Music Producing & Engineering
Course 19: Agreements

As a producer, it’s not always about building relationships in the studio, being a creative genius, or a technical mastermind when it comes to the gear. You’re also going to have to deal with some business and administrative tasks that have nothing to do with overdubbing, mixing, or anything else that has to do with making music.

The industry does not run on handshakes alone, especially when it comes to who gets paid what. Because of the nature of quarterly payments and prospective success, the music industry works on a series of agreements between parties in order to ensure that everyone gets paid what they deem is fair for the situation.

In this course, you’ll look at basic agreements between producers, artists, and record labels and various types of agreements, including work for hire, side artist agreements, producer’s deals and agreements, producer’s fee/advance, and more! You’ll learn about payscales for experience, dealing with tax information, and working with musician’s unions.

At the end of the course, you’ll be able to define common agreements between interested parties and how they differ. Your assignment for this course will be to review the Side Artist Agreement document and then bullet point an agreement for a fictional artist that is appearing as a featured artist on a song.

You’ll also complete a course review, quiz, and blog entry as well as prepare for the next course. You’re getting close to the end: the only thing you have left to do is take the Music Producer Program final!

Objectives:

• Be able to define common agreements between artist, producer, and record label as a result of a basic understanding of music business.
• Be able to distinguish the differences between each agreement and their purpose as a result of a basic understanding of music business.