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Keep it fresh: DJ Dolph

The music industry is ever evolving and in the more recent years has transformed into a digital download contest. Even more specifically, the hip-hop industry has become a playground for digital download and free content. With the advent of websites such as djbooth.net, hotnewhiphop.com, worldstarhiphop.com and hiphopisdream.com, music is available at the click of a button. At the same time hip hop music is becoming easy to homebrew, aka throw together in your college dorm room, and therefore, the market is becoming heavily saturated. Every day thousands of mix tapes are uploaded to Datpiff.com and millions of songs are uploaded to limelinx.com for illegal download. With so much music available at the click of a button it seems almost impossible for an emerging artist to make his mark in this digital congestion, right?

Well, recently the industry has seen several individuals step into the rap game without label support and mostly due to their success using digital marketing. To learn more about how this is done I will introduce this week’s fresh download candidate: D’Pryde. This 17 year old Canadian rapper/songwriter/producer just recently released his first mix tape titled Mars and collected over 150,000 downloads in the first three days. The question is how did this teenager create a buzz large enough to reach these kind of numbers and the answer is digital presence. Over two years ago D’Pryde set up his YouTube Channel and started doing ‘freeverses’ over popular songs, filming them and uploading them to his page. One year later D’Pryde had uploaded 150 videos amassing over 30 million views. Last summer on July 14^th, 2010 D’Pryde got a call from hip hop commoner Dr. Suss One and was signed to his label Mars Music.

With the help of Dr. Suss One and several other experts D’Pryde was put on track to grow a large fan base. Over the next few months the team focused on placing ads, like the one seen below, all over popular hip hop websites and social media blogs.

Soon enough D’Prydes YouTube channel had reached over 50 million views and he has created a fan base well over 500,000 people. In a recent interview with Channel APA D’Pryde expresses how he thanks all of his fans for viewing his material online and contributes his success to his video postings. Head over to this LINK and check out the Mars mix tape, in the mean time enjoy D’Prydes newest song titled "No Sleep".

Whether you are an artist, manager, agent or entrepreneur, one subject that requires an immense amount of attention is intellectual property. Most people are under the impression that registering a copyright, trademark or patent is a difficult process, but with some help from your attorney and as basic understanding of IP, your property can be protected quite easily. In order to teach you a few tricks and get your IP properly secured, I interviewed attorney Keith Hackenberg, who specializes in intellectual property.

So let’s say you are a manager and you have just developed your first management company. After a great deal of debate you develop a name for your company, but what you probably haven’t thought about is the availability of that name. An easy way to check the status of your name is to run a trademark search on USPTO.gov. Mr. Hackenberg pointed out that one of the most important issues to keep in mind when using an attorney is that time is money. The last situation you want to be in is to go to your attorney and get billed, only to find out that the mark you want to register is not even available.

The next decision you will have to make is whether you want your trademark to be registered in your state or federally. Mr. Hackenberg informed me that 95% of the time he recommends registering a trademark federally. By doing so this allows you to partake in interstate commerce and also gives you the ability to collect statutory damages, if infringement occurs. The only instance in which you might consider registering your trademark with the state is if you are a local business, with no plans for expansion. For those of you who have a logo but have failed to register it, fear not. Mr. Hackenberg explained to me that even if a name or logo has yet to be registered, it still has the ability to bear the TM stamp. By placing this mark on your logo you are informing consumers that this is a trademark and part of your brand.

For those of you who are artists, you may be questioning the process associated with registering a copyright. First, take a trip to Copyright.gov and head to the forms section. From here you will see a form called the CO Form, simply click on the download link and the form should open. What you are now viewing is the standard catchall form for every type of copyright currently available. Mr. Hackenberg recommends that you look through the form and get a general idea of the information it asks for. After you realize you have all the information necessary to complete the form, you should then hire an attorney. According to Mr. Hackenberg, hiring an attorney is a solid investment when filing a copyright because it ensures that the documents are going to be filled out correctly and completely.

I know many of you are tech savvy and are probably saying to yourself, “I think I will just go to legalzoom.com.” According to Mr. Hackenberg, this is the worst decision you could make, when attempting to register a trademark, patent or copyright. The reason being that when you register through Legal Zoom all you receive in return for your cash is a piece of paper. The benefit of using an attorney is the counsel, expertise and personal face-to-face connection you receive. Mr. Hackenberg also pointed out that if you experience a problem when registering IP through Legal Zoom, there is no one to give you advice. When using an attorney, he or she will look at the problem, analyze it and then point you in the right direction.

I encourage everyone to take matters into your own hands and take the time to protect yourself by registering your intellectual property. The process may seem intimidating, but I hope that through this blog you have come to the realization that registration is actually quite easy. As always, Stay Fresh My Friends: DJ Dolph.

Thank You to:

Keith D. Hackenberg


IP, Trademark, and Copyright Law


Levy & Associates, P.A.


