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[Jasmine]

Hello, all! I feel like I've made 50 threads in the past 2 months. I'm not trying to be an advice leech, I promise!

Right now, I am working out the details for a composer contract -- trying to get in the habit of covering my booty. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to let me take a look at their template? Or their set-up? I have a myriad of subjects that I believe to pertinent, but I could be forgetting a few clauses that could make or break a gig! As of now, I cover:

Exclusive Pricing
Non-Exclusive Pricing
Payment Options
Revisions

I'm not sure how many of you do contracts. I really have only done one contract with a reoccurring client, but the more scams I come across (simply from kickstarter and past negative experiences), the more I believe this to be a necessity. I also plan to seek out legal advice from lawyers to have them give me advice, feedback, or even help write one up!.

If you are willing to let me take a look, please PM them to me! (Or, if you believe posting it in this thread would benefit others, go right ahead). I'm trying to keep anonymity for those who actually do decide to help me out here!

[ZackParrish]

I'll PM you

[Barendhoff]

Make sure to cover the subject of rights. Do you retain the rights to the music (for which you then license your client), or does the music become your client's property? Settling on that can have influence on your price: if you retain the rights, that means you can sell the music you've made for your client; if you sell your rights over the music to your client, you can no longer just go and sell your OST, which you can compensate with a higher price.

Next, some clients will have some sort of non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Others don't. I like to include a confidentiality clause in my contracts to spare clients some more administration. Plus, it's only fair that you should keep proprietary information for yourself!

Furthermore, you may want to add a small paragraph about being credited, to make sure you get credit for the fine work you'll be doing! Sometimes ill will or simple misfortune will leave you uncredited, which isn't particularly good advertising for yourself. A few weeks ago, I heard of a sound designer that had been working for well over two years on a project, only to hear it had been sold to another publisher and they forgot to credit him. Very, very meh.

Also, for completeness' sake, you can add some general warranties and indemnifications. E.g. the music you will be making will be new, original and capable of copyright; your music will not violate any proprietary right of any third party. There's a bunch of other general warranties and clauses, I'll PM them soon.

Planning! Should your client feel the need to keep you to a rigid planning and doesn't trust you on your word, consider adding a planning in the contract. You can connect significant dates in the planning to milestone events, which you could use as payment dates. Of course, plans tend to change, so make sure to add a clause that allows both parties to change the planning if they both agree to this.

Finally, in the undesirable event that you perform miserably or that your client doesn't pay when milestones are completed, you may want to end the contract. To make that possible, you may want to add a termination clause in which you define under what conditions either party can legitimately end the agreement.

[Kole]

I moderated a panel at the GDC this year where we discussed some things to expect & ask for depending on the compensation you're being offered. Here's a link to the slides we used: http://kolemusician.com/gdc_expectations.pdf

These are things to consider including in your Agreement. Hope it's useful to you (and anyone else!).

[Barendhoff]

Nice one Kole!

[Kyle Preston]

Aarons Marks has a couple really great, and thorough chapters specifically on contract negotiations in his book.  There are a few terms that are a bit dated already, but there are some really nice outlines to follow based on what level you're currently at; I still use it as a reference. Definitely worth checking out!