Canadian Lawyer

Chris Taylor: For the record kept playing in this band," says Taylor. "By the end of law school, I said, 'You know what? I'm going to kick myself if I don't really give this a shot and try to make it work.' So, when I graduated [in 1990], all my classmates were going off to Bay Street and articling and the rest of it, I got in a van with nine other guys." The band was a reggae group named One. With Taylor as its lead singer and de facto "business guy," One toured North America relentlessly from 1990 to 1995, playing mostly bars, but devel- oping a cult following as a great live act. One even recorded a major-label album for Virgin Records (EMI Cana- da) called Smokin' The Goats. Still, after five years on the road, Taylor says he began to seriously ques- tion whether One was ever going to make it big. "I was turning 30. There's a time period where if you're out of the practice of law for a certain period you have to go back to school. I said, 'Now's the time.' I had a big argument with the band one night. I said, 'I'm done.'" Yet, his time in One would prove crucial to his success as an enter- tainment lawyer. Not only could he relate to artists, but Taylor made a number of important contacts in the music business, none more so than the band's one-time manager, Chris Smith. When Taylor was just starting to practise for Sanderson & Associates (now Sanderson Entertainment Law), Smith was just beginning to man- age an unknown artist named Nelly Furtado. Taylor jumped at the chance to shop Furtado to record companies. "When I brought the Nelly Furtado recordings to New York, it was an explosion. It really helped me to plant my flag in the business," says Tay- lor. "To Chris and Nelly's credit, they had this wet-behind-the-ears music attorney from Toronto and we rode it together." Taylor helped Furtado land a major recording deal in the U.S., and then did the same for Sum 41. It became his way of giving added value to his clients and building loyalty. It was Taylor's inability to land a recording contract for Metric — after being rejected by well over 100 com- panies — that led to the creation of Last Gang Records (now Last Gang Entertainment) with Montreal-based promoter Donald Tarlton. The label's credo is "Us Against The World." A proclamation on its web site reads like a punk rock manifesto, not something a lawyer would typically draft. It was culled directly from Taylor's personal experience falling in love with a slew of reggae stars and punk groups such as The Clash and The Sex Pistols in high school and being firmly convinced, as the piece says, that "great music changes lives." Taylor says he still believes just as strongly in the transformative pow- ers of music, even as the industry struggles to adapt to the digital age. "My dad likes to call me and say, 'You still in business?' He'll read an article somewhere saying nobody buys records anymore. But, you know what, we're going to have our best year this year," says Taylor. "There's definitely been a dip in terms of recorded music sales, but there's been an explosion in terms of growth of what I call the mid- level artist." With that, Taylor turns toward the wall of honour behind his desk and motions an upturned hand toward the names of clients, almost all of whom are still with the firm, Last Gang Records, or both. "It's these acts like Death From Above 1979, Metric, Stars, Alexison- fire, City and Colour. They may not be selling out Madison Square Gar- den, but . . . they're not just Toronto phenoms. They can actually sell out 2,000, 3,000-capacity venues all over the world, are earning millions of dol- lars in gross revenues, and they need lawyers. "For us — and I can only speak for ourselves — it's a great business and it's growing. We're interviewing to hire two more lawyers. I guess that's the best indicator. We started with five; we're up to eight. We're probably going to nine, maybe 10, eventually. We're going to need bigger office space." So long as the space maintains an artistic vibe. www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com FEBRUA R Y 2012 21 How competitive is the entertainment law field in Canada? "It's really small. I would say there are probably, in terms of music law, artist-side music law, maybe 10 lawyers that are doing it and five of them are [at Taylor Mitsopulos Klein Oballa]." Do entertainment clients require a different style of service? "I think artists do. We represent a lot of compa- nies as well, which is different. But, when you're working with artists, they want to know you care. They want to know that you're rooting for them. You need to show up at their shows." Is it a more glamorous side of the law? "On a day-to-day basis, I'm reading contracts, I'm e-mailing back and forth negotiating. It's very transactional, but it is exciting to go to the Gram- my Awards and the Juno Awards and not only be a viewer, but be a participant in some small way . . . It's cool to be close to it and see how it all really happens, but it's definitely a lot less glamorous than you would think from the outside." How do you tailor your economic proposition to be attractive to new clients? "We try to have an open-door policy for new art- ists, or even new businesses. We will do an initial meeting consultation for at least reduced rates to get people in the door and know that, 'It's never too early to give us a call and come in and find out if it's too early to be here.'" How do you bill? "It's a real mix. Generally, we're just billing hourly. The hourly rates here range between $150 and $700 an hour." Do you socialize with your clients? "There's a social aspect to it. I think anybody who is practising in this world, that's not a burden . . . These people are special people, by and large. It's a perk of the job, it's not an obligation of the job." Are artists as temperamental as we sometimes hear they are? "Sure, yeah. But I understand how consuming the pursuit is. Real musicians, it's all they can do. It's all they ever wanted to do . . . They're possessed by the idea. You have to understand that mentality to a degree and kind of roll with the punches in order to tolerate it. It's different than dealing with a bank or other areas where it's not as emotional." Is entertainment law a growth business? "Five years ago it wasn't growing. I would say right now there is a prevailing view that we've pla- teaued and we're actually starting to do a little bit better . . . (Artists) still need producer agreements. They still need mixer agreements. They still need record contracts. . . . I'm pretty bullish on all of it." — DB >>>

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