My First Contract

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spariam
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Re: My First Contract

Post by spariam » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:55 am

Speaking of contracts (I too got my first contract from a music library in England), do you sent contracts via regular mail, or do use certified mail or anything like that?

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Re: My First Contract

Post by matto » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:18 pm

Quote:Speaking of contracts (I too got my first contract from a music library in England), do you sent contracts via regular mail, or do use certified mail or anything like that?I always send the contracts regular mail unless specifed otherwise.

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Re: My First Contract

Post by spariam » Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:24 pm

Thanks Matto - that what I was thinking...

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Re: My First Contract

Post by spariam » Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:00 am

Speaking of legal opinion, I did notice that my contract (from the English music library) had an item near the end of the document that stated that you "warranted" that you had sought legal opinion with regards to the contract itself.

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Re: My First Contract

Post by edteja » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:36 am

What a cool clause! They want to make sure you can't say that you didn't understand it later. Good for them.
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Re: My First Contract

Post by davewalton » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:43 am

Quote:What a cool clause! They want to make sure you can't say that you didn't understand it later. Good for them.In claiming that you didn't understand the contract, not understanding that clause would also be part of that claim.

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Re: My First Contract

Post by edteja » Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:46 am

I didn't understand that, Dave.
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Re: My First Contract

Post by davewalton » Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:40 am

Quote:I didn't understand that, Dave."In claiming that you didn't understand the contract, not understanding that clause would also be part of that claim." Not meaning you specifically but anybody. Just horsing around. Basically I was sitting here thinking about the scenerio where a clod signs the contract and then later challenges the contract by saying he didn't understand it. The counter would be "but you warranted in clause 6, subsection D that you had an attorney review and help you understand this". The mind-bending response to that would be "I'm saying I didn't understand the entire contract, which includes the clause that warranted that I had an attorney review and help me understand the contract, therefore the whole thing is null and void". Kind of like suing McDonalds because the coffee was hot. Whew! I'd better stick to music! Man, this is a tough crowd. I just flew in from Atlanta and boy are my arms tired! Dave

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Re: My First Contract

Post by andreh » Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:55 am

Quote:Since this is Taxi's forum I don't think we should be scanning contracts and sharing them with the general public without Taxi's permisson...I think there are several downsides to sharing your own personal contracts for general public discussion, not the least of which is that people WILL take your personal lay opinion as legal advice no matter how many times you tell them not to. And of course a contract that might be right for you in your specific situation may be wrong for somebody else. Since you have no control about who reads your "advice" or how they use it, you basically open yourself to potential liability issues. Not something I'd wanna do. Hey Matto-I appreciate where you're coming from with these points, but I have a different perspective on them.I just re-read the Terms of Service for this board, and it doesn't appear that posting contract examples would be a violation of the terms (so long as the contracts themselves aren't copyrighted, which some may be). However, out of respect for your suggestion I'll email Taxi about this before posting anything.Regarding the liability issue, if that's a concern when we post contract examples then it also should be when we give any other advice or opinions on these boards. I am not concerned about this myself; I believe that those who read my posts, whether they contain contract examples or critiques of songs, will take them for what they are - one guy's humble opinion that should be taken with a great big grain of salt before adopted (or deleted) by anyone who comes across them.I also choose to walk down the street at night if the urge arises, even though it's possible I may be mugged in the process...I guess I'd rather live without the fear and maybe get burned once twice than walk around paranoid all the time. But that's just me. Now, an issue I AM concerned about is respecting the terms of an agreement between me and anyone with whom I've signed (or verbally agreed upon) a binding contract...I ALWAYS pay heed to these terms, and they may, and often do, contain confidentiality clauses. Some contracts do not, however, and I believe it would be beneficial and educational to share certain portions of these contracts, with company and contact information deleted (as requested by Taxi), with others in the industry.The more we know about typical industry rates and contract wording (though there certainly are no real standards), the better armed we'll be to negotiate fairly for ourselves, and the more likely the industry will be to put forth fair terms in their offerings. Granted, some of us are in a better position to dictate the terms of a contract than others, but we should at least be confident and aware of what we're getting ourselves into when we do sign on the dotted line.Andre
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Re: My First Contract

Post by matto » Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:54 pm

Andre...I f you look at the DAYS' worth of advice-type posts I've contributed to this forum, I think you'd have to come to the conclusion that I'm pretty far from paranoid. I draw the line at legal advice for the simple reason that I'm not qualified to give any, and I know that if I DO give it anyway people WILL assume I am. If access to this forum were limited to the people who frequent it and regularly contribute to it, it would be a different story. But anything posted here can be read by ANYBODY in the whole world and can be found by complete strangers via google or other search engines. Yes this applies to non-legal advice as well, but I feel qualified to give that kind of advice, since I am a working professional songwriter/composer. But I'm not a lawyer.That's why I'd feel uncomfortable about giving my opinion about specific contracts to complete strangers, and I try to stay away from it.And personally, for myself, I would consider it unprofessional to post and dissect on a public forum, for all the world to see, contracts that are quite frankly a private matter between myself and my clients. These are important relationships on which my livelyhood depends, and it wouldn't be very prudent for me to jeopardize them, no matter how noble the intent might be (and it certainly is a noble one).If you wanna call that "paranoid"...well be my guest .I just like to keep working... .matto

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