How Music Works: How a music lawyer can save bands from nightmare deals

If you are an artist with interest from the upper echelons of the music industry, one of the best decisions you could make is have the phone number of a good lawyer to hand.

Most musicians aren't and shouldn't be, comfortable with negotiating the terms of their record contract, so having someone like media lawyer Willie Ryan, who has worked with The Coronas, IRMA, Nathan Carter, Hozier and Walking On Cars over the last ten years, is vital.

Far from being the stuffy suit who offers legal advice from his office to starry-eyed youngsters, Ryan is an enthusiastic gig-going man found as often in Whelan's as the Four Courts. Splitting his time between London and Dublin, Ryan often gets involved with a musician's career long before a major record label comes knocking.

“You try to give as much advice to the young acts starting off pro bono as there's nothing worse meeting an act three years down the road who have done something stupid because they felt they couldn't afford a lawyer,” explains Ryan. “A lot of it is a quick half-hour consultation – music industry 101. It's like any business, if the structure is right at the start it can grow.”

Ryan has seen that growth for himself, having got involved with The Coronas very early on (who he met in Whelan's). The band recently signed a deal with Island Records in the UK for their fourth album, a deal Ryan oversaw.

Rocky revenues

The Coronas being picked up in the UK is an indication that the industry has found itself on more steady ground after a rocky few years. Ryan, who has also represented Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) in illegal downloading cases, agrees.

“Between 2009 and 2012, when the music industry was steadily in decline, illegal downloads had made physical and download sales fall off the chart. There had to be some sort of a fightback. The one angle under Irish law was that you couldn't injunct an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to stop someone illegally downloading. So if a site went up like The Pirate Bay, there was no way to stop it and very limited resources to do something about it.”

Ryan helped introduce the amendment to the law that enabled an injunction. That outcome coincided with the rise of Spotify and breakup of the EMI record label.

“You had Citi Bank buying EMI at the time and sales were in freefall so if you were an A&R guy you're not going to put your neck on the line to sign something that you weren't sure of. Once the EMI merger settled, everyone kinda knew where things were at.”

Hozier lifts all boats

With steadier revenues, comes renewed confidence, which nicely coincided with the arrival of Hozier.

“We'd been working with Andrew [Hozier-Byrne] for quite a while,” recounts Ryan of his business with the Dublin label Rubyworks. “We heard the EP and you didn't have to be a musical genius to figure out that was great, then the video [Take Me to Church] landed. There was an A&R scrum then. Any label would have been mad not to go after it which put us in a strong bargaining position. That's an exception to the rule. There hasn't been a deal like that since.”

Hozier's worldwide impact lead to other Irish acts signing deals with major labels - The Coronas with Island, and Walking On Cars with Virgin Records.

Most surprising about the work Ryan does perhaps, is how integrated he is between all of the facets of the industry. He almost functions in a managerial role himself, introducing A&R, labels, agents and management to a band when he feels it's an appropriate time.

“You have to make sure that the right people hear it at the right time. As things are happening, you're sitting in on decisions a lot and get to know all aspects of the business. That's an important part of the job of a music lawyer that a lot of people forget because we're across so many deals with labels at any one time.

“In the U.S., all the lawyers are part of the management team, and are getting part of the pie,” says Ryan. “Here, it works different, we operate on fees. The two most important people to bring in as part of any team are the lawyer and the accountant.”

“800 kids going bananas for a band they've never heard of”

With the Dingle band Walking On Cars, knowing the right time to bring in labels was crucial.

“When I started working with the band they had an amazing EP but live, they needed to gig more. We put a plan in place to work it really hard here to the point where they were selling out three nights in The Academy.

“The first gig we brought labels to was Dolan's Warehouse in Limerick. It was absolutely wedged. When you bring a label rep to a gig that has 800 kids going bananas for a band they've never heard of, singing back songs that hadn't been released, that helps.”

So what should a band look for if they are approached by a label, or find themselves in a bidding war?

“The opening gambit for any label is to try and get you for five albums on a 360 deal. You can negotiate that depending on how hot you are and how many offers you have.

“The important part is the A&R guy, because there's no point in signing to a label and having your A&R guy out the door shortly afterwards.

“You don't want to be one of a hundred coming out on a large label nor do you want to be one of one coming out on a small label either. So you give bands the pros and cons of everything. You have to look beyond the big cheque and see the fine print.

“Obviously money upfront and tour support is important to keep the band going but you got to make sure there's money spent on marketing and promotion. There's no point in sitting with a big cheque at home and no one listening to your record.”