Streamers DMCA Takedowns on Twitch and YouTube: What Streamers Need to Know Playing copyrighted music on stream isn't fair use — and streamers are learning this the hard way. Here's how DMCA takedowns work on Twitch vs YouTube, the difference between sync and performance licenses, what strikes mean for your channel, and DMCA-safe music alternatives.
Intellectual Property & Branding Sync Licensing for Independent Musicians: How to License Your Music for Film, TV, Ads, and Games Sync licensing is the #1 revenue question independent musicians ask. This guide breaks down what a sync license grants, sync vs master use licenses, fees and splits, standard contract terms, negotiating the one-pager, and the three mistakes that kill indie deals.
Visual Artists When AI Trains on Your Art: Copyright, Style Imitation, and Legal Options for Visual Artists Visual artists whose work feeds AI image models like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney have legal rights. Here is what copyright law, active litigation, the Copyright Office, and technical tools like Glaze and Nightshade mean for your art today.
Game Studios AI-Generated Game Assets After the 2025 Copyright Office Report: Copyright, Platform Policies, and IP Ownership for Studios Studios using generative AI for game assets face new legal questions after the 2025 Copyright Office report: copyright registration, Steam/Apple/Google disclosure, and what IP actually survives.
In-House Counsel M&A Due Diligence for AI Products: A Technical and Legal Checklist for Acquirers AI targets require a different diligence playbook than standard tech M&A. Here are the six risk buckets, red flags that should reprice or kill a deal, and how to structure AI-specific reps and warranties.
Founders Founder IP Assignment: Why You Can't Raise Without It and How to Get It Done Investors find missing IP assignments at Series A more often than any other diligence issue. Here's what needs to be in place — and what your options are if formation was sloppy.
In-House Counsel IP Ownership of AI-Generated Work Product: What In-House Counsel Should Establish Now Your employees are using AI tools to create deliverables, contracts, and analysis — but AI-generated work product may not be copyrightable. Here's what in-house counsel should establish now to protect the company's IP position.
Writers AI-Assisted Writing and Copyright: What Authors Need to Know Before Submitting or Publishing AI writing tools are everywhere, but the copyright questions they raise aren't settled. Here's what the Copyright Office's 2025 AI guidance means for authors who use ChatGPT, Claude, or Sudowrite — and what to disclose before submitting or signing.
Writers Literary Agent Agreements: What Authors Are Actually Signing — Commission, Term, and the Clauses That Outlive the Deal Getting 'the call' from a literary agent is thrilling — but representation is a contract. A plain-English guide to commission (15% of gross), scope, the agency clause, the 'coupled with an interest' trap, and how to leave.
Filmmakers Talent, Location, and Music Releases: The Clearance Package Every Indie Film Needs Before Delivery No distributor will take your film without E&O insurance, and no insurer approves it without a complete clearance package. A practical guide to talent, location, and music releases, life rights, and the chain of title that makes an indie film deliverable.
Musicians AI Voice Clones and the NO FAKES Act: Protecting Your Voice and Likeness as a Creator An AI track faked Drake and The Weeknd and racked up millions of plays before it was pulled. If your voice or likeness can be cloned, here's the legal toolkit that protects creators today—and what the NO FAKES Act would change.
Hardware Founders Manufacturing and Supply Agreements for Hardware Startups: NRE, Tooling Ownership, MOQs, and the Clauses That Protect Your Product Hardware founders negotiate the unit price and sign the rest. But the manufacturing agreement decides who owns the tooling you paid for, what 'conforming' means, and whether you can ever leave. A clause-by-clause guide to NRE, tooling title, MOQs, warranty, IP/anti-cloning, and your exit.
Musicians Band Partnership Agreements & Split Sheets: The Legal Foundation Every Working Band Skips Two or more musicians sharing in a band form a general partnership by default — equal splits, joint liability, and dissolution on exit baked in. A plain-English guide to split sheets, songwriting vs. master splits, who owns the band name, leaver provisions, and when to form an LLC.
Writers Book Publishing Contracts: What Authors Are Signing Away — and How to Protect What Matters You got the offer. Now comes the part no one prepares you for — understanding what the contract actually says. Here's what traditional publishing agreements cover, what you're giving up, and what you can negotiate before you sign.
Filmmakers Indie Filmmaker Legal Essentials: Entity Formation, Chain of Title, and Music Licensing Most indie films hit legal roadblocks before they see a distributor. Here's how to structure your production, protect your IP, and clear the rights that matter.
Writers The Legal Guide for Newsletter Creators: Copyright, FTC Disclosures, and Privacy Compliance Running a paid newsletter is running a business. Here's what every newsletter creator needs to know about copyright, FTC disclosures, privacy compliance, and platform terms.
Visual Artists Work-for-Hire vs. Licensing in Commercial Art: What Every Artist Should Know Before Signing Independent artists signing commercial contracts face a choice that can permanently affect their copyright: work-for-hire or licensing. Learn the legal difference, how to price each correctly, and which contract red flags to strike before you sign.
Writers Traditional vs. Self-Publishing Contracts: What Every Author Should Know Before Signing Before you sign a publishing contract — traditional or self-published — you need to know what you're actually transferring. This guide breaks down royalties, reversion clauses, copyright fundamentals, and what's actually negotiable in a traditional deal.
Filmmakers Chain of Title for Indie Films: The Document Package Every Distributor Requires Finishing your film and having a film a distributor will accept are two different things. Chain of title problems are among the most common reasons indie films stall at distribution — and they are almost always preventable if documentation is built during production, not after.
Filmmakers Option and Purchase Agreements for Indie Filmmakers: How to Lock Down Your Source Material Before you can make a film based on a book, true story, or someone's life, you need to lock down the rights. Here's how option and purchase agreements actually work — and what to watch for before signing.
Game Studios AI-Generated Assets in Games: Copyright, Ownership, and the Risks Studios Are Walking Into Studios are building games with AI-generated art, audio, and code — but the legal framework hasn't caught up. Here's what the copyright gaps mean for your IP, your deals, and your investors.
Game Studios Steam, Epic, and Itch.io: What Indie Studios Actually Agree To in Distribution Contracts Most developers click through platform distribution agreements without reading them. Steam's 70/30 cut is the detail everyone knows. The unilateral amendment clause, MFN provision, and Valve's right to delist your game are what matter when something goes wrong.
Game Studios Indie Studio Formation and IP: Structuring Your Game Company from Day One Most indie studios ship their first game before signing a single IP assignment agreement — and discover the problem during publisher due diligence. Here's the legal checklist: entity choice, IP assignment, trademarks, contractor agreements, and exit readiness.
Technology, AI, & Digital Innovation AI Training Data and Copyright: Fair Use, Licensing, and Governance for Model Developers Generative AI is colliding with copyright law in real time. Frontier models are trained on enormous, largely scraped corpora, while authors, artists,…
Game Studios Distribution Platform Agreements: What Indie Developers Need to Know About Steam, Epic, and Console Store Terms Steam's Steamworks agreement, Epic's developer terms, and console store contracts impose real legal obligations on indie developers — not just revenue splits. Here's what each platform actually claims, what it can do to your game and account, and what you can push back on.
