Legal advice about using my name in the liner notes on a CD.

[mechanicalmastering]

To condense a long-winded explanation of the events, basically, the band paid for tracking time, decided not to pay for mixing time, I tried to extend a helping hand, but they started to threaten me to do free work for them or face slander. Half the record sounds awesome & the band loves it, the other half I have refused to finished without payment. They threatened to release the record as-is and plaster my name & studio info on it without my authorization or consent, is that legal?

[thethingwiththestuff]

seriously? just call their bluff and tell them to put out a shitty sounding record. it'll hurt them more than it hurts you, and most likely these guys don't have enough scene pull to negatively influence your name if they're this juvenile.

[mechanicalmastering]

Right on!

[Jeff White]

If they owe you money for time worked and you have a contract signed binding them to pay you for that work then you should take them to small claims court. Or at least hit them with a lawyer letter to make them think that you are taking it up a notch. Don't take bullshit from bullies.

And definitely for future's sake make sure that you get paid and protect yourself with a contract explaining to all parties the outline of the project/payment and get 50% up front ALWAYS.

Jeff

[mechanicalmastering]

If they owe you money for time worked and you have a contract signed binding them to pay you for that work then you should take them to small claims court. Or at least hit them with a lawyer letter to make them think that you are taking it up a notch. Don't take bullshit from bullies.

And definitely for future's sake make sure that you get paid and protect yourself with a contract explaining to all parties the outline of the project/payment and get 50% up front ALWAYS.

Good call, unfortunately, they don't owe me for the mixing I've already completed, I did it out of the kindness of my heart in order to add some Metal to my portfolio. GREAT ADVICE! [/code]

[Gregg Juke]

Hey, what everybody else said. You've got to hold the line.

Funny, it's usually a case of trying to _get_ credit for work done, not the other way around (not getting credit for somebody else's work).

Anyway, the "cease and desist" letter from an attorney is a good idea. If you don't have a music attorney, and you don't have a GP that is familiar with contract &/or intellectual property law, try contacting someone at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (www.vlany.org); they may be able to help.

GJ

[mechanicalmastering]

Anyway, the "cease and desist" letter from an attorney is a good idea. If you don't have a music attorney, and you don't have a GP that is familiar with contract &/or intellectual property law, try contacting someone at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (www.vlany.org); they may be able to help.

Awesome! I will do that, thank you!

[MoreSpaceEcho]

how about telling us the name of this bunch of clowns?

so wait, i know i'm just repeating what you wrote, but i wanna make sure i have this right...they paid for tracking time, then refused to pay for mixing time, but you mixed some of it for free anyway because you're a swell guy, and then rather than saying "wow that was super awesome of you, thanks!" they said "mix the goddamn rest of it for free too or we'll put it out sounding shitty and make you look bad!"

really? this is certainly a contender for the douchiest/stupidest move ever award.

[Jeff White]

Without the final mixes / masters there is no record. Always provide iTunes encoded 128kbps MP3s with raised to zero output for reference mixes until you get paid.

Jeff

[Gregg Juke]

Yeah, good point about the rough mixes... The classic "hold the tapes" scenario; there was a reason for that.

GJ

[junomat]

Yeah, call their bluff. Releasing an unfinished record will only hurt them theoretically. Call it.

[Nick Sevilla]

Let them release it WITHOUT any of your mix work.

F them.

They are screwing themselves, and sound like they need a lawyer up their derriere.

I had a scenario like this.

I wrote a letter basically stating that I was not giving them permission to use ANY of my unpaid mixes, and that a lawsuit would ensue for any monies earned from the sale of my mixes.

I asked that they remove my mixes from ANY and ALL printed media including CDs, DVDs, mp3 players, and also online websites, including iTunes, CDBaby, mp3.com, etc, and including even as little as a 5 second snippet was not to be used without my permission.

The band in question had to relent. I did have to hound the websites and sent some friends to a couple of their shows to buy some of their merchandise, and after I discovered they were still using ONE of my mixes. I sent an even more ominous letter.

They stopped. The band no longer exists in that incarnation at least.

You could have a lawyer write a similar letter up, pay him about 500 bucks, and watch the idiots not put out a CD.

The only thing that you made a big mistake on, is that you allowed yourself to be mistreated, because you wanted the credit. This might appear as a non-sue-able situation for you in court. BUT that should not stop you from bullying them back, BIG TIME. Defend yourself. Stop being such a nice guy, when being pushed, push back, darnit.

DO NOT EVER DO THAT TO YOURSELF AGAIN!!! You should value yourself more.

Cheers

[Nick Sevilla]

To condense a long-winded explanation of the events, basically, the band paid for tracking time, decided not to pay for mixing time, I tried to extend a helping hand, but they started to threaten me to do free work for them or face slander. Half the record sounds awesome & the band loves it, the other half I have refused to finished without payment. They threatened to release the record as-is and plaster my name & studio info on it without my authorization or consent, is that legal?

That would be considered slander, but on THEIR part, not yours.

You on the other hand have not committed any slander of any kind. I think whomever in the band said that to you needs to look up "slander" in a dictionary.

Slander is basically when you talk bad about someone on purpose in order to cause them monetary losses, stress, and other things. The law is pretty specific about what is considered slander. In merry old England, it is the soup of the day in the courts. But here in the States, it is much more difficult to prove slander. we have more strict laws about that, thanks to our forefathers.

They would look like complete idiots doing this, and no one would ever ever take them seriously. They could kiss any record label ever calling on them. "Shot in the foot" mean anything to you? Because that is what they are trying to do to themselves.

Let them release it the way they want. Do NOT mix the rest of it. Just do not give them any more of your work. Seriously. Do. Not. Give. An. Inch.

Cheers

[Gentleman Jim]

seriously? just call their bluff and tell them to put out a shitty sounding record. it'll hurt them more than it hurts you, and most likely these guys don't have enough scene pull to negatively influence your name if they're this juvenile.

+1.

This threat is about as plausible as the scene in Blazing Saddles where Cleavon Little holds a gun to his own head. So they're going to spend ~$1000 and endeavor to explain to everybody who buys the 12 track cd that the last 6 tracks sound like crap because the engineer was a jerk and didn't do what they demanded? How old do you think that's going to get?

If you're paid up, chalk this one up to a learning experience.

In the future, don't do half a job for free. That only opens up the possibility for a situation like this, where bad feelings arise because a band now "needs" something they can't afford, and they don't understand why your time, expertise, and equipment/space should cost so much when "you weren't going to be doing anything else anyway..."

[Nick Franklin]

90% of the people who hear the record won't give two hoots about where it was recorded, and a large proportion of people are unable to properly tell the difference between a bad recording and a bad band. It will look worse for them than for you.

Seriously though, what band is willing to intentionally put out a shit sounding record for the sake of getting at someone... wankers!