One area that remains a Pandora’s Box for models
starting out in the business is how to deal with
their first request to host or emcee at a club or
party. I’ve dealt with this many times working with
Bria Myles. This is largely a contractual matter, and
I’ve included a Sample Appearance Contract
with this article for convenience.
Money
One question a lot of models ask is how much they
should get paid to host a party. If you’ve garnered
enough attention that someone has asked you to host a
party, you’ve probably been on the cover of at least
one major magazine or been prominently featured in a
popular music video. That being said, I think
starting price for this sort of thing should be at
least $500 (if this was 5 years ago, I would say
higher). If you’ve been in the game awhile and been
on multiple magazine covers and in several big music
videos, I don’t think you should get paid anything
less than $1,500.
Payment
For some reason, hosting requests are one area where
people tend to be very flakey. I can’t tell you how
many times Bria has had someone put in a request for
her to host an event, only to back out later. (I
think guys use event hosting as a ploy to interact
with models they like.) Often, by the time the
promoter backs out, significant time and energy has
already been expended. For this reason and to weed
out the flakes, always request at least half of
your fee 2-3 weeks prior to the proposed engagement
date. The money should be wired to your or your
manager’s account. Until that money hits your
account, keep contact to a minimum with the promoter.
If possible, models should have an agent or manager
act on their behalf until the last possible minute in
these negotiations, for the reason I mentioned above.
The balance must be paid to you before you step foot
in the venue. All of this should be spelled out in
the contract.
Pre-Hosting Formalities
Sometimes a promoter will ask you to make radio
appearances the day you arrive in town to promote the
event. Make sure you find this out beforehand, so you
can determine if you want to charge extra for this
service. Also, make sure you find out if you are
going to be hosting with any other models, and be
sure to demand top billing. Promoters are notorious
for adding other “talent” at the last minute. Next
thing you know, you’re receiving equal billing with a
B or C-list urban model on the fliers. For this
reason, you should also reserve the right to
pre-approve any and all promotional materials before
they are printed or posted on the web. Again, this
should all be covered in your contract.
Performance
Hosting is limited to two hours floor time. During
this two hours your duties as model could entail
emceeing, greeting and mingling with fans, and
signing autographs (you should bring something people
can get signed if you have the chance - e.g., print
out 50 nice 8x10s). There is nothing wrong with
interacting with fans, but remember you are there to
host, not to party.
You can make additional money working with the event
photographer who takes photos. Let's say the event
photographer is charging $10 for someone to take a
photo with you and have it printed and signed. You
can ask the photographer to go 50/50 on that.
Transportation & Hotel
If you are hosting out of town, the promoter should
provide professional transportation services (limo)
or pay additional fees for your taxi service around
town. Under no circumstances should you be forced to
ride around with the club promoter or anyone else
associated with the event after you get to the
airport. This is yet another hustle guys use to meet
models. Bria actually cancelled an appearance after
she found out she would have to take a two-hour ride
with some club promoter to her hotel once she arrived
in town. Fortunately, she had already been paid half
her fee.
Likewise, while the promoter should pay for your
hotel or lodging, you should actually book the
room and get reimbursed. What you want to avoid
is a situation where, because the promoter booked
your hotel, they have a keycard with access to your
room.
Finally, what of being able to bring a friend along?
Well, if you're Melyssa Ford you can demand that the
promoter pay for a friend to come along and a hotel
room for two. For less prominent models, this can be
a sticking point. Demanding that the promoter pay for
air fare and lodging of an additional person can
increase the fee by $500 easily, which is enough for
many promoters to walk away. You may have to pay for
this yourself, or split the fee with the promoter.
One of the classier
fliers I've seen for a party Bria hosted with
Drake...
NOTE: This
article has been significantly edited as of January
24, 2010.
Just a little comment about the recent Judge Judy
case where it was ruled that a club promoter who used
an urban model’s picture on promotional fliers was
liable for $5,000 in damages to the model.
First of all, it’s important to note Judge Judy is
sitting in small claims court/arbitration, so that
case has no real precedential value (e.g., no other
courts will rely on that ruling as the basis for
future rulings).
However, the general premise of that case is true –
you can’t use someone’s image for a commercial
purpose, which means to make money,
without his or her written consent. That’s why 50 Cent is suing World
Star Hip Hop. They used his image on their
website in such a way that it looked like he was
affiliated with their site without his written
consent. This gave them greater traffic and more
ad revenues, which is a commercial purpose.
So what does this mean for your average club
promoter, graphic designer, blogger, etc? It means
you should get permission from the copyright holder
of an image and/or the model before putting it on a
flier or otherwise using it to make money. This
recent Judge Judy episode will likely inspire more
models to act on this type of misappropriation more
often.
• What are the damages?
In the Judge Judy case she slapped the club promoter
with the maximum allowable damages in small claims -
$5000. In reality, damages could be difficult to
prove and might have been less.
In California, for example, “The injured party may
recover (1) the greater of $ 750 or actual damages,
and (2) any profits attributable to the unauthorized
use and not accounted for in computing damages. In
establishing profits, the burden is on the injured
party to prove the gross revenue, and on the violator
to prove deductible expenses. The injured party may
also recover punitive damages, and the prevailing
party is entitled to attorneys' fees and costs.”
(C.C. § 3344(a).) That's a lot to digest, but the
reality is that it would be difficult for a model
prove what revenues a club made due to using her
image on a flier without hiring a forensic
accountant. Also, since there are no attorneys
allowed in small claims court, there would be no
legal fees recoverable, although some filing fees
might be allowed. So that might mean just $750 in
damages for the club promoter (in California).
• Exception for Newsworthy Matters or Matters
of Public Interest
One important exception to the invasion of
privacy/right of publicity claim is for newsworthy
matters. You can use a model or celebrities image on
your website if it is associated with a newsworthy
matter or a matter of public interest. That is how
Bossip.com and Media Take Out get away with using
those pics of Beyonce, Melyssa Ford, Ahsanti, etc. to
drive traffic to their site without being sued.
That’s also one reason why informational blurbs
almost always accompany my model postings, as opposed
to it just being straight photos.
However, even when the matter is not newsworthy,
there’s some evidence the right to privacy might be
slightly reduced on the internet. Enter United
States v. Gines-Perez, 214 F. Supp. 2d 205, 225
(D. Puerto Rico 2002). In that case the court held:
"[P]lacing information on the information
superhighway necessarily makes said matter accessible
to the public, no matter how many protectionist
measures may be taken, or even when a web page is
'under construction.'" "[I]t strikes the Court as
obvious that a claim to privacy is unavailable to
someone who places information on an indisputably,
public medium, such as the Internet, without taking
any measures to protect the information."
In terms of copyright (the photographer's cause of
action for unauthorized use), which is different from
invasion of privacy (the model's cause of action for
unauthorized use) the Fair Use Doctrine may permit
news related use without permission as well. "The
Fair Use Doctrine is codified at 17 U.S.C. § 107 and
states that “the fair use of a copyrighted work..for
purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching (including multiple copies for classroom
use), scholarship, or research, is not an
infringement of copyright. Fortunately for bloggers,
most of what they do is, at the very least, criticism
or comment.” (See, Miller, Bloggers, Is Your Content Safe
Under The “Fair Use” Doctrine?, BlackWeb
2.0,)
The bottom line is that using images of models on
fliers or the internet for a commercial
purpose and without their written consent is a bad
business practice in general and can expose you to
liability. The key trigger is whether the use is
commercial in nature; that is, are you using it to
make money or promote a product or service. If so,
then chances are, whether it is the internet or just
a flyer, you will be liable to the model for damages
should s/he decide to sue.