Essential Contracts in the Music Publishing Sector: Points to Watch Out For
by Jonathan Gourmel and Lucie Caswell
This masterclass will focus on essential contracts in the music publishing sector, emphasising the points to be borne in mind when negotiating and signing the various agreements. It will look at contractual relations between artists and publishers, detailing the specifics of assignment contracts, publishing contracts and preference pacts.
The session will also explore agreements between publishers, such as co-publishing, sub-publishing and rights management, to clarify their legal and economic implications.
Speaker’s Bio
Jonathan Gourmel
Jonathan Gourmel has a 20+ years experience in the music industry, first starting as a Head of A&R and Marketing Director at independent Naïve records. He then created Foxtrot in 2010, a marketing consultancy working with a diverse roster of clients: brands such as Heineken, Givenchy Perfumes or Carlsberg, and labels like Ninja Tune, Soundway, Island UK, etc.
After 10 years in this capacity, Jonathan switched roles to become a publisher, joining the renowned InFiné company in 2022 as Head of Publishing. As a side gig, he is also president of the Fortune management company, whose aim is to develop up and coming acts in all styles of music.
Lucie Cashwell
Lucie is a lead music negotiator, navigator and strategist, specialising in digital music rights, innovation and IP. Lucie has negotiated international relations and commercial deals on all ‘sides’ of the stakeholder table and led Policy affairs at Government level.
Lucie started her music career at an iconic music indie publisher, later spending time focusing on innovation licensing and going on to bring a range of DSPs and rights holders into agreement, including for Deezer, Sony/SYCO, Sandbox and Bandcamp.
Representing at sector level, Lucie was CEO of the UK’s performing music artist organisation, the FAC, Chief Policy, Rights and Public Affairs Officer of the Music Publishers Association and, is currently Chief Innovation and Government Affairs Officer for the UK’s entertainment retail body, ERA.
Lucie is a dedicated advocate of equal opportunities and ethical innovation; championing arts as a catalyst for change and emancipation. Lucie has been on the Management Team of the Palestine Music Expo (PMX) since 2017.
