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Podcasting Pre-Nups And Other Legal Arrangements For Digital Media

August 13, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

I haven’t written about any of his posts for a couple years, but I have been following Gordon Firemark’s entertainment law blog for 15 years, if not longer.

At one point he wasn’t posting with great frequency, but recently he has been releasing quite a bit of content. A good deal of it has been related to online content.

For example, he recently wrote about making sure you have a “podcast pre-nup” in case one of the co-hosts decides to leave and take half the podcast with them. He cites an example of a client who came to him after making a couple mistakes and provides advice about how to draw up agreements to avoid these issues before they crop up.

He offers a mix of free and paid templates for podcasters to use. Another section of his site has forms for digital entrepreneurs which covers everything from media rights to providing coaching services.

Another topic he recently covered was Brand Deals for social media influencers. He notes there are a lot of legal issues influencers can run into and some forms of disclaimer may not be enough to fend off accusations of fraud or misleading claims.

He points out that that just because platforms provide resources and tools, it doesn’t mean one has unlimited use of them without proper licensing. Similarly, the platform rules are there to protect them and not you.

Platform Policies Are Not Legal Advice

Each platform has its own rules, but those are designed to protect them, not you. Just because a platform allows something doesn’t mean it’s legal. And just because a brand sends you a contract doesn’t mean it’s fair, enforceable, or protective of your rights.

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Another recent post warned anyone using websites to support their business not to ignore the content of the site policy language in the website footers. Using the boilerplate language provided or copying the language from another site can get you into trouble.

Here’s why:

-If your disclaimer doesn’t match your niche (coaching, wellness, financial), you’re leaving yourself wide open.

-If your Privacy Policy doesn’t align with how you actually handle user data, you’re violating FTC rules—and likely breaking GDPR, too.

-If your refund policy isn’t clearly disclosed at checkout, you could be in violation of new “Click to Cancel” rules.

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If you are looking for some basic information about the legal side of entertainment law in a number of different formats and media, stopping by his website to look at his posts and the issues addressed by his forms can be a good place to start. Especially in terms of giving you a sense of what sort of questions you should be asking.

Arts in an Age of Technology, Legal Topics

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Goal Is To Get People To Come, Bring Friends, Make Part Of Core Identity

August 12, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Last month I wrote about an article on the Metropolitan Museum of Art that appeared in Yale University’s The Business Behind The Art series.

Another article that caught my eye was about the Memphis Art Museum’s move from the suburbs to a new location downtown under the direction of executive director and Yale alum Zoe Kahr.

Kahr talks about some of the challenges the museum has faced over the years as well as the decision to move the museum downtown rather than expanding/renovating at their original site.

One of the things that really caught my eye was her reflection that pricing doesn’t equal engagement whereas relevant programming does.

We found that our traditional membership model was failing. When the offer was free admission, people weren’t connecting with us,” Kahr explains. “But when we spoke to them about a topic that either connected to their identity or was super interesting to them, people who had not previously been involved were suddenly coming to every event.” ‌

Source

The museum created affinity groups which resulted in greater engagement with the museum, but also greater connection between the group members which Kahr recognized as creating community.

The way she describes the layout of the new museum space, it appears it is intended to foster community and be a gathering space. She mentions that a lot of the museum will be accessible without paying an admission fee. (my emphasis)

The aim is to make the museum—and its art—part of everyday life in the city. “If you’re just ducking in to get some very good coffee, you’re also going to see a bunch of great art,” Kahr explains. Those drawn to watching the sunset from the roof garden while enjoying music and wine will be in a sculpture garden…

Kahr accepts that the art will be secondary for many visitors. “That might be perceived as sacrilegious in certain institutions….“If you’re a community art museum, your goal is to get people to come again and again and again and bring friends and see the museum as part of their core identity,” says Kahr. “To do that, you have to show them themselves, but also continuously expand their horizons about who they are.”‌

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Arts Facilities, Audience Relations, Building Public Will For Arts And Culture, Marketing/PR

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Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Construction Fence

August 11, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Over the last dozen years I have frequently written about Springboard for the Arts’ Irrigate initiative where they organized 600 artists to provide activity along the construction route for the Green Line light rail in St. Paul, MN. Businesses along the route were concerned that the 2-3 year span of construction would drive them out of business.

