I'm a partner at Gilbert's LLP in Toronto, working with music, entertainment and tech clients. Email me at paul at gilbertslaw.ca. I play drums in The Rural Alberta Advantage. Reach...
Latest Blogs
Music Copyright 101, Part One: Why is it So Confusing?
PaulMusic copyright is one of the least accessible aspects of music. I find that really frustrating, because I think music should be something everyone can […]
Grants for Music-related Businesses
The City of Toronto Music Office has been doing a great job putting out information about grant opportunities available for musicians and music-related businesses. Here’s […]
Why Your Artist Management Agreement Says Your Manager Won’t Get You Gigs
About 15 years ago, my band signed our first management agreement. I was in law school, and we couldn’t afford a lawyer to look at […]
Bad Behaviour in Recording Agreements
Here’s a quick rant. I’ve been working with a lot of artists lately on their record deals with small labels, and I want to talk […]
A Copyright Mystery – The “Rule of the Shorter Term” and the Public Domain in Canada
This is the kind of law blog post that I dread. I’m about to write about something I’m unsure about. And, if it wasn’t for […]
How Patents Can Make Music Sound Bad (or Good)
*** UPDATE FEB 16, 2022 *** I should acknowledge as of WIndows 11, the AAC codec is natively supported in Windows (hooray!). Also, for an […]
Canadian Musician Podcast – Vaccine Passports & Live Music: What Could the Near Future Hold?
I was honoured to be a guest on the Canadian Musician Podcast this week to talk about the concept (and legality) of vaccination passports, and […]
Using Creative Commons Licensed Music? Take a Beat and Do it Right.
Yesterday I wrote a blog post about open source software licenses for Slingshot, my law firm’s legal service for start-ups and small businesses (I promise […]
Can Vaccine Passports Save Live Music?
Could COVID-19 Vaccine Passports save live music? The concept is that a proof-of-vaccine card (or app) could allow people to rejoin aspects of normal, congregating […]
The Toronto Music Advisory Committee in 2021 – Come Watch, Speak and Create Change
Meetings of the City of Toronto Music Advisory Committee have been set for 2021. Meetings are open to the public. TMAC makes recommendations to the […]