential to your success.
Hopefully, you will come to find that taking care of your business actually involves creativity and may not be quite as boring as you once thought (well, maybe not). You might even get turned on to the fact that there is power that comes with understanding the law. (OK, maybe that is really a stretch but give me a little leeway with the hyperbole here – it sounds sexy.)
You do not need to do all the legal work yourself but it is important, especially at the beginning, that you understand basic legal principles in order to make the “right” decisions and avoid the chasms of failure (and, thus, the proverbial screwing).
At the very least, I hope I can dispel any apathy (i.e. “I don’t know and I don’t care”).
And don’t even think of sending me an e-mail to tell me that you “just cannot understand legal principles.” If you have the cognitive skills to create “Art,” believe me, you have the skills to understand the law.
I will attempt to dispense with the legal jargon or “legalese” and talk in a language you understand but I will need you to hold my feet to the fire on this one. (I just love the lingo!)
Are we on the same page? Everything is copacetic? OK, your first assignment is to check out the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Website and really take a good look around – it is a great resource. I will follow its syllabus: copyrights; trademarks; contracts; and entity formation. Please leave me a comment with any question you may have on these subjects, poste haste, in order that I may address them in the appropriate post.
Finally, I leave you with this from B. Russell: “A chicken may have been fed by a certain man throughout its life, and have come to look to him confidently for food; but one day he wrings its neck instead. It would have been better for the chicken if its inductive inferences had been less crude.”
Don’t be a chicken. Please.
