What to Include in Written Agreements for Composers

Negotiating a deal with a client can be a sensitive topic. On the one hand you want to have some security regarding the work that you're doing but on the other hand you don't want to come along as overly suspicious by micro managing every detail of the engagement and requesting tiny details to be written into the contracts.

However, particularly when working together for the first time it should be in mutual interest to cover all bases while when working with a client in a long term relationship based on mutual trust the agreements might become a bit more relaxed.

Also be aware that no contract can save you from headache in case the agreement is not followed by the other party as you need to sue in any case which comes with A LOT of annoyance. So you get some security by negotiating a contract and a guideline about how the project should go but never complete safety.

I'm of course no lawyer and nothing I say here should be taken as any juristical advice but there are a few things that I learned over the years to request to be included in contracts that can save you from unpleasant surprises:

1. Set an actual time frame for the project

At first, a project might look really lucrative but develop into a total nightmare with delayed schedules and deliveries. If there is no proper time line set and the actual time that you need to work on it gets stretched out there might be the chance that it will block time you could use for another project. Some projects develop into weeks of "there will come something to work on next week, please reserve that time for this" and one week later "sorry, department X got delayed, nothing this week, but next week for sure." which is an absolute nightmare scenario as you might block time for it that you could spend on another project and then nothing happens. Also, even a very lucrative project that stretches way longer than anticipated can become a financial disaster. So ideally, a project should have a fixed work frame marked in the agreement. This should include a fixed date when you get all the material you need to start working on it as well as a date when you need to deliver your work.

2. Limit the number of rewrites

Especially in smaller projects that don't pay too well, getting caught up in a rewrite loop can become a nightmare and develop into a real problem to actually earn a proper hourly rate. No matter whether this is based on clients that keep changing their minds or external circumstances that keep changing, it is usually helpful to limit the rewrites already in the agreement. A standard would be to include two rounds of revisions and charge an additional hourly rate for any additional rewrite. 

3. Crediting

This is something that very often causes frustration because once it is done there's rarely a way to correct this. Generally negotiate where and how you are credited. Expecting your name in the Main Titles of the movie you're scoring but actually read it in the end credits roll after the caterer can be quite frustrating so these things should be agreed on beforehand.

4. Social Media

In current times, being able to promote oneself on social media is essential. Working on a big project but not being allowed to talk about during the process is quite common, though but in general it might be worth talking about which policy your client has on these things. I've had anything between "Don't mention a single word" to "Sure, post an instagram video from the recording sessions", but accidentally revealing more than you are allowed to can cause conflicts that can easily be avoided by talking about it beforehand.

As I mentioned above, it might be a sensitive matter about how much of the above you want to negotiate into the deal as demanding so many things might feel like a lack of trust. If you feel like asking for these things might overstretch the client's patience and you really don't want to piss them off the more sensible approach might be to just talk about these things and at least get a mutual understanding of what is important for each other in these regards.

If a client is professional though, adding these points to the contract shouldn't be a big deal for them.

However, also be mindful about the context you request these things. If it is for instance an amateur video game paying next to nothing it might just be overkill to negotiate all these points into a contract. If it is a large scale project, you should definitely hire a contract lawyer to check it for any loopholes and let them try to negotiate these points into the contract for you.