Translate

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Precautions for Tattoo Artist, Indie Musicians,photogrophers, etc..

Being that jobs may be limited and few for a while, this may be the year that our small businesses take off.  Even though these small businesses my be our aspirations and goals, there are jealous and envious minded people that choose to attempt to get richer by sabotaging our businesses.  There are a few tricks to the trades for my Indie musician, vocalist, studio producers, film directors, photographers, tattoo artist, and other  small businesses.  
Many products that we use such as Inks, Films, and even electrical products, if we look close have disclaimers and are produced by LLC.'s. What this means is Limited Liability Companies and Corporations. This is so that they cannot be fully liable for any damages that may occur.  They can only be held liable for a percentage that would be so small that the law suit would cost more than the amount that is recovered.  This would be a lost for any scheming client to pursue and would be a deterrence.  A LLC license can be obtained by filing "Articles of Organization" with your Secretary of State's office. All rules and fees can be found on your states Secretary of State's website.
Also a huge part of dealing with any customers that are troublesome would be solved by contracts.  Contracts are protection against any last minute renegotiations, change of plans, schemes, etc.  Sample contracts are available online for you to get an idea of important things to include.  Eg. A tattoo artist could use a contract like this: http://news.bmezine.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/tattoorelease.html , while a song writer, publisher, film director, or photographer could use contracts like these: http://www.ispgroupinc.com/contracts/contract_samples.htm .  The important thing is to make certain names and circumstances are to your satisfaction and it's always good to have a lawyer read over them to double check your work.
Companies like Ascap(American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) 
 and BMI (Broadcast Music Inc) and Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC) are good for Singer, Song writers, Film makers, Authors, Illustrators, etc. to have their copyrights protected and their royalties collected with out any hassle.  They often provide the contracts and hassle free services.
These are all thing to consider before any of my small business owners do jobs for clients because they are so called "Cool".  In reality we are all going to encounter a client or customer that "I wouldn't wish on the Taliban."