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A
Musician’s Guide to Band Agreements
By Andy
Whitehead
If you write songs within a band, you need to
plan for the day when you will be earning royalties from your songs, and be clear what will happen if a member of
the band leaves or if the band splits up.
The best way to
deal with this is to all agree what is fair, and then put this in writing as a formal agreement which you all sign.
This way there is little chance of any comeback if the band splits for less than amicable
reasons.
Here are a few specific points you should
consider:
If a member of the band leaves, do they
forfeit all rights to the songs, and the songs remain the sole property of the band?
Are the songs written by one person, or a
few principal writers, who wish to retain all rights?
If a band member leaves would both he and
the band both retain a claim to the song, (this is probably the most likely option).
How do you determine each persons
share?
Do you base it on a song by song basis ranking each member’s input, or use the same formula for
every song?
Do you simply divide everything up equally, (e.g. 5 members each own 20% of all the songs and
therefore receive 20% of the proceeds/royalties), or do you rank each individual’s input?
If a member leaves, can he/she perform or
profit from the music outside of the band.
Sample band contracts can be viewed and downloaded from the following sites:
http://undercurrents.com/agreements/agreement-bandmember.html
www.blues101.org/articles/promotion1.htm
www.musicianassist.com/archive/contract/files/member.htm
The advice from the UK Copyright Service on this subject
is:
“Where music is written as a group effort, we recommend that you draw up an agreement to
clarify issues, such as which rights belong to which member, and how royalties would be distributed in the event
that members of your group leave.
For successful commercial bands, incorporation
is also an option. As with a normal incorporated company, the band members would own shares in the band/company. In
this situation, a band member would typically sell his shares to the other members if he decided to
leave.”
Music Copyright fact sheet:
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/protect/p07_music_copyright
Related articles and features:
Understanding Copyright
Playing Live - The 20 things you need to know
How to Become a Successful Independent Artist or Songwriter
How to Promote your Music
Offering Free Downloads Of Your
Music
How to Create the Perfect Structure for your Song
Useful Music Industry Addresses and Contacts
Return to Success In Music
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