John Branca Attorney Interview at Harvard Law School

 


John Branca explaining negotiations and tactics that are used, specifically within the music industry. 

“A lot of what happens in negotiation, takes place away from the negotiating table” 

John Branca: A lot of what happens in negotiation takes place away from the negotiating table. Professor Sabina calls it 3D negotiation. It’s really in the setup. And so, yelling and screaming at the table can only be 1 tactic that you might use it. And you might choose to use it only on an occasion. But generally speaking, the negotiations prob…. 51% of it’s probably set before you ever walk into the negotiating room, based on who the artist is or who the… who the parties are, what the leverage is, what you’re looking for, what’s important to the other side. It’s not about you. 

I remember I had a band called Poison back in the 80s, kind of one of those hair metal bands. And they were signed to this onerous contract with a UK company. And they were a little intimidating. You never know when these guys were going to get in the fistfight or whether at the club or… so, I remember the bass player, Bobby Doll, said to me, “Okay, John, I’m going to walk in this room. And in about 15 minutes, I’m going to go crazy. I’m going to threaten to punch out the CEO of that company, and then you just take it from there.” 

Brian Price: Did it work? 

John Branca: It worked. But by the time they get done screaming and we had to hold them back from attacking the CEO, that company didn’t want anything to do with Poison anymore. We got them out of the contract, but it was a tactic.

Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Attorney John Branca on the Ins and Outs of the Music Industry

Image
  Attorney John Branca Published on  March 15th, 2021 | by  Jameelah “Just Jay” Wilkerson Name a major rock star over the past 40 years and, more often than not, you’ll find the name of  Attorney John Branca  associated with it. Branca is the legendary music industry lawyer whose list of cli e nts reads like a who’s who of the entertainment business. More than 30 of his clients are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Michael Jackson, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Aerosmith, Elton John, Nirvana, Fleetwood Mac, and more. Other clients include the estates of Otis Redding and Elvis Presley and worldwide celebrities like boxer Mike Tyson and comedian/actor Eddie Murphy. Currently, along with his other clients and responsibilities, Branca is co-manager of the Michael Jackson Estate and brand. How does one become a  John Branca ? What advice would he give aspiring attorneys who are drawn to the glamor of the entertainment business? We sat down with J...
Read more

John Branca - UCLA Interview - "Leaving Neverland"

Image
  John Branca discusses the different way Leaving Neverland was treated by HBO, as opposed to the way any other “documentary" would need to be.   John Branca : I'm thinking obviously of Leaving Neverland where the point of view is presented as fact, but there's no other side to it. In fact, the director of that documentary said, “I had no interest in talking to anybody else.” So, I would challenge you to name one media outlet where if you went to your boss and said, “I don't feel like talking to anybody who has any fact or opinion that might shoot down my theory,” that film that article never get written, never get made.   So, I found it interesting that HBO, they didn't have journalists come to the screening, they had movie reviewers. And if this had been presented as a movie and an opinion, fine. If they had presented both sides like you would require in a courtroom, the courtroom requires both sides. So, something like Leaving Neverland is the one side, ...
Read more

John Branca — Harvard Interview — “Media”

Image
  John Branca  giving insight into the importance of thinking about the media for a celebrity. Mr. Branca gives his takes on multiple instances of media representation. John Branca: I mean, there’s always going to be somebody that disagrees with what you do or has an opinion about what you do. And you can’t always control that. But thinking about the media is very important for a celebrity. Brian Price: So, you’d mentioned  b eing a business advisor for clients too. So, the effect of media today with social media, how different is it than with earlier in your career? And how have you learned how to work with the media, utilize the media for whatever your aims might be? John Branca: Well, I’m older and I would venture to say that virtually everybody in this room is probably going to be more adept at dealing with social media than I am. I’m smart enough to hire people who… who know what they’re doing. And it’s important. It’s especially important, you know, where the artist...
Read more