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.

We all know that the entertainment industry is cut throat but Brian Drusky, CEO of Drusky Entertainment, deals in this harsh environment every day, on numerous levels. Drusky Entertainment is a full service entertainment company specializing in show production. They offer every service required to host a show including, but not limited to, booking, advertising, technical/production and settlement. Due to the fact that they offer such a wide variety of services Mr. Drusky has more business-to-business transactions than most entertainment companies. I recently interviewed Mr. Drusky to learn about some of the dirty tricks he experiences when dealing with agencies and other production companies.

I listed seventeen commonly used dirty tricks and asked Mr. Drusky to elaborate on the ones which he felt are most commonly used in the industry. The seventeen tactics presented during the interview were: phony facts, higher authority, add-ons, personal attacks, good guy / bad guy, intimidation, lock-in tactics, take it or leave it, high ball / low ball, bogey, chicken, exaggerated assertions, threats, scoundrel, scrambled eggs, foot in the door, and deadlines. Mr. Drusky immediately leaned towards two of these devious methods, intimidation and take it or leave it. Mr. Drusky said that when dealing with many individuals in the industry some sort of intimidation factor becomes present. Mr. Drusky explained this by stating that when you operate in such a saturated industry you have to be confident in your work if you are going to properly sell your skills. It just so happens that many individuals feel like one of the best ways of doing so is by trying to intimidate you, yet in reality they are simply boosting their own self-confidence. Mr. Drusky said there are several ways to handle an individual who is trying to intimate you. One way that he believes is the best, when dealing with a potential client, is to simply play into his or her attitude. In other words you let them boost their ego because at the end of the day they will enjoy your presence because you make them feel better about themselves.

According to Mr. Drusky another commonly used ploy in the entertainment industry is the take it or leave it attitude. Mr. Drusky claims that he runs into this situation daily when dealing with the agents representing the artists he uses to produce a show. For example, many agents will shoot a price to Mr. Drusky and instead of leaving room for negotiation they simply say they have flat rate and he can take it or walk away. Essentially, they are saying that they have the power to leave you in the dust and go with another production team. Mr. Drusky said that this situation is very hard to gauge and can be a deal breaker if not handled appropriately. He claimed that the most beneficial way to handle this is to play hardball with the agent to create your own buying power. For example, if an agent is telling you to take the price or walk away inform the agent that you will walk away and that you have another artist willing to perform at the rate you want. If the agent refuses to negotiate then at that point it is his loss because his client loses on a great opportunity. Mr. Drusky said that if it gets to that point and the agent walks away it is likely that the artist will hear about the situation and if he, she or they feel as if it was a lost opportunity you will be contacted again by the agent. The only difference is that the next time you will be the one holding the dice.

I want to thank Mr. Drusky for his time and informative words of wisdom. Of course, I cannot leave my readers without presenting the jam of the week so I bring you the hottest song I have heard in a while, Wiz Khalifa featuring Too Short – On My Level. We all know that Black and Yellow brought this superstar from nothing to OMG status but somehow the young rapper continues to please our ears with some delicious ear candy. His second single Roll Up is another song I recommend all my viewers download so I have posted the song below. Another note, don’t forget to grab Wiz’s Atlantic Records debut album Rolling Papers on March 29th! Stay fresh my friends. Dj Dolph



Tricky Tactics List

Drusky Entertainment

A story of persistence and dedication.

If I were to ask most music listeners if the name Saigon rings a bell I would have to assume that the majority of individuals would respond with “Sai what?”. Saigon boldly entered into the hip-hop industry in 2005 with a two season cameo on the popular show Entourage. Saigon interestingly enough played himself as an up and coming rapper trying to make it big. After his final Entourage appearance in 2006 Saigon decided to take his lyrical skills to the next level by collaborating and pledging his allegiance to super producer Just Blaze. Blaze has been quoted saying things such as, “Saigon is the most talented rapper the rap game has seen since Tupac.” Since 2005 fans and critics have salivated over this rappers unbelievable flow and bold nonchalant attitude.

In late 2006 Just Blaze tickled the hearts of thousands of Saigon fans by informing them that Saigon’s debut album titled The Greatest Story Never Told would release through an Atlantic Records deal in November of 2007.

Now let me take you on a journey, through the four year saga I would like to title “How to never tell a great story”. On June 1st, 2007 Saigon posted a blog on MySpace (yes we were still communicating through MySpace at this point in time) unintelligently informing the world that Atlantic Records did not like him because he was not a “Jingle Writer” and that he was going to release the album independently. On June 14th, 2007 Just Blaze responded on his MySpace telling everyone to settle down and that Saigon’s comment was not only incorrect but also unnecessary and that Atlantic was still involved in the process. Finally, on November 19th, 2007, with anticipation for the album growing, Saigon posted to his MySpace two simple words “I QUIT”. In a statement he gave HipHopGame.com later in the day he said, "This is it. The Greatest Story Never Told...I guess you could say it was prophecy," implying the album would never be released. Exactly one month later on December 19th, 2007 Saigon informed the world that he reconsidered retiring and planned on releasing The Greatest Story Never Told. Well Mr. Saigon it’s now January 19th, 2011 and The Greatest Story Never Told still has not been told. So your probably asking “Will this great story ever be told?”. It’s a long story.

