Publication: The New York Law Journal [US]
Date: December 3, 1996
Section:
Page Number(s):
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Title: "Artist Formerly Known as Prince Looks to Obscure Lawyer to Negotiate Record Deal"
Written By: Edward A. Adams

O{+>'s APPROACH TO his contracts and choice of counsel might be thought to be as funky as his music.

The artist formerly known as Prince, who changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph three years ago, signed a deal with EMI-Capitol Music Group earlier this year that turns the ordinary performer-record company relationship on its head.

Rather than receiving royalties and a sizable advance, the superstar is paying EMI to manufacture and distribute ''Emancipation,'' a three-CD album released with much fanfare Nov. 19. If it fails, he loses millions; if it succeeds, he makes more than he ever could under a standard deal.

To negotiate the deal, and to extricate himself from his previous contract with Warner Brothers Records Inc., the performer hired L. Londell McMillan, 30, an associate at Gold, Farrell & Marks, who has been practicing entertainment law only three years.

Several music industry lawyers called the choice of Mr. McMillan, a virtual unknown among entertainment lawyers, everything from ''suprising'' to ''bizarre'' -- and perfectly in keeping with the performer's mercurial approach to business.

''The entertainment industry is not that hierarchical,'' said Mr. McMillan. When artists select counsel to ''deal with [their] goals on a very personal basis,'' a lawyer's abilities and rapport with the client can count for more than experience, he said.

Mr. McMillan has handled legal matters involving sound tracks for director Spike Lee, recently negotiated a modeling contract for Olympic basketball player Lisa Leslie, and represents R&B singer Stephanie Mills and hip-hop artist Doug E. Fresh.

Entertainment Law

While at Cornell University in the mid-1980s, where he was strong safety on the varsity football team, Mr. McMillan worked part-time as a sports agent for New York's Athletes & Artists agency. He attended New York University School of Law, where he was head of the Northeast Region of the Black American Law Students Association (BALSA).

In 1989, he and Suzanne Baer, then placement director at New York Law School, co-founded the Minority Roundtable, a monthly meeting on racial issues for hiring partners and minority associates from New York's major firms. After graduating in 1990, he spent three years as a corporate associate at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. He joined 25-lawyer Gold Farrell in 1993, after Ms. Baer's husband, Southern District Judge Harold Baer, asked his friend Leonard Marks to speak with Mr. McMillan about his interest in entertainment law.

Gold Farrell is known primarily as a leader in entertainment litigation, having represented the Beatles, singer Billy Joel, and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Mr. McMillan said that reputation is part of the reason two recording industry individuals he declined to name recommended him to the 38-year-old performer.

Prince, whom Mr. McMillan refers to as ''the artist,'' signed with Warner Brothers in 1978. His career reached a peak in 1984 with the release of ''Purple Rain'' and the movie by the same name, in which he starred. Critics described his brand of funk and R&B, suffused with elements of gospel, jazz and a screaming guitar reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, as utterly original.

As his sales increased, the contract was renegotiated. Under the 1992 version, he could have earned $100 million if the nine albums covered by the pact were to sell enough copies.

Tough Negotiations

But in 1993, Prince began complaining about how his music was being released, and sales started to drop. He wanted to release more albums in quicker succession than called for under his contract, and he wanted ownership of the master recordings in order to control future releases. Lawyers for Warner declined to comment.