Contracts

[BREAKTHROUGHBEATS]

Just thefactthat youhave 113 different contracts shows that there us a lot if subtlty with contracts...

You are not a lawyer.

You do not understand what these contracts say (even though you *think* you do)...

"legal wording" often means things quite different from what it appears to say...

The meanings of contracts often come downtown *past precedent*, so you need to understand mite that simply the words...

Anybody using a contract they found on the Internet or in a book is setting themselves up for getting seriously screwed.


If you want to protect yourself legally, throw these contracts in the garbage and just write *in plain English* what you want youragreement to be.


--something to think about: you have a "producer" and an "artist" both here looking for someone to give them an "artist/producer" contract... Someone here says "I have an artist/producer contract"... The "artist" and "producer" both download the contract and say "thanks for lookin out! This is exactly what I have been looking for!"...

BUT!!!!

Of course, neither the "artist", "producer" nor the guy giving the contract understands what he is reading.

SO...

Tell me: is this contract screwing the "artist" or the "producer"? (because contracts ALWAYS favor one party)

Who is getting (more) screwed?

Hmmmm?

I agree! Well sorta... First off I never claimed to a.) Be a Lawyer and b.) I NEVER said anything about *thinking* I know what they say! However, I did receive these contracts from a music attorney soooo I figured they were legit...? Obviously, assuming was a bad idea! I should know better since my #1 rule is never assume anything! Also, I was only trying to help people protect themselves. Of course when you have 113 different contracts the uses and wording for each one can be very confusing and differ greatly depending on which contract is needed. Btw... you never actually saw any of these contracts, some of them are very simple and YES even us producers and artists can figure out what they say and what they mean! I do appreciate your feedback and opinion.

*Disclaimer - Anybody downloading and using "internet contracts" please advise a proper music entertainment attorney before signing anything.

 

[dvyce]

I agree! Well sorta... First off I never claimed to a.) Be a Lawyer and b.) I NEVER said anything about *thinking* I know what they say! However, I did receive these contracts from a music attorney soooo I figured they were legit...? Obviously, assuming was a bad idea! I should know better since my #1 rule is never assume anything! Also, I was only trying to help people protect themselves. Of course when you have 113 different contracts the uses and wording for each one can be very confusing and differ greatly depending on which contract is needed. Btw... you never actually saw any of these contracts, some of them are very simple and YES even us producers and artists can figure out what they say and what they mean! I do appreciate your feedback and opinion.

*Disclaimer - Anybody downloading and using "internet contracts" please advise a proper music entertainment attorney before signing anything.

Well, I *am* a lawyer and I *know* what these contracts say, by the way... (though I am not claiming to give any "legal advice" here other than to say "consult a lawyer")




The contracts themselves may be "legit"... That is not even the point.

The point is: what is "legit" for one situation is not necessarily "legit" for another person's situation.


The wording may *seem* simple, but legal wording has very specific meanings that may *seem* like they say one thing but actually *mean* another.


Plus, you don't necessarily know what is normal and standard for the industry... you don't know what terms are necessarily proper to have in a contract-- and judging from what pretty much *everybody* here is saying and thinks is normal and proper, they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.



Think of it this way:

-You have a headache so you ask your friend what to do.

-your friend says "I had a headache and I went to a really good doctor and he cut part of my brain out and now i don't have any more headaches! My doctor is the best, so you know this advice is legit."

-So, you go and get half of your brain removed.

-Meanwhile, your friend had a massive brain tumor, so it was good advice for him to get brain surgery.

-But *you* just had a headache because you frank too much beer.

-You should have taken an asprin.

=If you had just taken an asprin, you would have been fine in a couple of hours... but since you got part of your brain removed, you can't walk and you have complete long term memory loss and you have a giant scar.




Did you ever hear the saying "a person who is his own attorney has a fool for a client"?

 

[MAJHOR]

just looked at this one.

This particular contract is completely worthless.

In addition to it not falling in line with what is normal industry practice for commercial work, it looks like it was written in 1973... talking about delivering cassette copies and 7 1/2 ips reel to reel copies... talking about "within 100 miles of the broadcast center" which is meaningless in the "modern" times of cable TV.

The deliverables are silly. The timeframe of 30 days is unrealistic (you usually get maybe 3 days if you are lucky).

Also slanted toward the person BUYING the music.


...and that's just the beginning of the problems with this one.

Don't even think about using this one.










To everybody saying "great thread" or "best thread ever" or "good lookin out" or "this is helpful" with regard to these contracts...

If you want the "best thread ever" and real helpful information on contracts, here it is:

Do not ever use a contract you find on the internet.

You obviously have no idea what you are agreeing to when you use these contracts.

If you do use one of these or any contract you find on the internet, you deserve to get screwed.


Lets say you are looking for a contract for doingf a remix.

Just because a contract says "remixer agreement" does not mean it is what you are looking for.

Are you DOING the remix? or are you HIRING someone to do a remix?

Do you realize that both contracts would be very different?