In May of 2008 Saigon was released from Atlantic and received 100% ownership of the album. In February of 2010 Saigon announced via his Facebook (yep were getting closer to the present don’t worry) that he got a new deal with Suburban Noize Records to release the album on February 15th, 2011 (cross your fingers). So it is now less than a month from the release of what some critics are calling, “The most anticipated album since The Carter 3.” and new singles are beginning to drop. The track list has been released, which you can see below, and having heard almost 75% of the album I must say this is going to be an album to remember. Don’t cry you don’t have to wait a month to hear some fresh Saigon. If you’re interested in listening to some of the tracks off the album don’t worry because numerous songs from the album were released over the last half of a decade. Tracks like "Believe It", "Come On Baby" and “The Greatest Story Never Told” (background track for the week) are all great songs to throw on your playlist right now to satisfy that itch. Enough about Saigon the bottom line is mark your calendars for February 15th and cross your fingers for the release of an amazing debut album that has been in the works for six years. Keep it fresh my friends. Dj Dolph

No. Title Producer(s) Length

1. "Station Identification (Intro)" (feat. Fatman Scoop) Just Blaze 2:43

2. "The Invitation" (feat. Q-Tip and Fatman Scoop) Just Blaze 4:36

3. "Come On Baby" (feat. Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz) Just Blaze 3:43

4. "War" Scram Jones 1:59

5. "Bring Me Down Pt. 2" 4:46

6. "Enemies" D. Allen 3:41

7. "Friends" Just Blaze 1:50

8. "The Greatest Story Never Told" Just Blaze 4:00

9. "Clap" (feat. Faith Evans) Just Blaze 6:30

10. "Preacher" Just Blaze 4:22

11. "It’s Alright" (feat. Marsha Ambrosius) Kanye West 5:59

12. "Believe It" Just Blaze 6:01

13. "Give It To Me" (feat. Raheem DeVaughn) SC 5:17

14. "What The Lovers Do" (feat. Devin the Dude) Red Spyda 4:15

15. "Better Way" (feat. Layzie Bone) Just Blaze 4:30

16. "Oh Yeah (Our Babies)" Buckwild 4:14

Awesome Saigon interview talking about upcoming album

Sometimes an individual in the rap game comes along who is not only brilliant at throwing down untouchable rhymes but also demonstrates a savvy business sense. On T-Pain’s most recent single release titled Motivated he created one of the largest marketing splashes the hip hop game has ever seen. Before the official release of Motivated T-Pain leaked the song to several large hip hop web sites (hotnewhiphop.com, djbooth.net, 2dopeboyz.com) but interestingly enough the song was missing a second verse. Meaning that instead of T-Pain coming in on the second verse it was just a blank instrumental. This caused a huge amount of commotion throughout the industry as blogs were going crazy and hip-hop rating sites were questioning what was going on. The next day, December 15^th, T-Pain informed the media that he was hosting a contest. He had released Motivated unfinished because he wanted unsigned artists to create their own second verse and submit it to his website. From there T-Pain would pick one individual and they would be welcomed to his studio to record their verse and be featured on his up and coming mixtape titled Prevolver.

Last week the official single was released for download and interestingly enough the group known as Mayday, whom I previously wrote an article about, stole the crown. The two emcees from the group Wrek and Bernbiz jumped on this track and clearly caught the eye of T-Pain. Like I said in my previous article these guys really have great lyricism and are very dynamic even when going over a beat as complicated as Motivated. Speaking of the beat it is only fair that I recognize the new producer Young Frye who killed it for T-Pain with this one.

If T-Pain’s auto tune iPhone app didn’t prove he is capable of thinking outside the box to generate revenue, this brilliant marketing scheme definitely shows he is comparable to rap business stars such as 50 cent or Diddy. It looks like it’s going to be a very good year for Nappy Boy and Mayday, I hope the same for all of my viewers. Happy 2011 and as usual keep it fresh my friends. Dj Dolph.

Click below for T-Pain's invitation to compete!

T-Pain – Motivated (Open Unsigned Artists Contest)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Singer, actor, comedian and philanthropist Jamie Foxx is once again fresh out of the studio, this time dropping his much-anticipated album titled Best Night of My Life. Foxx was supposed to release this album on July 20^th, 2010 shortly after the release of his hit single "Winner" featuring T.I. and Justin Timberlake. After a debate with the distribution team the album was rescheduled for December 21^st, 2011. In order to keep Jamie’s hype alive two tracks off the album were released last week. The first is titled “Living Better Now” featuring Rick Ross and the second single is titled “Fall For Your Type”, which features modern say superstar Drake. Both of these tracks are unbelievably catchy and Foxx’s voice as usual is simply irresistible.

Maybe even more appealing is the fact that with all the commotion that comes with releasing an album Foxx still makes time to give back to his community. He is currently an ambassador for VH1’s Save the Music campaign, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education in America's public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child's complete education. To date, the Foundation has provided more than $47 million in new musical instruments to 1,750 public schools in more than 100 cities around the country, impacting the lives of over 1.6 million children. Foxx is working with Save the Music to create a national “Word Train” promotion about the redemptive power of music, inspired by his film The Solist. If this program is successful it will create buzz for Save the Music and encourage more individuals to take the time to make a donation.

Save the Music and Foxx recognize that our youth hold the future in their hands and if we fail to influence them in positive ways music will lose its appeal. By developing long-term, sustainable instrumental music programs in schools VH1 provides children with equal access to music education regardless of their financial situation. Individuals like Jamie Foxx who care about those who are less fortunate truly make a difference in a world where many are so self absorbed. Without Save the Music who knows how the music industry would turn out in 40 years and without the money to purchase instruments who knows what hidden talent lies in some of these schools. With programs like this the music industry is not only giving back to those who are financially struggling but also insuring that there will always be a future in music. I urge all my viewers to take a look at the Save the Music website linked below and in the spirit of Christmas make a donation to help those who are less fortunate. Below are some links to Jamie’s to new material and don’t forget to pick up a copy of his new album Best Night of My Life next week. Stay fresh my friends. Dolph

VH1 Save the Music