collections: hardball or softball?

[Randall Raymond]

[avantis] “Perhaps this is the essence of my question: What happens after I win in small claims? What legal document or authorization do I need to comfortably use my masters?”

You would have the judgment against them. If you make it clear to the judge that in lieu of payment you wish to have the rights to the music revert back to you – he may grant that in the judgment.

[Craig Seeman]

I usually put in my contracts that I retain ALL RIGHTS to all materials I generate until FINAL payment is made.

BTW, maybe it’s me and my 25 years of experience working for 6 facilities that all went under . . . Final payment is ON deliver and not after. Either that final delivery is in person with tapes or media being xfered along with the payment in hand or the check arrives in my mailbox and the media goes out that day.

Sure there are exceptions but in your business model you have to examine what it does to your business if some small percentage don’t make that payment. To me that’s lost time and any efforts to collect is additional lost time.

[Grinner Hester]

hardball.
I am a very laid back dude. If ya can’t get along with me, ya prolly don’t get along with many. I’m pretty old school when it comes to money though. It in no way (to me) is mean to tell somone you’ll be by in ten minutes to collect the full amount they owe ya. Wouldnt even be mean to charge em for gas to come get it. I have waitin in lobbies having to ask their clientele if they are there for money as well before. I make my living doing this stuff. Deadbeats would take food from my children if I let ethem and it’s simply up to me not to let them.
Hardball means they wont cvome back. It also means they wouldnt have anyway. You have absolutly nothing to lose by being firm.

[Arnie Schlissel]

[David Roth Weiss] “This is purely a small claims matter. You would never find a lawyer to take the case on a contingency, and you would of course be foolish to spend any real money pursuing such a small amount.”

10 or 12 years ago,when I was a freelance newspaper photographer, I had a client that owed me for a few invoices- something like $500 or $600, if I recall. The publisher had been ducking my calls for 2 or 3 weeks, & I figured that if I took them to small claims, I’d never see a cent, but if I took them to federal court for copyright violation, it would cost them much more than that just to show up for the 1st hearing.

So I called & left voice mails for the publisher, his assistant & the corporate attorney telling them that I was revoking their license to the pictures they had run, and going to sue them for violating my copyright.

I was called back immediately and told that a check was being cut & would be waiting there as soon as I could come pick it up. And, by the way, we’re paying you a little bit extra to make up for your trouble. I think it was something like an extra 20%.

Arnie
Now in post: Peristroika, a film by Slava Tsukerman
https://www.arniepix.com/blog

[John Graves]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Some super ideas here. I think sometimes all it takes is a certified letter to get em to crumble.

avantis

“Life is good, as long as it doesn’t take up too much of my time.”

-anonymous gamer