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First thing's first:

I am not a lawyer. If you do not understand what is discussed in this topic and a contract is presented to you, seek proper legal advice, preferably from an attorney familiar with entertainment law. This information is not legal advice, and no-one who posts in this topic can be held liable for actions taken because of information posted here.

My background regarding this topic:

A majority of what I write here is based on what I was taught in two college classes, one specifically about music business law, the other about performance taught by someone who has a lot of experience selling records and touring, combined with my own and some friends' attempts to get work making rock and pop music.

Inspired by:

The clamor that tends to come every time someone starts a thread that says "I want to use somebody's music for xxxxxx."

Please don't discuss:

Copyright reform, publishing, or recording deals. There are  more suitable threads and forums for that.

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I think that a majority of the "I want to get music for xxxxxxx" threads have begun as a result of the threads started by thefly who is (was?) an agent looking for background music for GameStop commercials that exploited the feel of platform games. Most of the threads that have tried to follow thefly's model have not been high quality, so I thought it may be more constructive to explain a set of expectations that should be present as a client asking for work from an artist, or what artists should expect when clients solicit them, to make sure people don't get themselves into undue trouble or succumb to inappropriately raised expectations.

Let's begin with the most basic of basics: anytime you say "I will give you money if you do something for me" or "if you pay me I will do something for you" it has the potential to become binding. A contract is meant to help both parties keep all the payments, products, and duties sorted out so that a complete stranger can read the contract and understand exactly what is expected of the two people.

A contract must name the client(s) and the artist(s.) After explaining who the agreeing parties are, the contract must then explain exactly what the client is to do for the artist (payment? credit? promotion?) and exactly what the artist is to provide for the client. After that, the contract should have some kind of date of expiration, preferably naming the actions to be taken if the expiration date passes without one of the parties completing an obligation (often called Default.) It is helpful to also name conditions for amending or changing the contract, but it isn't always necessary if the contract is simple or short.

You may imagine, it is possible to create a contract that is missing information, or accidentally create an agreement where one side's tasks are vague, and it will be legally binding despite this problem. It is also possible to enter an agreement where the terms never expire, and it is possible to transfer rights away for life, and whether this is a good idea or not is up to you to decide. The reason I've named these properties is because if anyone is offering something to you that doesn't explain all of the above in enough detail for comfort, you should at least seek more information before you get into something you aren't ready for.

To summarize, if anyone offers to pay you for work, or before you offer to pay someone for work, make sure the potential agreement does the following:

- names all involved parties
- says exactly what the client will do and how the client will pay
- says exactly what service or product is expected of the artist
- names a deadline of some kind
- says what will happen when the deadline passes if the client hasn't paid and if the artist hasn't produced.

I hope that someone with a lot of experience in freelancing will comment and share experiences. I will make corrections as necessary if requested, so if something is wrong with the post, let me know so I can fix it.

When in doubt, seek proper legal advice.