The goal of the Irrigate program was to get people into the shops and walking the streets along the construction route. The artists created performances, events, art installations, etc along the route and sometimes in the businesses.

So when the downtown district authority and city started talking a few years ago about their plans to dig up the streets along a five block stretch over the course of 18 months, I started to make the downtown authority and the creative district board aware of what had been done in St. Paul. I had a bit of a vested interest in keeping foot traffic up since the construction will be passing in front of my venue in October.

Construction started in February but starting this summer the folks from the creative district started painting messages on the sidewalk in front of different businesses. In one area they have a hopscotch pattern with a message about reliving memories of youth. Since this is right across the street from my office, I have seen a lot of people, both kids and adults handing off bags and water bottles and skipping through that section. Another place has a zone painted encouraging people to dance their hearts out. Other places have funny messages directing people to different businesses.

This Friday, they kicked things up a bit more and put silhouettes of dump trucks on some of the construction fencing and then painted rainbows coming out of the trucks, across the fencing and then spilling out across the sidewalk. They distributed ribbons to various participating businesses in the construction zone and are encouraging people to patronize the businesses. In return, people will get ribbons to attach to the fencing.

Theoretically, people will attach the ribbons to the corresponding colors on the fence. We will see how that works out. It may be hard to see in the bottom picture, but I helped to prime the pump by attaching ribbons right after things were installed on Friday.

I haven’t written specifically about creative placemaking in a little while, but as this project shows it hasn’t fallen by the wayside. This is another example of how artists can help mitigate/solve issues facing communities.

The creative district folks are installing another project tomorrow night. I don’t remember the details but hopefully I will get some good pictures for a future post.

Building Public Will For Arts And Culture, creativity, New Initiatives

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American Indians Find New Supplier Of Traditional Shells–India

August 5, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Last week I wrote about a series of case studies on small arts and cultural organizations creating community advisory groups referenced in an Arts Midwest newsletter.

Another set of stories referenced in the Arts Midwest newsletter was about a 2024 pilot grant program they had started to support 10 Midwest media groups’ capacity to tell stories of arts and culture.

One of the groups expanded arts coverage to rural Ohio counties they hadn’t reported from before. Another explored Lucha Libre’s role in helping collect the stories of Mexican immigrants in Iowa. Another series covered non-traditional and living maps in the Midwest. There were some quirky, but interesting and inventive topics covered. If you are intrigued, visit the project page.

The story project that really drew me in was Buffalo’s Fire reporting on dentalium shells. The shells are tusk shaped and were highly prized by a broad range of American Indian tribes in the Midwest. Since the shells were found on the shores of the Pacific Northwest, there was a robust trade that occurred. However, pandemics, armed conflict, and displacement broke up the trade routes.

The interesting twist on the story is that currently the trade is Indian to Indian–as in the sub-continent of India to American Indians. Fisherman in India are supplying the shell to American Indians. Buffalo’s Fire went to India and made a video interviewing some of these fisherman.

There are a half dozen stories and a few audio interviews discussing the traditional and current use of the shells, where to buy them, the history of the trade, the biology of the shells, etc.

One of the stories mentioned that the supply from the Pacific Northwest is limited today. I was wondering why the supply couldn’t be re-established domestically. I wasn’t clear if that was due to it not being economically worthwhile to harvest or perhaps something related to change of climate and habitat.

Clearly, that interesting connection between Indians and the misnamed indigenous people of North America piqued my interest in exploring deeper and Buffalo’s Fire provided a good range of content.

Arts in an Age of Technology, creativity, General Musings

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