How to Contract Your Music as/for an Artist

Blog #2 of the day coming in hot! For this one I'll be getting a bit more serious as we take a step into contract your music as/for an artist. As I have taken part in both of these over the course of this trimester, I'll be using my own experiences to assist in my explanations. Lets jump in!

Contracting work for another artist as a producer

This is probably the most difficult out of the two as it depends on how much of the final product's stakes you can claim as the producer as well as the artist you are working with. Contracts can change heavily depending on whether you are working with a solo act or an act consisting of more than one individual such as a duo or band. Generally, the producer doesn't gain as much out of the final product as the artist as they did not actually create the piece of art that is being published, they merely assisted in it. However, this is not to say that the producer gains minimal in comparison to the artist as depending on how much they assist in the creative process in the studio, their stakes in project may increase accordingly.

Contracting your own work as an artist

This one is much easier as you are mainly working for yourself only. However, depending on the genre of music you are creating, it may or may not require a recording or studio space. Taking myself as an EDM producer for example, most of my work and music is created on a laptop using Ableton Live and a pair of headphones. The only time I ever really need access to a studio space is for comparing what my mixes sound like outside my headphones on studio monitors or mastering the final mix. As a result, most if not all of the stakes for my projects go to me as I am simultaneously being both the artist and producer of my music. However, this is not the case for some artists as they are not experienced in audio engineering or professional production and require assistance by someone who does (which loops back to the first half of this blog!).

How to contract yourself

As the artist, you also gain royalties for your music and creations and it seriously comes in handy to know exactly what you do and don't have rights to as well as what you should be getting paid for. Before signing any contract with a producer who is assisting in the production of your music, always read it first as a lot of people in this industry tend to try and turn the tables in their favour when it comes to being paid.

Overall

You will have noticed a very distinct use of a key word throughout the course of this blog and that word being "dependant". With contracts, especially in the music industry, everything is different. Every artist, song and/or project is different and they all have different contracts with corresponding rules and statements. The two cases listed in this blog were just the two most common scenarios but there are seperate contracts that come with their own circumstances.