Booking and Live Performance Contracts for Musicians

Navigating legal aspects of the music industry isn’t always easy to do on your own. It can also cost you a ton of money. Even getting legal representation to draft a single agreement for a potential business deal can be costly. To help you out, here’s what you need to know about booking and live contracts for musicians…

Booking and Live Performance Contracts for Musicians

There are many different types of contracts you may encounter throughout your career. For now, let’s break down a couple of the main ones. These are the types you’ll see the most often when it comes to booking and playing live. They include:

1. Live Promoter/Artist Contracts
2. Mervhandising Rights Contracts
3. Promoter/Venue Contracts
4. DJ/Promoter Contracts

Now, let’s break them down…

Live Promoter / Artist Contracts

Live Promoter or Artist Contracts are agreements where the promoter engages an artist to perform at an event on a particular date for a specified length of time.

• The promoter agrees to pay the artist for the satisfactory performance of the engagement and to help arrange transport and accommodation if required.
• The artist agrees to perform the engagement to the best of his/her ability and to provide promoter with materials, photographs, biography, CV and recordings for the promotion of the engagement.
• Both parties agree to pay their own tax contributions and to comply with all rules, regulations and agreements relating to health and safety.

This agreement is useful for promoters looking to have a document in place that comprehensively covers all of the most common issues related to live engagements.

Merchandising Rights Contracts

Merchandising Rights Contracts are exclusive agreements where an artist grants merchandising rights to a company which allows the latter to use the Artist’s name, logo, likeness, picture, artwork, trade marks etc., throughout a defined territory in connection with the manufacture and sale of products of any kind. Typically, the company accounts 50% of the income to the artist after recouping manufacturing and transport costs.

This is useful for labels or manufacturing companies looking to get an exclusive license to artists’ intellectual property for the manufacture of these goods.

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📚 Learn more about contracts…

4 Main Types of Publishing Contracts

Everything You Need To Know About Releasing Music NFTs

8 Ways To Earn Passive Income As An Independent Musician

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Promoter / Venue Contracts

Promoter or Venue Contracts are exactly what they sound like. These are agreements where the promoter hires a venue for a particular date.

• The venue will guarantee the promoter certain capacity and opening times, as well as reasonable technical equipment required by the artist performing at the event.
• With this, the promoter agrees to be solely responsible for all costs related to the promotion and marketing of the event and to be liable for any fines imposed on the venue related to said promotion.
• Both parties agree to act in a professional manner at all times and to not act negligently or recklessly resulting in the impossibility to carry out the event.
• The contract can be customized to allow the promoter to provide his/her own bar stock, sound engineers and security for the event.

DJ / Promoter Contracts

DJ or Promoter Contracts are agreements where a promoter books a DJ to perform at an event at a particular date and for a specified length of time. The promoter agrees to pay the DJ for their performance and to meet certain requirements as requested by DJ (including a safe performance area, electrical outlets and crowd control personnel).

This agreement is useful for promoters looking to have a document in place that comprehensively covers all of the most common issues related to live DJ music engagements.