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Music Lawyers Melbourne

Music Lawyers Melbourne

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When it comes to music law, we take it a step further. Our team of Melbourne lawyers includes musicians, songwriters, and passionate fans with deep, firsthand industry experience.
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Recording
Publishing
Theatre & Production Agreements
Management and Agencies
Festivals & Events
Live Performance & Touring
Collecting Societies
Copyright Infringement & Enforcement
Performer’s Rights and Moral Rights
Copyright Sales & Acquisitions
Licensing & Distribution Agreements
Band Agreements

We understand the magic of music

What sets us apart from other law firms is our genuine connection to the world of music. Our music lawyers aren’t just legal experts; they’re also musicians themselves. We’ve had the privilege of representing many of Australia’s top bands, artists, and musicians. Our expertise extends to working with managers, promoters, live music venues, nightclubs, indie labels, and music festivals. Having been through it all, our music lawyers bring a unique perspective to the challenges our clients face, whether on the creative or business side.

The Sanicki difference

When it comes to finding a music lawyer, few can offer the level of expertise that Sanicki Lawyers does. Unlike other music law firms, we’re backed by a litigation team with experienced litigators running matters in court every day. Choosing a firm with a strong litigation team makes all the difference when you find yourself in a dispute, or where your intellectual property has been infringed. Sanicki Lawyers’ practice areas also include property, defamation, franchising, liquor licensing, and wills & estates to name a few. We understand that people in the music industry face all kinds of legal issues that don’t necessarily always directly relate to music. In addition to being industry leaders in music, our diverse practice areas make us a one stop shop for all your legal needs.

Giving back

We also offer pro bono services to not-for-profit organisations such as Music Victoria, Bigsound, Multicultural Arts Victoria and many more. Our goal is simple: to help our clients achieve their dreams!

Testimonials

Chelsea, Darren and the broader team at Sanicki Lawyers are an integral part of our business… It’s a bonus that they’re incredible to work with. We can’t recommend them highly enough – and wouldn’t trust anyone else with our contracts or business requirements

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— Giorgio M

Darren has an excellent team of friendly and accessible people who are both efficient and practical. I trust Darren and his team to deliver for my clients at the most crucial stage of their transaction.

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— Ian A

By having a Sanicki lawyer involved I feel peace of mind knowing the deal has every chance of coming to fruition. I can honestly say that Darren, along with his wonderful team, have saved deals for me on several occasions. Sanicki’s end to end service makes my business life much less stressful.

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— Steve P

Exceptional service from Sanicki Lawyers. I would never hesitate to recommend the team, and will certainly use their firm again for my business.

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— Julia N

The Sanicki Lawyers team make you feel so welcome, and explain fully costs and processes. It’s so comforting to be able to approach these guys and feel confident with what they do.

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— Gina C

Couldn’t have had a better experience. These guys are warm and efficient. Best!

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— Harry F

Entertainment lawyers that Melbourne trusts for:

Music industry agreements

Recording, licensing, publishing, distribution, 360° deals, management, band partnerships, touring, booking, sponsorship, merchandise, venue hire and more.

Copyright law including

Songwriters and songwriting ‘splits’, performers and producers rights, film, internet and TV licensing, sampling and editing.

General entertainment law

Authors and book publishers, production companies, designers, and general talent contracts.

Business arrangements

Structures for all entertainment-based businesses (including bands) including sole trader, partnership, company, trust or joint venture.

Dispute resolution including

Mediation and negotiation, Magistrates’ and Federal Magistrates’ Court Complaints, cease and desist notices.

Trademark applications

Business and band name registration.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Band members should enter into a band agreement from the early stages of the group’s formation. This will protect everyone’s rights and livelihoods once the band starts receiving income, and also establish rules under which every member should act and operate throughout the band’s life. This could become very important if there are conflicts to resolve, band members leaving, or questions about how money is to be distributed! Some common types of structures for bands include partnerships, companies, and sole traders with contractors or employees. If you don’t take the time to decide your band structure early on, you’ll likely be operating as a partnership without realising it.
Recording Royalties (also called master royalties) are generated from the use of a specific sound recording. These royalties are typically paid to the record label, performing artist, and producers when the recording is streamed, sold, or licensed for use (e.g., in films or commercials). Publishing Royalties come from the composition (the underlying song, including lyrics and melody). These royalties are paid to songwriters and music publishers when the song is performed, streamed, broadcast, or covered by other artists. In short, recording royalties relate to the specific recording, while publishing royalties relate to the song itself.
Neighbouring Rights relate to the public performance of sound recordings, affording rights to the owners and/or performers of sound recordings. You may already be aware that songwriters and publishers have the right to receive royalties for the public performance of their musical compositions (which APRA collects on their behalf). Well, the owners/performers of sound recordings also have this right (a ‘neighbouring right’), but in relation to their sound recordings. The relevant collecting society in Australia for this royalty stream is PPCA. If you own a sound recording, you should register with PPCA as a rightsholder. If you are a performer on a sound recording, you should register with PPCA as a performer. Sanicki Lawyers can assist you with PPCA registrations and can also assist in advising you on neighbouring rights internationally (it gets complicated!)
The Australasian Performing Right Association Limited (APRA) was established in 1926 to manage the performance and communication rights of its members. APRA’s licences cover music that is communicated or performed publicly including on radio, television, online, and live gigs. The Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited (AMCOS) was established in 1979 to manage “mechanical royalties”, that is, the reproduction or copying and storage of music in different formats. This covers copying of songs and compositions by record labels or other parties to sell them on CD, vinyl, DVD, online, for use as production music and for radio/TV programs.
If your music is original, and has been recorded in material form, then probably! Copyright is a type of property that is founded on a person’s creative skill and labour. It protects the expression of original ideas, but not ideas themselves. Copyright protects two categories of subject matter: ‘works’, being literary works (textual material), dramatic works, musical works and artistic works; and ‘subject matter other than works’, being sound recordings, films, television and sound broadcasts and published editions. There is no need to register copyright in Australia. Copyright protection is afforded automatically so long as requirements under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) are met.
Not necessarily. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to commit to exploiting and administering your music copyrights yourself, which can be a lot of work. However, in return, you will receive 100% of APRA/AMCOS income as the songwriter.
Not necessarily, so long as you have a music distributor to help get your music out into the world! That being said, the team of people within a record label can be invaluable to help develop your music and artistry, your release strategy, and marketing plan. Plus, a bit of funding behind your project always helps!
First thing to consider is, have you sampled a musical composition, a sound recording, or both? Under Australian copyright law, you probably need permission to sample someone else’s song. Even using only part of a work can be an infringement if it is considered a “substantial part”. This is not about applying a mathematical rule, such as copying 5% or 10% of the original work. The question to consider is whether the part of the original work taken is important, material or essential. For example, it might be an infringement for one musician to use a few bars that are important from another musician’s song in their own song without permission. If you’ve sampled a substantial part of someone else’s musical composition, you should seek permission from the songwriter or their publisher. If you’ve sampled a substantial part of someone else’s sound recording, you should seek permission from the owner or record label for that sound recording.

Get in touch with our expert music lawyers today

Melbourne

+61 3 9510 9888
9 Regent Street
Prahran, VIC 3181

Brisbane

+61 3 9510 9888
139 Gotha Street
Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006

Sanicki Lawyers acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we work and live across Australia, and recognise their continuing connection to the land and community. We pay respect to Elders past and present.

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