From the course: Music Law: Recording, Management, Rights, and Performance Contracts
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Oral agreements and record keeping
From the course: Music Law: Recording, Management, Rights, and Performance Contracts
Oral agreements and record keeping
- Should you ever use an oral agreement? Maybe. An oral agreement is the simplest, least expensive method of making a contract. It's fast, no drafting wordy documents. And it's cheap, no legal bills. But not every oral agreement will be enforced by a court. Some music contracts must be in writing. For example, an agreement to sell a copyright, known as an assignment, must be in writing. Other agreements transferring rights should be in writing as well, and in most states, a contract must be in writing if it takes longer than a year to perform, or if it's for the sale of tangible property over a certain value, typically $5,000. Equally important, common sense dictates whether you should make an oral agreement. If there is a chance that a dispute could arise, or that you may need to prove the contract's terms, then you should probably get it in writing, even if it is an informal written agreement drafted on a napkin. Remember the Chinese proverb: "Even the palest ink is better than the…
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