Certification: Lesson 3

LESSON 3. Contracts

A contract is an obligation to do or not to do a something. It could be an action like paying for studio time, getting paid for a performance, or even transferring ownership in your copyright.

A valid agreement comes into being when:

1. There is consensus: you understand each other
2. Performance is possible: your obligation can be achieved physically and legally
3. You have capacity: your can create legal relationships and are not underage, insolvent or insane
4. Required formalities: for example, the transfer of ownership of copyright has to be in writing.

The major agreements you may encounter when you begin in the music industries are:

• Songwriter and performer royalty splits (you pay for recordings)
• Digital aggregation (to get those recordings into online stores)
• Live performances (when artists get gigs)

Later, you may be asked to agree to:

• a music publishing contract (for your music)
• a recording agreement (to perform on a recording paid for by someone else)
• a booking agent agreement (when you’re can’t book your own gigs anymore)
• a publicist agreement (when you can’t handle the heat from social media anymore)

Be careful, as sometimes contracts can include a variety of rights. Take a look at this contract that gives ownership to both sound recordings (master) and music / literary works in favour of the record label (owner) with a royalty split to a performer / songwriter.