Five Reasons Why Entertainment Law Is Essential For Creatives

Melbourne-based Sanicki Lawyers has outlined why entertainment law is essential for creatives for The Music, but first, some background:

Since its early beginnings in 2009, founder and principal lawyer Darren Sanicki has seen his law firm, Sanicki Lawyers, grow from a one-person operation to an entertainment law firm representing Australia’s best-known and emerging artists and music businesses nationwide.

Drawing from his own contacts and experience as a professional piano player, Sanicki’s business experience began when he opened his first music store in Glenferrie Road, Malvern, in the early 1990s.

To this day, Sanicki believes that owning a small retail business gave him a better understanding of how small businesses work than all those years at law school. Since the firm’s inception, Sanicki has tried to bring the passion, caring and understanding of those previous life experiences to his ever-growing and loyal client base.

Sanicki Lawyers. Credit: Neon Wang Photography/Sanicki Lawyers

Sanicki Lawyers’ Rooftop entertainment area. Credit: Neon Wang Photography/Sanicki Lawyers

Sanicki Lawyers was formed with a vision of bringing the boutique city “ethos” to the suburbs where artists and small businesses are based. From his days as a senior associate at a mid-tier city firm, Sanicki said: “I didn’t see any law firm offering the sort of services I was trying to offer out in the suburbs.”

He added, “I felt that creatives and small business owners were crying out for something more relatable, by someone who had walked in their shoes.”

After quickly outgrowing the kitchen table, Sanicki Lawyers settled into its first South Yarra office in 2010 with a small, dedicated team of five. By 2015, the team had grown to about 10 and had expanded into new practice areas including defamation, property law and dispute resolution.

Always a musician at heart, Darren and his firm were selected on multiple occasions to represent artists on Australian Idol, The X Factor, and The Voice, which they did for twelve consecutive years. “I’m sure the Artists on those shows knew that as musicians ourselves, we always had their best interests at heart,” Sanicki said.

In the following years, the firm continued to grow in all its core practice areas: music and entertainment, trademarks and copyright, defamation, commercial law, property law, wills and estates, liquor licensing, and dispute resolution, including litigation.  

The firm successfully ran the iconic “I am Australian” case before the Federal Court of Australia based on the famous Bruce Woodley song. The case now stands as a legal precedent for the commercial terms under which the Government may use copyrighted works for government services.

Darren and his team have worked with countless artists over the years, including Cat Stevens, The Seekers, The Teskey Brothers, G Flip, Daryl Braithwaite, The Kid LAROI, Russell Morris, Jess Mauboy, Kyle Sandilands, Molly Meldrum, Noiseworks, and Dannii Minogue. They have represented leading ticketing agencies, independent labels and publishers, as well as festivals and music venues.

Sanicki Lawyers’ office. Credit: Neon Wang Photography/Sanicki Lawyers

Sanicki Lawyers’ sitting area. Credit: Neon Wang Photography/Sanicki Lawyers

Sanicki Lawyers’ sitting area. Credit: Neon Wang Photography/Sanicki Lawyers

Sanicki was also the “go-to lawyer” for music venues during COVID times, participating in weekly Zoom conferences that provided legal updates for venue owners. Sanicki helped many music venues keep the doors open by advising them of their legal rights and options regarding their leases and liquor licenses, and also helped many venues re-negotiate new leases.

Two recent additions to the firm, Ant Rosen (Secret Sounds, Endemol Shine) and Terrence O’Brien, a specialist in liquor licensing disputes and litigation, have helped cement Sanicki Lawyers as a true full-service entertainment firm and the most experienced music festival legal team around.

Sanicki Lawyers also has a significant pro bono roster for clients such as Q Music, BIGSOUND, Multicultural Arts Victoria, The Push, and Music Victoria. On ten occasions, Darren has been a recipient of the Arts Law Centre of Australia pro bono awards. “It’s great to be able to help young creatives, regardless of where they are from or their life circumstances,” he said.

While some matters inevitably end up in Court, Sanicki Lawyers prides itself on helping clients resolve disputes before trial, saving them a lot of money in the process. However, when it’s time to put the gloves on, Sanicki Lawyers will leave no stone unturned in trying to achieve the best possible outcome for their clients.

