9 most important contracts in the music industry

• Between: a musician and a publisher or a collecting society
• Duration: a minimum 1 year followed by various option periods

If you operate as a composer or lyricist you should get in touch with a collection society as quickly as possible, and enter a so-called ‘contract of assignment’. It’s good to know that most countries have their own operating collecting societies, such as SUISA, GEMA, and others which work together globally. That means that your royalties will be collected internationally, as well. The collection societies function as custodians for your songs, collecting payment for the use of your songs and taking a small cut of 10%. It’s important for bands to decide in advance who will take copyright shares as an author, and who won’t. This way you will avoid ugly discussions later on (you can also regulate this in the band contract). Your copyrights can be protected using copyright authorities for neighboring rights like GVL or SwissPerform.

As collecting societies may provide different offers, it’s essential to be careful with the agreement you’re about to enter and to read it thoroughly. GEMA, for example, only offers an all-in contract, meaning that the agreement will apply to your whole body of work. You can’t then select which tracks they should take care of and which to leave out.

Authors and lyricists can also transfer part of their copyright to a music publisher. In this case, there are single title contracts or exclusive author contracts, for which a corresponding advance is paid. The most important elements of these contracts are contract length, territory, extent of rights, duties of the publisher and author, and synchronization rights. It is recommended that you look at sample contracts and check carefully which rights you would like to transfer under which conditions.