A contract is a critical piece of document and a contract that you sign with your music manager is no exception. It is in fact easy for a professional and experienced music manager to take you for a ride, if you are new in the music business. So before you sign any contract at any stage of your music career, learn the basics. The music manager is an important person assisting you to achieve success in the music world. Here are some basics of a contract that you may sign up with this professional:

• Keep the contract simple. The bare minimum inclusions are: money; division of labor and the duration of the contract.
• Ensure that the contract benefits both of you.
• If you have any reason to doubt your music manager’s integrity before you sign the contract, there is bound to be trouble ahead. Sign the contract in good faith.

Then there are specific terms of the contract that you should pay attention to. For example, both of you should agree on the duration of the contract and a subsequent termination policy. A viable option is to sign a one-year contract, renewable after the period if both parties agree. Ensure that there is nothing in the contract which allows the music manager to extend the contract without your specific approval. Also, be clear how both of you can make a clean exit from the agreement.

One of the most important aspects of the contents of the contract with your music manager is his job specification. What you expect your music manager to do would largely depend on what stage your band is in. If you are just starting out, your music manager would be expected to expose your music to music labels, scheduling gigs and so on. On the other hand, if your band has already moved on, your music manager should ensure that the promoters are doing their job in promoting your music. But before you sign the music contract, come to a mutual agreement, as to the expectations you have from each other.

The second important aspect is his fees. The industry norm is that the music manager gets between 15 and 20% of the revenue earned by the band, and this includes, money from sale of albums, music company advance, and the revenue from any deal they have negotiated. They may not get any share from the revenue from sale of merchandise, royalties earned from song writing or any other deal where they have not played any negotiating role.

While it is not fair to expect that the music manager would pay out of his pocket the promotional expenses of your album, but you need to work out an arrangement in this regard, prior to signing the contract. For example, the band is not expected to pay for his office or telephone expenses but you have to pay for his business trips if he is traveling on your behalf as well as small incidentals like entertaining a label executive and so on. One of the ways to arrange this payout is once a month on the basis of the receipts the manager produces for expenses incurred. It is a wise decision to put a limit to the expenses, which if it goes beyond a certain amount, has to have your prior approval.

There is no golden rule in drawing up a contract with a music manager as situations vary according to individual circumstances. But the essence is to keep it simple and specific and include clauses which can cover you for events as you foresee in the future. Always protect the interest of both the parties when renewing a music contract. If you are already a recording artist, you might also like to seek professional legal advice before drawing up the agreement.

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contact Empire Rehearsal Studios for more information.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 24th, 2010 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Music Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.