Protect yourself by educating yourself.
There is a lot to discuss with your producer about the business side of music production: What should you pay your music producer? How much does it cost to produce a song?Plus: Copyright ownership, master recording rights, price, schedule, deliverables, and revision rounds. Different music producers have different rules of how they work with songwriter clients. When hiring a producer, you need to ask your producer the following questions ahead of time:
What is included and what is excluded when I hire you to produce my song?
Will mixing, mastering, and/or sound engineers be an additional cost?
Do you charge a flat rate or will you charge me hourly?
What files will I receive when we are finished?
Will there be royalty splits and will I own my master recording, copyright and stem tracks?
When it comes receiving all your files and ownership of stem tracks, you need to think into the future and ask yourself:
What distribution plans do I have for my songs? Apple Music? Spotify? CDs?
Would I license my songs to TV/Film if I had the chance?
What if I am signed to a label and they want to remix or reproduce the tracks?
What if I want to sell my song to another artist?
It’s important to discuss with your producer the answers to these questions and HAVE A CONTRACT in place that protects you by ensuring you have ownership rights and that you will get the rights and files that you need in order to do what you want to do with your music in the future.
What does a production contract need to cover? At a minimum you’ll need to cover the items below. Your specific situation may require additional items.
Master recording copyrights.
Non-infringement -- the music is your original music.
Samples - Masters will contain and do not contain any unauthorized samples and the Producer will indemnify the songwriter/artist to the fullest extent for any claims made that unauthorized samples have been used.
Royalty splits.
Time to complete the project (the schedule).
Cost to complete the project (the pricing). Is it a flat rate or an hourly rate?
What is included in the pricing?
What is excluded in the pricing?
How will revision rounds work and many revision requests do you get to make?
Responsibilities - who will do what?
What happens if midway you don’t like the direction? What are your options?
What deliverables (files) will you receive? Click here to get ItyDity’s recommended list of mixes and deliverables.
As with any legal issue, it is strongly recommended that you work with a music attorney to draft your contract. It is after all, your music and your career.
That said, it is still valuable for you to become knowledgeable in reading and drafting contracts. In Colorado, there is a legal service called CAFTA, Colorado Attorneys for the Arts. They provide pro bono services to Colorado resident artists. CAFTA provides a handout to explain the general parts of a contract. This handout is NOT a contract, it is a learning tool to help you become more legally savvy. Get the whole handout here. Save it for future reference.
When you work with music producers through ItyDity to produce your song, you are always protected. Our terms of service work as a built-in contract between you and your producer to guarantee fair pricing, deliverables, schedule and copyright and master recording ownership. We take care of the contracts and business part of production, so that you can focus on your songs. Learn more here.
Resources:
Read: Find Producers Near Me