Walkom Entertainment Lawyers’ founder explains why it’s important to support creators at all levels
With the launch of Walkom Entertainment Lawyers (WEL), Marcus Walkom is starting to blaze his own trail in the world of entertainment law. And he’s not doing it alone.
He’s joined by Lauren Holyoak, who is both a lawyer in the field and a self-managed artist. A perspective like hers is crucial, he said, because it enables the firm to better understand what clients need and want.
“Artists want technically strong advice, but specifically in the creative industries, they also want to know their lawyer understands the day-to-day realities of writing, recording, touring, collaborating and trying to build a sustainable career in an ultra-competitive environment. Lauren can approach issues from both perspectives”, he told Australasian Lawyer. “Lauren brings the combination of astute legal capability and direct lived experience as a working musician. That matters because she can relate more closely to the needs and wants of our clients and their broader businesses”.
An artist's business, Walkom explained, is founded on their intellectual property rights in areas like recordings, songs, names and images.
“The control and exploitation of these rights is what the ‘business’ around it is built on. So we work together with our clients to best protect, manage and monetise these rights,” he told Australasian Lawyer.
The firm works with a wide variety of clients, including artists, managers, promoters, record labels, festivals, creative businesses, and emerging digitally native creators. This diverse client base enhances the firm’s client service by cultivating a broad market perspective.
This perspective is helpful because according to Walkom, the big concern faced by WEL’s clients is not necessarily a legal one.
“Aside from the rise of the AI machines and the multitude of legal issues arising out of that, the most common issue impacting our clients will likely be one less legal and more broad: how to develop and grow a creative business in an era where there is more competition than ever”, he told Australasian Lawyer. “With more choice and demand on our time, it’s increasingly harder to capture the attention of those you are trying to reach”.
Walkom encouraged fans and consumers to not just pay attention to the massive headliners in an industry that can only be sustained if creative endeavours are supported from the bottom up.
“It’s important as fans and consumers we support creators at all levels to ensure there’s a healthy ecosystem that supports and encourages artists from the grassroots level all the way up to the upper-echelon stadium superstars”, he told Australasian Lawyer.