They pride themselves on fighting ‘well above their weight’ and recently had success in a high-profile defamation matter before the Supreme Court of Victoria in a case involving a mother losing a child to a religious cult.

The firm has now grown to a team of 25 hardworking, like-minded professionals and has just launched its new branding, logo, and website, with even more bespoke legal services on offer.

In 2023, Sanicki Lawyers moved to its own decked-out building in Prahran, complete with a rooftop entertaining area, a Rhodes stage piano circa 1971, and a bandstand! “The amps are always on and ready to go,” Sanicki comments.

To celebrate the highly anticipated rebranding, Sanicki Lawyers has offered five reasons why entertainment law is essential for creatives.

1. IP protection.

   Whether you’re a musician, an author, an artist or run a small business, protecting your intellectual property is paramount to your success. Having laws such as copyright, trademark and design legislation in place is one thing; knowing how to complement them with the right advice is another.

   We want creatives to thrive, and that journey starts with identifying and protecting the product of your skill and efforts as a creator. We aim to be a one-stop shop to help creatives identify and protect their intellectual property, and particularly how to best manage their legal relationship with stakeholders, whether it be band members, record companies, publishers, etc. Once the foundations are there, creatives are free to exploit and monetise their IP if they choose to do so.

2. No such thing as a “fair contract”.

   Once your intellectual property is identified and protected, creatives can then explore the many opportunities they have to exploit their IP through a variety of means and opportunities. This may take on a more traditional relationship, such as a record contract or publishing contract, or a more personal arrangement, such as one with co-writers or fellow band members.

   However, it is important to recognise that, generally speaking, there is no law requiring a contract to be fair. The outcome of any contract negotiation will often depend on the relative strength and bargaining power of the parties. But the skill of the negotiators, such as your legal team, should never be underestimated.

   Our team’s experience and intimate knowledge of the creative industries helps our clients achieve the best possible outcomes across all their contract negotiations. Contracts often last for many years but only get negotiated once. It’s important to get it right. We help to ensure clients know what they are signing are not getting trapped in any unfair or undesirable terms.

3. Maximise Royalties & Revenue Streams.

   There are many ways in which creatives can maximise their revenue streams and income, and these are changing all the time. Whether it be music streaming, merchandise, sync publishing, licensing, touring, etc., creatives have never been faced with more opportunities to maximise their income. However, with these opportunities also comes potential pitfalls and the opportunity to be taken advantage of.

   This is where an experienced entertainment law firm steps in. We see these (proposed) deals every day and can help identify any potential problems right at the outset.

   Our experience means our clients have every opportunity to source, seek and negotiate the best deal for themselves and not miss out on opportunities or royalty streams that they may not even know about (hello neighbouring rights)! As the saying goes, you don’t know what you don’t know!

4. Crossover work, image control.

   We all have legal rights to (mostly) control how our name, image, and likeness are used. However, in Australia, this needs to be expertly navigated as, unlike the USA, we don’t have celebrity laws to protect the image and likeness of well-known people.

   That said, your name, face, voice and personal brand are all valuable “assets”, especially in today’s digital and influencer-driven landscape. Our team helps many clients to maintain control over how these personal elements are used, protecting against unauthorised exploitation.

   This is critical for actors, models, musicians, and online “brand personalities” whose brand is closely tied to their income. Entertainment lawyers help identify and enforce those rights, and draft contracts to define exactly what can and can't be used, and what clients ultimately get paid! With deepfakes and AI-generated likenesses becoming more common, legal control over your image and the right advice is more important than ever.

5. Dispute Resolution & Legal Backup:

   Whether we like it or not, the creative industries can be messy (at times)! From disagreements over songwriting credits and unpaid royalties to broken partnerships and copyright infringement, conflicts unfortunately have a tendency to arise from time to time. That’s where entertainment lawyers become essential. Your legal team can help provide a structured pathway to resolve disputes without the need for formal litigation.

   Instead of letting a legal disagreement ruin a relationship or derail your project, a lawyer can mediate, negotiate, and—if needed—litigate to protect your interests (last resort only!)

Experienced entertainment lawyers can also help enforce contracts and defend you if someone sues over your work or use of content. Whether it's a collaborator who didn’t uphold their end of the deal or a business using your song without permission, having the right legal support gives you peace of mind in an unpredictable industry. 

To find out more about the services Sanicki Lawyers offer, head to the website.