If you want a better contract than EVERYTHING here, do this:

Write down in plain english what you want to happen.

for example, "You can use this song for 1 year beginning today on this Burger King commercial only. You will pay me $___. I can still use this song on non food related commercials and on CD's and in movies and TV shows during that 1 year. After the 1 year is over you have no rights to this song and I have all the rights to this song. You will give me a copy of the finished commercial within 1 week after the air date"


or "I will do a remix of your song '_____'. you will pay me a flat fee of $___. You can use my material only as it is in this finished version of the song. You can not use any of my music for other songs. I will be credited as '______' wherever this remix is used. You can release albums with this song and you can license the song for any use you want. If the song is licensed for anything other than a music CD, I will get 20% of the money generated from the use."


I am not saying you should use those paragraphs I just wrote (they do not apply to any real life situation). I am telling you that you will be better off just saying what you mean rather than using some contract that you do not understand.


Of course, the BEST thing you can do is get an attorney to draft a contract for you.

And there is no point bringing one of THESE contracts in this thread or anywhere else on the internet to an attorney to look over. If you are going to go to an attorney, the attorney will just write up a contract for you that says exactly what you want it to say. an attorney will not waste his time trying to fix some contract you found on the internet.



IF YOU USE A CONTRACT YOU FIND ON THE INTERNET. YOU WILL END UP VERY DISAPPOINTED.

how about i email you what i want in my contract, you write it, get paid for writing it, send it to me, and i wont have to use internet contracts...wait would that be getting a internet contract? anyway lets try that.

 

[Grottoman]

Well, I *am* a lawyer and I *know* what these contracts say, by the way... (though I am not claiming to give any "legal advice" here other than to say "consult a lawyer")




The contracts themselves may be "legit"... That is not even the point.

The point is: what is "legit" for one situation is not necessarily "legit" for another person's situation.


The wording may *seem* simple, but legal wording has very specific meanings that may *seem* like they say one thing but actually *mean* another.


Plus, you don't necessarily know what is normal and standard for the industry... you don't know what terms are necessarily proper to have in a contract-- and judging from what pretty much *everybody* here is saying and thinks is normal and proper, they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.



Think of it this way:

-You have a headache so you ask your friend what to do.

-your friend says "I had a headache and I went to a really good doctor and he cut part of my brain out and now i don't have any more headaches! My doctor is the best, so you know this advice is legit."

-So, you go and get half of your brain removed.

-Meanwhile, your friend had a massive brain tumor, so it was good advice for him to get brain surgery.

-But *you* just had a headache because you frank too much beer.

-You should have taken an asprin.

=If you had just taken an asprin, you would have been fine in a couple of hours... but since you got part of your brain removed, you can't walk and you have complete long term memory loss and you have a giant scar.




Did you ever hear the saying "a person who is his own attorney has a fool for a client"?

This is my first post and as a future labelowner, I plan on contracting artists and signing publishing contracts among others.

At first I thought this was a good thread, anybody who can read English and UNDERSTANDS the terminology used in these contracts, wouldn't necissarily be screwed, right? Just asking.


Second, I agree with using just plain terms to make your point clear in a contract. But here's the thing, what if you fail to think of a clause that is otherwise standard procedure in a professional contract?

In your burger king example, I could have thought up the first paragraph, but i would have never come up with the next line:

If the song is licensed for anything other than a music CD, I will get 20% of the money generated from the use.

The 20% figure seems to be just a random figure. I mean who determines that percentage, how do I know what is reasonable? This is what bothers me the most about contracts, if for instance a publishingcompany just slaps a random figure on a contract trying to bluff me out, I might just think that it's reasonable when it's not.

Also, who are you licensing it to in your example? If Burger King is the licensee, they're a food company, why are they releasing stuff on CD. Could you please explain why you think Burger King should have the right to license the song to other companies when you can do it yourself?

 

[urbandubz]

Can anyone explain what this part means?

'As to records not consisting entirely of masters recorded and/or delivered hereunder, the royalty rate otherwise payable to Remixer hereunder with respect to sales of any such record shall be prorated by multiplying such royalty rate by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of Masters recorded and/or delivered hereunder embodied on such record and the denominator of which is the total number of masters embodied thereon.'

 

[bandcoach]

Can anyone explain what this part means?

'As to records not consisting entirely of masters recorded and/or delivered hereunder,

the royalty rate otherwise payable to Remixer hereunder with respect to sales of any such record shall be prorated by multiplying such royalty rate by a fraction,

the numerator of which is the number of Masters recorded and/or delivered hereunder embodied on such record

and the denominator of which is the total number of masters embodied thereon.'

prorated simply means modified by a fixed number, in this case a fraction

the top number of the fraction (the numerator) used to prorate is the number of recordings that the person delivers that are included in the album

the bottom number of the fraction (the denominator) is the total number of tracks included in the album

for example:

you have 6 tracks included on a mix tape that has 13 tracks - your cut of the royalties for the entire album is 6/13


whether such an outcome is desirable is another matter entirely - royalties are usually paid on a track by track basis, not prorated for an entire album. royalties are also paid on the basis of who created each track so the more people involved in creating a track the less money per person for that track