Brockert

This appeal arises from a contract dispute between Motown Record Corporation (Motown) and Jobete Music Company, Inc. (Jobete) and singer, songwriter Tina Marie Brockert, known professionally as Teena Marie. (See also Motown Record Corp. v. Superior Court (1984) 155 Cal.App.3d 482 [ 202 Cal.Rptr. 227 ].)

Teena Marie appeals from a preliminary injunction restraining her from performing her singing and songwriting talents for anyone other than Motown and Jobete until their contracts expire. At the heart of this appeal is an issue which has received considerable attention in law reviews but has never been addressed by the appellate courts, The issue is whether a clause in a personal services contract giving the employer the option to pay the employee a minimum of $6,000 a year satisfies the statutory minimum compensation requirement for an injunction restraining breach of the contract. (See, e.g., Note, Statutory Minimum Compensation and the Granting of Injunctive Relief to Enforce Personal Services Contracts in the Entertainment Industries: The Need for Legislative Reform (1979) 52 So.Cal.L.Rev. 489, (hereafter Statutory Minimum Compensation); Tannenbaum, Enforcement of…