Miles & Stockbridge P.C. Principal; member of the Maryland Bar
Practice areas: Entertainment & Sports, Business Litigation, & Real Estate
Education: University of Baltimore, J.D.; University of Maryland, B.A.
Selected to: Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers (2007); Maryland Super Lawyers (2007)
Robert Keene has a diverse practice that includes the representation of musicians, artists, and record companies. Mr. Keene has been a member of the adjunct faculty at the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America, since 1991, where he has taught Entertainment Law.
His litigation experience includes major trademark infringement, commercial contract, insurance coverage, will caveat/estate, securities arbitration, accounting malpractice, tort, and injunctive cases, to name a few.
In his entertainment practice, Mr. Keene has negotiated and litigated talent/personal service agreements for personal management, recording, music and literary publishing, agency, sponsorships, endorsements, merchandising, television, modeling, motion pictures, and business management.
He has also negotiated and drafted licensing agreements for recording, animation, software and soundtracks and artist/producer agreements on behalf of both artist and record production companies, and counseled clients and litigated copyright and trademark infringement actions.
Mr. Keene has negotiated acquisition/option/talent agreements with Walt Disney, Fox Television and motion picture production companies for the development and production of children’s animated television series and documentary and dramatic motion pictures. He has provided management and publishing administration of a national recording artist through album releases, national tours, videos, television and motion picture appearances, and provided business affairs and corporate counsel to record/production companies and recording studios.
So if you want more of the official bio- stuff, head on over to Bobby Keene’s firm’s website, but here’s the skinny: I was one of the “bad” law school students but for some reason felt compelled to attend the vast majority of Mr. Keene’s Entertainment Law classes (you can ask my student-peers about how rare that was).
He brought to the table what you look for as a student: a style that’s entertaining but not lame-shtick, genuine experience that he’ll let you know started in the trenches, and he’s there for you without pretension because at the end of the day it’s your law school bill—that’s my opinion anyway.
I called his office on a Wednesday hoping to arrange a time for an interview and was put right through to him. After saying I was a former student of his, he self-deprecatingly apologized for the “experience” and asked what he could do for me. Then, after graciously agreeing to 20-30 minutes, we talked for nearly an hour. So without further adieu, here’s what the man had to say:
As your student, I really appreciated your commitment to making law classes engaging, often through humor; so has Spinal Tap’s return to the scene meant you’ve revised your material?
Thinking about it… I haven’t actually done anything yet to revise it because it’s a very workable model as I use it. I thought about it when they got back together for Earth Day or Live Aid—when they were in England and had something like 35 bass players for one song. I thought about it again recently when they were on Conan’s Tonight Show a few nights back. I had seen them unplugged before that [at the Beacon Theatre] and thought about it then too, but I haven’t revised it yet—it’s still something I might do.
Do you see a correlation between academic rigor/educational pedigree and success in the entertainment field?
Not really. It depends on the individual.
I remember back when record companies were still “record companies” you’d have the paradox of going to Warner Bros. with the Ivy-league lawyers in suits and ties and going to Elektra with the people in hockey-jerseys in the same role. And that was all same company! [Warner Music Group].
A pretty good argument for pedigree is when you are dealing with the New York ‘good-ole boy’ network. But a strong case is also there for a street-smart lawyer dealing with a band on road; that’s when you have to deal with problems on-the-fly and the 2-year turnaround for a law suit means law suits are not an option. So, it depends on the individual and the job.
I remember early on the Ivy League lawyers saying goodbye and I immediately ran into and had to deal with a raving lunatic Englishmen wearing a hockey jersey whose every sixth word was… uh, ‘sailor speak.’ [You end up dealing with both.]
My regular piece for Entertainment Agent Blog is centered on working with Menna, who is 5 years old and wants to do acting and possibly other performing arts; have you worked with minors in the past?
Yes.
—How have you handled the revocable contract issue?
[Under a standard arrangement, if a minor is party to an agreement then they may revoke/void that agreement. To avoid the option to void/revoke—especially before the minor reaches the age of majority, a party contracting with a minor may seek to have an agreement certified by the court. In non-legal-speak certification means having a parent/guardian sign-off on the deal.]
In most cases, I’ve explained it to them. To the extent that when they realize the enormity of the process, they usually retreat back and don’t go through with it. It’s usually just [better to] make some hand-shake deals until you need protection on it and then ‘go-for-it.’
I just did one for “America’s Got Talent” and it was a 13-year-old girl and her father didn’t know whether to sign. I advised the father, “hey, she’s 13 and you’re thinking good things and you need to also think about the bad. They won’t change the contract when numbers are vast [when she’s achieved success], but if she performs poorly and they decide to run a promo, she’s already lost all rights and control. They won’t change because she’s 13 and more impressionable than an adult who’ll potentially fall on their face.” [Mr. Keene was paraphrasing.]
This was not a direct client. She made first cut and was expected to give away every right in the book. My advice was that I wouldn’t let my own daughter do this, [which included] taking the risk of being on the YouTube and NBC sites for years to come making a fool of herself. This kind of advice can obviate the need to go further [i.e. continue counseling].
The laws out there are more to protect employer than employee. When you are signing a minor you are just left open. [When representing the minor] you typically are telling the minor they’re better off not going through the process because their value will increase with time.
I have advised partners, but have never appeared before the labor-commissioner here in Maryland. On the other side of things, I wouldn’t dare invest a lot of time and effort into a young person unless you’ve gone through the process of validating the contract.
There are alternatives though, like contracting in shorter stages—6 months at a time, for example. If there is no long-term risk for the studio, then they don’t see a reason to go through the process. You know, if there isn’t a long-term personal service contract, there’s not much to void.
—Have you dealt with someone who’s a child’s agent and isn’t the parent?
No.
I recall you had some great stories from your experience—what’s the greatest blunder by a representative of an entertainer you’re aware of or had personal experience with?
I know I have some good ones that aren’t me but I’ll throw myself under the bus. One thing that made me feel the most foolish was pooh-poohing a Guns ’n’ Roses audition. I was taken to see a band at the Roxy [on Sunset Strip] a record company A & R person and they didn’t impress me as being very good. They were like every—this was in ’85 or ‘86—every other band. My friend was not happy; he was saying the record-company is going to give them $1 million and I was arguing they should spend the money on something different, something more original. And yeah, they turned out to be Guns ‘n’ Roses, so…
I know as soon as we hang up I’m going to start thinking of more stories.
[To be continued…]