407-321-4844


Keith@levylawyers.com

Sometimes its good to stop, look and listen when operating in the new yet massive social media sweep. In today’s day and age it is essential that every artist creates an online presence but celebrities are slowly learning this beast can become a severe burden. With the advent of Web 2.0, user generated content has become the dominant player in the social media web, attracting over 115 million Internet users in 2010. As Facebook, Twitter and the influx of blogs take over the web, celebrities with large social media followings are becoming targets for lawsuits and victims of defamation.

During the Twitter boom of 2009 our first subject Miley Cyrus approached her inaugural social media disaster. One of Miley’s devoted and loyal friends made the intelligent decision to post this delicious photo on the Internet.



Where the photo landed I do not know but let’s be serious it belongs on Hightimes.com. Anyways, if you can take your eyes off the guy on Pluto, holding a chalice of vino, so high he can’t open his eyes, then you might notice delicate Miley sitting on her "sober" boyfriends lap mocking a "slanted eye" look. Several days later an Asian Pacific Islander named Lucie Kim filed a 4 billion dollar class action lawsuit against Cyrus, claiming the gesture was a civil rights violation. The judge eventually threw out the lawsuit but it’s a reminder to all artists that social media presence must be monitored carefully.

If we skip a year forward to August 16th, 2010 we come to an issue between the boy band pop star Joe Jonas and his underage ex Demi Lovato. According to AceShowBiz, “On August 15th Canadian blogger Zack Taylor claimed Jonas and 17 year-old Lovatio - who is under the legal age of sexual consent in many U.S. states - were ‘friends with benefits’.” Jonas did not appreciate this comment and within days his legal team had delivered a letter to Taylor demanding that the blogger remove all comments pertaining to the relationship. According to TMZ.com, who acquired the letter, the singer’s attorney warns, “Your repeated posting of fabricated stories regarding our client must be viewed as evidence of your wilful or reckless disregard for the truth and reflect a malicious attempt to attack and devalue our client's good name and reputation." 

"We will be monitoring your site and will be advising our client of his legal options, including, but not limited to, the filing of a lawsuit against you for defamation.”

Although the Joe Jonas case never transformed into a court case, it paved the way for the first celebrity social media defamation case. On March 3rd, 2011 actress Courtney Love settled a defamation lawsuit with the fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir for $430,000. In 2009 Love began to grill Simorangkir over a $4,000 clothing payment. In court Love argued that her rants were merely an expression of opinion and were not damaging. Simorangkir expressed that as an entertainer Love has social media power at her back and personally I don’t blame her, if I was called an "asswipe nasty lying hoebag thief" I’d want Love’s head and her cash. This settlement is important because it shapes the precedent for future social media defamation cases. It should remind all artists that yes, social media can aid in your progression but it’s a beast nobody should feel comfortable flirting with. With fame comes a following and a following creates power so keeping that in mind we should all remember the viral nature of Web 2.0

To honor the current King of Social Media I give you Chamillionaire’s new song “Charlie Sheen”. Stay Fresh My Friends. Dj Dolph


Resources:
Miley Cyrus
Joe Jonas
Courtney Love

Recently I was fortunate enough to interview Columbus, Ohio’s very own Ryan Notes. Notes is an up and coming rapper/vocalist who on a whim moved to Brooklyn to pursue his career in music. Shortly after getting to New York Ryan was confronted by a man named Robert Alheim who introduced himself to Ryan as an artist manager but little did Ryan know Alheim was not formally trained nor did he really have any connections in the music industry. Unfortunately for Ryan a contract was signed and locked Ryan in for three years with Alheim. When I asked Ryan why he signed the contract he looked at me and said, “Well to be honest I was so excited by the fact that someone was willing to manage me that I did not even ask myself questions like; Are we compatible? Is this guy blowing smoke up my ass? What were his connections?”

At this point Ryan realized he was locked into three years with someone he didn’t want to spend another day with and at the same time was getting ready to release his debut mixtape. With proper management this tape could have taken off (http://www.datpiff.com/Ryan-Notes-Take-Notes-mixtape.126305.html) as Ryan has an enormous amount of talent and is very driven. So the question is what lies down the road for Ryan? When I asked Ryan what he is going to do about the situation this is what he answered, “Well to be honest right now I am in limbo, I am operating without a manager because I can not work with Alheim and have been doing a lot of self management.” To me this is sad because it really shows the dampener that a poor artist manager can have on an artist with extreme potential. At this point I understand what Ryan is going through. He is lost, cannot afford legal representation and truly has no idea what he has gotten himself into.

Before our conversation ended we discussed what Ryan’s options were and he picked my brain about what possibilities he has. First, I let Ryan know that he has to keep trucking on and creating content with or without his manager. Second, he needs to review the contract to see what is binding him and whether he has the option to sign a second manager. Third, he should evaluate the contract to see whether there is a sunset clause involved. After talking with Ryan it truly showed me how important it is for all artists, whether superstars or amateurs, to always evaluate the individual they are signing with before inking a contract.