D.I.Y.

Musician Tips: The Importance Of A Contract & Professionalism When Collaborating

Here’s the scenario: You’re out and about watching another indie artist perform and you think your styles would blend well together. After the show you approach him and ask if he wants to collab. He says sure, and you make a plan to meet a couple days later.

What you do from here will make a world of difference in the long run. Here are some tips to help navigate the collaboration process:

The first meeting

This should be a brief get together to discuss the goal of the collaboration project. This is not the time to create, just a short meet up to make a plan which should include:

  • What type of project do you want to work on? One song, an EP, a gig? There are lots of possibilities.
  • A basic idea of who will do what on the project. Although this may change in the creative process it is a good idea to note each participants intended contribution.
  • A rough schedule of when you can meet to create, and when you want to complete the project. Even if you are both free spirits, set a deadline. This can always be adjusted, but without a deadline the project could just stall.
  • The terms of payment (if any), and time frame for payment
  • How the project will be used. For instance, will only one of you put this on your album or are you creating a song to shop to a third party band or artist.

The contract

Yes, I said contract. That word that makes you cringe at the thought of mentioning it to another person. To lessen the dread, we can call it an agreement, which is basically what a contract is…an agreement of terms between two parties. Simple right? Well, kind of. Here are some important points to keep in mind when drafting an agreement:

  • After your first meeting one of you should take the notes and put them into a basic agreement. At the very next meeting before any work begins, each person involved should read over the agreement and sign it. Anyone hesitant to sign an agreement is usually someone who wouldn’t honor it anyway.
  • Add in a clause that allows you both to exit out of this project up to a certain point if the collaboration is not working. In the beginning everything is sunshine and daisies, but as time goes on, the project may turn in a direction you don’t want your name associated with.
  • You can never be prepared for everything, but if you have any concerns up front it’s best to include them in the agreement. If something comes up later that drastically changes the project it is best to write up an addendum, have all parties sign it, and attach it to the original agreement.
  • An agreement does not need to be notarized or written up by a lawyer. A notary basically just acknowledges the signatures and with basic agreements this is unnecessary. Unless you are creating a very detailed project you do not have to pay a lawyer to prepare a contract.

If you do want something a bit more professional than a hand written or typed contract, you can check out some online resources that offer standard work agreements. Here are a few to get you started:

Written vs. oral agreements

Always use a written agreement as oral contracts lead to misunderstandings. You may say, “well he is my friend and he wouldn’t do me wrong.” I’m here to tell you that written agreements between friends is even more important than between strangers. When you have a signed agreement it keeps the professional relationship separate from your buddy relationship. This also makes it easier to hold each other accountable when lines are blurred. When a conflict occurs, instead of arguing about it you can just say, “Hmm…I forget, let’s check the agreement.”

Professionalism in the creative process

Although the music industry can be flashy and fun, remember that this is your business. There is a time and place for everything, and partying all the way through the creative process will not sustain your career. This is not to say you can’t have a good time through the process but always remember that there is a balance between creativity and business. Here are some tips for maintaining professionalism throughout the creative process:

  • Keep the partying and groupies out of the creative process and celebrate after you have come up with that collaboration hit!
  • When you go into the studio or a creation session, set a time limit. Leaving this process open ended does not get much done. Once you are in the zone you can allow for more time but when you first begin set an attainable goal like “let’s get the melody created by {–o’clock}”. Then once that is done, move onto the next part of the song or project. This will keep the project moving forward.
  • Don’t burn bridges. If a collaboration doesn’t work out, don’t bad mouth your collaboration partner all over the internet. This is a small industry and you may have to work with this person again, or know someone with important connections who works with this person.
  • Rule of thumb is… If you find that a person is super picky, very opinionated, unprofessional, or difficult to work with up front…. it will continue. Listen to your gut feeling in the initial meeting and know when to cut your losses.
  • Remember to work together for the good of the project. The main reason to collab is to blend styles to get a great end result. Always explore each other’s ideas and don’t let your ego take over.
  • Always give credit where credit is due. Even if you worked on a project a little more than the other person, always recognize them for their contribution. This keeps your music karma in balance.

This guest post comes from Allison Sharp, Support Technician at musician website and marketing platform Bandzoogle

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8 Comments

  1. Good advice, particularly about the contract. I don’t like them, and always prefer a handshake deal, but I have found from personal experience that when you don’t have anything in writing, people can later disagree on what your original agreement was. You don’t even need to call it a contract. Just say that you want to write everything down to make sure you both understand what the plans are.
    Another reason to have everything written down is so that if other people get involved later on, you can show them how the original agreement was set up. For example, this helps if one person later acquires a manager. If there is nothing on paper, the manager can say, “I don’t know anything about this, so it doesn’t apply to me.”

