Songsalive! supporting, promoting and educating songwriters and composers worldwide

For details on the Workshop Venue and other details, see our CHAPTERS page and find the Chapter referring to the speaker below.

See the upcoming Workshops on our Events Calendar here, or scroll down to end of this page
 

Los Angeles Songsalive! Songwriter's Workshop:

February 19, 2012

 TOPIC:  The Do's and Don'ts of Artistic Collaborations: A Legal Overview and Real-World Perspective

Two entertainment attorneys who have each performed in the trenches as indie artists will be providing their wealth of legal knowledge and real world experience, covering the basics of copyright law, and steps you should (and shouldn't) take to protect your music when you are collaborating with another artist, whether it be a songwriting partner, a band, a producer, etc.  They will walk you through the steps of properly registering collaborative works with the Library of Congress, and why this is an important step in the process.  They will explain the oh-so-important but frequently-misunderstood Work for Hire Agreement.  They will also explain the legal consequences of artistic collaborations from a real world perspective: for example, what happens when one person writes all the music, and the other person writes all the lyrics -- can the co-writer who wrote the musical portion license an instrumental version of the song and keep all of the money?  Can you license a song without your songwriting partner's permission?  Does it matter if you belong to different performing rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC)?  What happens if an artistic collaborator disappears or dies?  These questions and many others will be answered during this engaging and important session.

Christiane Cargill Kinney:

Ms. Kinney is a partner at LeClairRyan and Chair of the Firm's Entertainment Industry team. Spearheading the entertainment division in the Los Angeles office, Ms. Kinney’s practice focuses on entertainment transactions, including the drafting and negotiation of film, television and music contracts and licenses, and application of new technology relating to music, including online music distribution and Digital Millennium Copyright Act issues. She also handles intellectual property litigation matters, and frequently advises entertainment clients on right of publicity, false light, defamation and related issues. She has been featured in SuperLawyer Magazine for her work in the field of entertainment.  Ms. Kinney, a musician herself, is a member of ASCAP and a voting member of the Recording Academy, and fronts the Los Angeles-based band Riddle the Sphinx as its lead singer and pianist.

Gary P. Simonian:

Mr. Simonian is an associate at LeClairRyan and a member of the Firm's Entertainment Industry team.  His primary practice areas include protecting the intellectual property rights of large consumer electronic corporations and technology providers from actions constituting piracy, counterfeiting, and infringement. He has also handled numerous trademark and copyright infringement actions.  Mr. Simonian is a keyboard player and enjoys collaborating with other musicians in his free time.

Songsalive! Chicago Songwriters Workshop: March 10, 2012

TOPIC:  Songwriting 101

Learn the basics of how to write a song, basic musical theory terms, and tips for overcoming writers block.

Mary Lemanski:

Mary Lemanski started her professional music career at age 11, playing pipe organ. For the past 13 years, Mary has released her original music as MP3s on the Internet. In 2004, she placed runner-up in the Song of the Year Contest, had a Top 10 Hit on Broadjam.com's New Wave charts, and performed at the One World Festival in St. Cloud, MN. In 2005, she was showcased at Earth Mother Mind Jam in Tempe, AZ, the Putt Putt Pub Crawl in St. Louis, MO, and the Millennium Music Conference in Harrisburg, PA. In May 2006, Mary won honorable mention in the R&B/Hip-Hop category of the Song of the Year Contest.  In 2010, Mary Lemanski released her first full-length CD, "Eclectic." Since releasing "Eclectic," Mary has performed at Six Flags Great America and was a Semi-Finalist in the 2011 Song of the Year songwriting contest. She was also a Regional Winner in Flavorpill's A Band Apart competition and was featured on the Chicago Regional Winners mixtape.  In 2012, Mary released, "Speechless," an album of instrumentals in various genres.  For more information on Mary, visit www.marylemanski.com

ABOUT CONTACTING OUR GUEST SPEAKERS IN ADVANCE OR AFTER THE WORKSHOP

Our guest speakers give their time for free to come speak to you. They all lead busy lives and are not all available to receive unsolicited correspondence or communication. It is recommended to NOT contact the speaker in advance, nor after the workshop, unless they personally want you to. That is, come to our workshop, and if during the workshop they take an interest in creating a relationship with you, then, and only then, should you further communicate. It is bad practice to assume that since a speaker has been our guest, and that you met them through Songsalive!, that they are an open door for you to contact. Please use your best and courteous judgment in making contact. Thank so much for your understanding.