Prince in the Afterlife - Artists Rights

I have seen and spoken to Prince Rogers Nelson since his passing.  On one morning while driving, Prince appeared out of nowhere, smiling, while saying "Hi", with an amazing loving presence.

Since then, I've spoken to him on occasion.  He is different than some of the people I've spoken to on the other side.  Instead of sometimes just appearing or talking, Prince asks "Can I talk to you for a minute?"  He is extremely polite, very kind, very caring about other people and so I've found, very knowledgeable about the music industry.

As you might imagine, Prince is not happy at all about what is happening with the music industry. He is and was concerned for not only himself, but other artists.  While he lived, he has said he was working towards helping others in the industry.  Now that he's on the other side, he has offered some advice:

"Use scrutiny when dealing with others involving your financial affairs.  Bring particular attention to the act of severability in the contract itself.  You should not be held accountable for fees for administration of your own music.  Fees charged to musicians are like fines in our legal system. Everyone deserves the right to be heard free and clear without repercussions from the justice system, our courts or the record companies themselves.

Leave the legalities of music as defined today on a table next to your bed.  When you wake up the next morning and you're not dead - rejoice.  They haven't done away with you yet.  Don't be surprised, however, to wake up one day and find that all the music you worked so hard to create is behind closed doors next to someone with a motive to kill for your music.  These are monsters who are hungry to control and devour any reputable artist alive.  

Don't misrepresent your interests when you sign your life away.  Control what you have, when you have it.  Leave no stone unturned when fighting for justice and go it alone if you must.  These people need to be stopped in their tracks in order for the music industry to survive.  We are not alone in this mission.  The higher authority on this is God himself.  Read the bible - Thou shall not kill.

There are three things to remember when faced with adversity:

1. The first constitutional right; Freedom of speech - Speak your mind.
2. The second constitutional right; Freedom to bear arms - Fight if you must.
3. The constitutional right to be able to love God the way you see fit - Love him/her with all your heart and never let go.  Trust me, it works."

- Prince Rogers Nelson

For us lay people, especially me, I had to look up the term "act of severablity".  It is one of many clauses that are most often contained at the end of a contract.  This clause, in particular, has to do with rights:

"SEVERABILITY 

From time to time, parties to a contract wind up suing one another.  The court is often asked to determine whether a party has breached some part of the contract. Occasionally, a court will rule that all or part of the contract is unenforceable. Maybe it is too vague.  Maybe it is too one-sided.  Maybe a part of the contract violates some obscure law that neither party knew about.

For example, your term songwriter agreement with Big Hits may prohibit you from writing songs for any other publisher in the United States for 10 years after your contract with Big Hits ends.  A Texas court would probably hold such a “non-competition” clause to be unenforceable as an unreasonable  restraint of trade.  But does that mean that the entire contract would be void?

Severability clauses provide that if any portion of the agreement is held invalid, the other portions of the contract will not be affected, but will remain valid and enforceable according to their terms.  It will be as though the offensive part of the contract had never existed.  The rest of the contract stays in force."  source:  RobertCarter

Prince has also stated that the industry knows how to write contracts - that's what they do.  When you sign up as an artist, you rarely think about what you're getting yourself into.  You are happy to be able to do the thing you love - your music.  But if you bypass the legalities, you give up your rights as an artist.  Sometimes it's the small details that take us by surprise.