Entertainment Lawyer’s 4 KEY Tips For Artists & Creators Inking Contracts

This week’s special guest on Trapital is entertainment lawyer Karl Fowlkes. As part of his own The Fowlkes Firm, Karl represents entertainers across many domains — from music to sports to media, including hip-hop’s rising star, Blxst. He pulled double duty, not only appearing on the podcast, but guest-writing for the newsletter about the need for the artist contract to evolve.

In particular, Karl predicts shared equity between not only artists and record labels, but also with other parties like distributors or fintech companies. The days of record labels having 100-percent ownership of an artists’ masters could slowly be phased out over the next decade in favor of a split much more friendly toward the artist.

Karl also has advice for an artist, or any content creator for that matter, signing a new contract — LOMO. The acronym stands for length, obligation, money, and ownership. These are the top-line items creators should prioritize when inking deals, according to Karl.

Karl has a ton more insights into how artists and creators can maximize their long term value, plus how deals will change in the near and distant future. Here’s everything we covered during our interview:

0:59 The Future Of The Artist Deal
3:22 Changes With Major Record Labels
5:11 Will Record Labels Exist In 10-20 Years?
8:07 Artists Wanting A Partnership, Not Signing
14:15 Karl’s Advice To All Content Creators Signing Contracts
18:10 The Issue With Music Royalties
23:00 The Hip-Hop “Middle Class”
24:08 Building EVGLE Brand Alongside Blxst
26:55 Blxst Partnership Status With “Major” Labels

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