The Entertainment Industry is not as different from all business arrangements as the essential tool is the Contract. Whether it is a contract for a movie role, or a band agreement among musicians coming together to create art for their fans, inevitably there will be a contract. If for example a band is about to be signed to a major label they will be presented with a contract. Contracts provide legal protections for the parties involved dealing with everything from a party’s rights to how to handle a future dispute. A contract needs to clarify all necessary terms, arrangements and even options on how to handle a breach including negotiation, mediation and even arbitration and what types of damages will be available. Negotiating these terms are vital to each side to ensure the best opportunity to having a successful working relationship.

An attorney familiar with each industry is crucial to having your rights protected. Mr. McMahon has had enough experience in the music industry that when a potential client was approached by a label from overseas, Mr. McMahon not only pointed out the flaws in the deal, he also discovered the label had misrepresented itself as a producer had claimed to work with the Misfits in the 1990s. Mr. McMahon contacted his client Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, Misfits guitarist at that time, to learn the producer had never touched the albums released during the time period he claimed and never helped produce any album by the Misfits. Mr. McMahon protected this young band from making a huge mistake. Ultimately having a good attorney on your side to handle these negotiations can make the difference on having money from a movie performance or a hit album, to just creating debt and having a limited income with little ownership in publishing rights as well as protecting potential trademarks and other forms of intellectual property rightfully owned by the artist/performer.