  2. This is good advice that too many people ignore. It can also be extremely valuable later on if you have the chance to sell a song or if someone else wants to record it, and your friend is now AWOL. Including permission in the initial agreement can keep you from losing out on an opportunity down the road. They’re not signing away their rights or credit or share of the profits, just giving permission for the song to be used. Labels won’t touch it otherwise for fear of being sued..

  3. Contracts/agreements are definitely very important, but I don’t think drawing one up before collaborating with another artist is a good idea. Music is a creative process & although it’s foolish to ignore the business aspect, it should not negatively affect the art. If (insert your favorite band name here) drew up a contract before ever jamming together they would have never made classic albums. Be careful about presenting a contract like this too soon – the other party may be turned off & no longer want to work with you.
    If it’s a work for hire agreement (session playing, recording sessions, mastering, etc.) then of course a contract should be drawn up first, but IMO one is not needed before collaborating with another artist. Art should happen organically & not be restricted by the terms of an unnecessary contract.
    You do make a lot of great points here though & like you said – music is our business, but it’s also still our art.

  4. Words can not express the extreme truth in this blog post…Burning bridges is a big, giant no-no even if you don’t enjoy working together, you’re going to. Learn to like it and find a way to meet in the middle.
    You never know who might call you someday!
    A contract IS needed before collabing with someone in the particular manner this was written. You’re protecting your contribution to the creative process and making sure you don’t get screwed in some way (there’s more than just not getting paid)
    Always be prepared and have a contract ready to go for any situation in this industry. Protect yourself. 😉

  5. I agree with Eye Vee. The advice sounds good in theory, and there are certainly plenty of sheisters out there. But I would sacrifice everything, including profits, in the quest to create the best songs possible. Smokey Robinson’s “Cruisin” took him years to complete. Patience is a seriously rewarding virtue in the music business.

    The idea that deadlines can be put on writing a melody, hook, lyrics or whatever is completely unrealistic. Many of the best songs written and collaborated on were not written in one day. Sometimes they were done piecemeal, little by little over time. Brian Wilson, for instance, often collaborated with other lyricists over long periods of time. At the same time, a Lennon and McCartney might knock out a hit song in 5 minutes. But to know ahead of time how much time and attention a song will or will not need is impossible and self defeating — especially when the goal should always be the pursuit of excellence. If the idea isn’t mutually agreed to be good enough to pursue within a certain time frame, then perhaps that could be put into writing to avoid wasting too much time on a road to nowhere.

    But still, music has always been a labor of love, first and foremost. That’s why so few people can do it well. Most are too impatient, hate rehearsing, are too interested in partying, groupies, or whatever. The serious music geeks have always been the masters of this field. Don’t let whiskey bottles in photo shoots fool you. Jagger and Richards were trying to split atoms, quantifying the essence of poor black American musical roots. It didn’t just “happen.”

    Contracts will help in certain situations, but contracts will not make magic happen. I can’t help thinking that this is just another advice column designed to feed hope to people who may or may not have what it takes to be successful- with or without contracts… There is a lot of this kind of “promotional advice” on the internet nowadays. Whatever keeps the kids spending money at the Guitar Center and CD Baby, I suppose…

    Let’s not forget that what most people consider to be the best music ever made was made pre-internet without industry bibles for success. It’s a point definitely worth mentioning.

  6. I think getting hung up on contracts before you work with someone is a real problem. That’s why I don’t like them. But as I have said, I have found out that when I try to work out some sort of payment agreement after the fact, it gets messy. Therefore, I think that it can be helpful to jot something down really early on. This doesn’t have to be a contract at all. You can just say, “Hey, if this ever amounts to anything, we’ll split the money this way.” Or, if you have each put money into a project, you can keep a record of it and then make sure everyone is reimbursed accordingly if money comes in. In that case, it’s just like going out to eat and agreeing in advance that everyone pays for their own meal.

  7. Excellent points that everyone in the music space should use as a best practice…
    in the indie world, this is far too mechanical to be practical (re: upfront contracts)

  8. Stop and think about it. If you are invited to a party and are told it’s BYOB, would you be upset to be told beforehand that the party doesn’t include free drinks?
    If you are invited to a collaboration and someone says, “We’re going to jam” or “We going to collaborate on this project and this is what will happen if we get something that’s good,” would you be upset?
    Contracts imply lawyers, and that’s why people get wary. But just explaining in an invitation what you have in mind shouldn’t be all that threatening or stifling if done right.
    Or you can even say, “We’re going to jam, but nothing we produce leaves this room, so we don’t need an agreement.”

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