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Ellis had a recent gig at Saint Rocke’s this past week and I stopped by to say hi and catch his performance. Somehow I only took photos of him playing guitar, but most of the set actually featured Ellis on piano.

D*J*E and Ellis

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I passed the California Bar Exam and have been officially sworn in as an attorney. Thank you all for supporting me during this process, and for remaining loyal listeners to Electric Effect.

I am thrilled to now be able to represent artists as their attorney, help them protect their rights and further their careers.

Best,

D*J*E, Esq.

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I am thrilled to let you know that Your Industry Insider, a great entertainment industry website, has written a profile on me! Please visit them and subscribe at www.YourIndustryInsider.com. You can view the profile on me here, or read the text below. Many thanks to Jenny at YII!

Rock on!

~D*J*E

from YourIndustryInsider.com:

Making It Happen: DJ & JD Erin Jacobson

When YII met DJ Erin (Jacobson), we were impressed not only be her passion for music, but how she’d found ways to incorporate that passion into her daily life in college and then into her post-collegiate plans. She was very clear about what she wanted and we think other readers could learn a lot from her focus and commitment to turning music into a long and satisfying career for herself.

Current Situation: Waiting for Bar results.

College: USC- Major in Psychology, minor in Music Industry

Internships: During college, I interned at Capitol Records in catalogue publicity, and with Rick Dees doing the Weekly Top 40. I also DJ’d at USC’s radio station, KSCR. During law school, I interned for a music publishing company and a couple music law firms.

Early Love Of Music: I was the kid in the 3rd grade that was Elvis Presley’s biggest fan. I got into all different kinds of music because I loved exploring the influences of the artists I already liked. Until I was in college, I didn’t know about the different areas of the music industry and ways to be involved professionally.

Awakening: USC’s Intro to Music Industry class opened my eyes to the roles of agents and managers, lawyers, all the people who make the careers happen for the people onstage. I loved the contracts and copyrights, the legal side of it, and I started DJing, too. I felt I’d found my niche.

Making it into a career: I took all the entertainment law and music law classes in college, eventually with an eye toward going to law school. I took a year off and developed my podcast, Electric Effect, which focuses on unsigned and independent artists, mainly in LA. I love finding and then promoting new artists. (A few new, great, and local bands are Kiss the Girl, Run Through the Desert, featuring an artist named Yogi, and The Reigning Monarchs, Greg Behrendt’s band.) I went to law school at Southwestern Law School in downtown LA and really dove into entertainment law. I took as many entertainment electives as I could, was president of my school’s Entertainment and Sports Law Society and was the student liaison to the American Bar Association’s Forum on Entertainment and Sports Law. I also recently took the Bar exam and am awaiting the results.

Dream job: As long as my career has to do with music, I’m happy. My dream job would probably be at a law firm repping and working with artists, negotiating their deals and counseling them on their careers. I also really like and understand music publishing.

Now: I’m doing consulting for bands, writing reviews and working on my next podcast for Electric Effect. By the way, I’m always looking for new bands to play and good new interns to help me.

Erin can be reached through her website and her podcast can be found through her website or at iTunes.

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This is yet another example of why all artists need entertainment lawyers that are well versed in the music industry and can prevent these situations from happening.

Read the full story here.

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The parties have now settled their suit, so we won’t get to see how it plays out at trial. Click here if you want a bit more information and a link to some of the filed court papers.

Some of you “non-legal” folks have requested I explain what the settlement means:

The details of this particular settlement have not been released, so only the involved parties know the terms of the actual settlement agreement. However, I have provided an explanation below of typical settlements in these types of cases and what details we do know about the Satriani v. Coldplay case.

When someone owns a copyright in an original work, he alone owns the right to use and profit from that work, unless he has given or sold those rights to someone else. No one else may use or profit from that work without obtaining permission from the copyright owner. In a situation where Artist-A (assuming he is also the writer of the song) sues Artist-B for copying his song, it means that Artist-B has either intentionally or unintentionally copied part of Artist-A’s song and used the copied portion without permission from Artist-A. This also means that after the alleged copying has occurred and Artist-B’s song released, Artist-B is profiting from using Artist-A’s song without permission. Remember, because only the copyright owner is allowed to use and profit from his work, no one else is allowed to use that work or a portion of it without the owner’s permission.

When a lawsuit is filed, the case can go all the way to trial, or the parties can settle before a trial occurs. Settling is often faster and cheaper than going to trial. It allows the parties to work out their differences and come to an agreement that they both are happy with, rather than having a winner and a loser at trial. Settlements in these types of infringement cases often involve a monetary payment, and sometimes a transfer of all or a portion of the copyright in the alleged infringer’s composition. Here is an example which assumes the artists involved also write their own compositions. (Note: This is an example and not necessarily what happened in the Satriani v. Coldplay dispute.)

Artist-B writes Song-B, which supposedly infringes on Song-A by Artist-A. A settlement might include Artist-B paying a sum of money to Artist-A as a penalty for infringing and/or to make the dispute go away. Artist-A may then also get to own all or a part of the copyright to Song-B, which allows him to share in Song-B’s profits. This is often a fair solution to Artist-A because it allows him to still own the portion of his work used in the new composition. For very easy math, let’s say that Artist B took all of Artist-A’s lyrics from Song-A and just set them to new music. Normally, lyrics are 50% of the composition and the music is 50% of the composition. Artist B would get to retain ownership of his new music, which is 50% of the composition. But because the lyrics belong to Artist-A, Artist-B will agree to let Artist-A own the other 50% of the copyright to the composition. These percentages will vary based on how much of the original composition is used in the new composition. Sometimes, Artist-A will get to own the entire copyright of Artist-B’s composition if enough of Song-A was used in Song-B. Transfer of copyright in these cases is often a negotiated point and assisted with the help of musicologists.

In the Satriani v. Coldplay case, Coldplay still has not admitted to any wrongdoing. Based on the terms of the settlement that were disclosed, Coldplay does not and will not have to admit to any wrongdoing or copying. The case was dismissed with prejudice, which means Satriani cannot bring this case against Coldplay again.

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Here is an iPhone shot of Chris Cornell from the party:

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In addition to band shots and shots of me, I have decided to include some photos from my personal collection. Most of these photos include classic cars, but sometimes they are just photos I would like to share with you.

I hope you enjoy them.

Best,

~D*J*E

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