From the course: Music Law: Recording, Management, Rights, and Performance Contracts

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Leaving members

Leaving members

From the course: Music Law: Recording, Management, Rights, and Performance Contracts

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Leaving members

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- What happens when a label signs a duo or a group and members later leave the group or the group breaks up? The record contract deals with this possibilty in the leaving member provision, a clause that permits the label to poach any leaving member from the group under the same terms as the original deal. In other words, when members leave, or groups disband, the label can choose whom it will keep under contract. Of greater concern to the members who are retained, is whether they will be saddled with the debts of the group. For example, if a group breaks up and the label claims the lead singer as a leaving member, the lead singer's income can be withheld by the label until the groups debts are paid off. If at all possible, leaving members should not be linked to the financial obligations of the group. Such provisions should also give pause to a group member thinking seriously about embarking on a solo career. A side-artist provision, also known as the a side man clause, permits an…

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