Now we’re getting into the part everybody wants to hear about. Royalties. This is one of those areas where you have to be very mindful because every industry handles royalties a little differently. Books. Music. Film. Television. Merchandise. Licensing. They all have different customs, different accounting methods, and different contracts. That’s why you should never…
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The Fun Clauses (That Can Still Screw You) Now here’s where things get interesting. This is the part people think the whole game is about. Travel. Accommodations. Flights. Hotels. Expenses. Because when someone wants your intellectual property, a lot of times they want you there, in person. And that? That’s the deal before the deal.…
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Some ideas don’t start on a computer. They start with a pencil. They start on the back of a notebook, a napkin, a legal pad, or whatever happened to be sitting in front of you when your brain decided it was time to build something. This sketch is almost forty years old. Back then, there…
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There is something that has become increasingly fashionable over the last couple of decades. We have become obsessed with changing the words. Not necessarily the problem. The words. Somehow, we’ve convinced ourselves that if we soften the language enough, the reality underneath it will become easier to live with. I’m not buying it. An umbrella…
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There is a reason I have become increasingly vulgar when I talk about some of this shit. It is not because I am trying to be edgy. It is not because I suddenly discovered profanity and decided it makes every argument stronger. It is because I am old enough to have watched the same stupid…
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There are certain situations where everybody needs to remember that more than one person is working. I went down to a well-established hotel to drop off passengers. At that point, I am still responsible for getting those passengers out of my vehicle safely. Once they step out, they become the hotel’s customers again. That handoff…
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When I walk into a restaurant I have never visited before, there are certain dishes I use as a test. In New England, one of the best tests is fish and chips. To be clear, I am talking about independent, non-chain restaurants: the mom-and-pop places, local taverns, neighborhood seafood restaurants, and one-off establishments that build…
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Exclusivity Is Where the Money Is Exclusivity is where control starts turning into money. People hear the word and think it means one simple thing: “They are the only ones who can use it.” That is not enough. Exclusivity can be very specific. It can be limited by product, region, time, quality standards, performance requirements,…
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Just because it’s the weekend does not mean The Gig Man’s Life stops producing content. I tend to be prolific when it comes to creating material for the website, especially when a conversation runs longer than the point where general interest begins to fade. That is when one discussion can become several entries in a series. Some…
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