From the course: Music Law: Recording, Management, Rights, and Performance Contracts

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,400 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Basic terms

Basic terms

- A performance agreement establishes the date and time of the gig, the number of sets and their length, the payment, time for load-in and sound check, and of course, the most important of all subjects of negotiation, the size of the artist's guest list. A performance agreement may be an oral agreement or a simple one page written agreement. If a musician or a venue has more detailed requirements, for example, security, liability and hospitality issues, those are usually addressed in the document known as a rider, that is attached to the basic agreement. Performance agreements can provide for payment to artist in various ways. For example, a percentage of the gig, or a flat fee with no percentage, or a guaranteed fee or percentage of the gig, whichever is higher, or a guaranteed fee plus a percentage of revenues above the guarantee. In some cases, part of the fee is paid ahead of time. In which case, the timing and amount of payment should be included in the performance agreement…

Contents