Slaying the Starving Artist Paradigm and Teaching Professionalism in the Entertainment Business: The Entertainment Law and Professionalism Clinic

Abstract

IntroductionThis article describes the Entertainment Law and Professionalism (hereafter Clinic or Clinic1), an initiative designed to expose students to the practice of professionalism while serving their entertainment industry legal needs. The moves instruction outside the boundaries of the classroom by requiring students to exercise self-directed judgments about the use of business advisors. The first part of the article discusses general notions of professionalism and proposes a definition that may be applicable to training a corps of entertainment business professionals through a service project approach. Part two describes how the ELP Clinic, currently in use at Belmont University, was developed from my observations and student interactions as a teaching practitioner of law to: (a) serve student business and legal needs by providing cost-free legal advice; (b) teach students how, when, and whether to seek advisors and use the members of an advisory team; and, (c) teach and promote professionalism in the entertainment industry outside the classroom. An exhaustive study of professionalism is outside the scope of this article; rather, my objective is to examine the contours of professionalism within the framework of the Clinic, and to summarize insights from its implementation and underlying principles.Defining ProfessionalismPlying one's trade in the arts can be both rewarding and unsympathetic, invoking images of starving artists and ruthless jungles, language coined to depict an exploitative industry that preys upon the martyrdom associated with artists whose preoccupation with producing art appears to supersede business judgment. The starving artist paradigm finds it roots in the realm of the visual arts, which has yielded some of our most inspiring cultural contributions, yet many of the artists who gave us these treasures often died in ignominy, recognized posthumously as cultural icons whose achievements often failed to reflect financial success during their lives. For example, Van Gogh, the preeminent Dutch master, relied heavily on his family for ongoing support during his lifetime, though his Sunflowers painting sold for $39 million in 1987, and others have fetched similar sums.2 Though the types of transactions that drive the entertainment industry distinguish it from the fine arts, the entertainment business likewise boasts accounts of artists and composers mired in archetypal penury.However, it is an archetype that entertainment and music business programs are poised to deem as little more than a caricature of the unwary, or germane to this discussion, the unprofessional. There are stories we celebrate, in which the scales are tipped to reverse the usual leverage scenarios that would otherwise beget inequities. In the area of copyright ownership of audio recordings, Ray Charles' business judgments resulted in calculated label affiliations and unprecedented (at the time) ownership of his masters as an example of what can properly be characterized as professionalism.While I do not purport to suggest that dying penniless is the hallmark of a lack of professionalism, or that financial solvency is the penultimate measure of success,3 deriving a livelihood from performing a set of activities is fundamental to delineating the minimal parameters of behavior. Indeed, I would argue that endeavoring to produce more Ray Charles-like conduct (in terms of business acumen) is a legitimate driver in designing the entertainment business curriculum, i.e., to train a cadre of professionals. Webster's dictionary defines professional as participating for gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often in by amateurs; and, engaged in by persons receiving a financial return.4 This definition comports with entertainment business course offerings that develop core knowledge in accounting, finance, economics, marketing, artist management, intellectual property, contract law, and related courses-all fields that engage monetary outcomes founded on theories for developing not mere economic viability, but profitability as well. …