Nah. You cna't get sued for original compositions unless its a melody from some copywritten song or something liek that but the odds of that are slim at best. As far as a 'staff' well the exact number of people is hard to say since who knows how big some of your facilities will be, but you'll need at least one of the following:

• Representation, (usually a manager) they make sure your contract dosen't rape you as much as it would without them.
• A lawyer who is usually gonna be working in tandem with your manager unless your manager is also a lawyer which has it's own ups and downs. But generally they make sure you don't do or say shit that'll get you in legal trouble as best as they can.
• A Road manager if you're touring - this isn't like the normal manager. He just bitch slaps you and makes sure you're at the venues you're supposed to be at in the time frame you're supposed to be there. He also makes sure you don't get dicked for $ on your performance(s). Usually one of the last staff members you'll need.
• An Agent. They book shows and make calls to speak to people that you either A: can not or B: would not. Like with everything in this list, the manager can also assume this role which also has it's ups and downs.
• A/R if you're on anything that resembles a Major Label they're going to assign you an A/R. And A/R is essentially your 'boss' and your father in one. He tells you what to do and what to change about your self in order to become more marketable but (for the most part) he's also acting in your best interest. If you ever wondered why XYZ rapper sounded different after they got signed, the answer is A/R - which stands for Artist and Repitoire btw. They essentially 'build' you.
• Distrobution. Usually the record label takes care of this, but this'll make or break anything you do since this controls where your albums are actually sold and in what markets, the pricepoint threshold etc.
• Publishing. This one isn't a mandatory 'staff' member type thing but I HIGHLY HIGHLY reccomend you go buy your own publishing company. Lets say you release an album and you want it to get spins on every popular radiostation on the eastern seaboard. That promtional CD at every station generates income and when you don't own your publishing rights, that money goes to someone else - 99.9% of the time, your record company. Meaning your voice and your work is bing played on national radio and you get zilch. Companies like Bad Boy get the reputation of Rapin-U-Records because they own a publishing company that lets artists recoup recording costs (essentially, overhead) from publishing royalties that'd otherwise be payable (aka, goign in your pocket) so a huge chunk of the $ you'd see goes down the crapper. This gave countless rappers the sour taste in their mouth about 'the industry'.




you said you weren't gonna post that...:runs off in e-tears that looks like asterik's:

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