Musician Release Agreement

[horacejesse]

I was going to post this over in Andre's thread on contracts, but was unable to find it.I have a musician's release form here that I downloaded off the internet. One problem is that I cannot remember where I got it. I am certain that it warned not to say the hired musicians' contributions were a work for hire. You are not supposed to say it is a work for hire, apparently. Which I find hard to understand, since it was a work for hire, wasn't it? Maybe someone could explain to me why the contributions of musicians who played certain parts on some of my songs were not work for hire.I cannot tarry on this anymore and want to get these things signed without legal mistakes.Below is the form in full.MUSICIANS RELEASE AGREEMENTThis musician release agreement (the "Agreement") is made between:_________________________ (Band), and__________________________ (Musician)RIGHTS: The band has recorded Musician's performance in conjunction with a band recording under the title ______. In consideration of the payments provided in this agreement, Musician assigns all rights in the performance to the band and its assignees or licensees.PAYMENT. Band shall pay Musician as follows: $ ___________.CREDIT. Musician shall be entitled to the following credit: __________MEDIATION; ARBITRATION. If a dispute arises under this agereement.ties agree to first to try to resolve the dispute with the help of mutually agreed upon mediator in ___________. The parties shall share any costs and fees other than attorney fees equally. If it proves impossible to arrive at a mutually satisfactory solution, the parties agree to submit the dispute to binding arbitration in the same city or region, conducted on a confidential basis pursuant to the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association.GENERAL. Nothing contained in this agreement shall be deemed to constitute either Band or Musician a partner or employee of the other party. This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of ___________.Band Partnership Name: ________________.Band Partner Name and Title: ________________.Band Partner Signature: ____________________.ADDRESSDATE: ____________Musician Name: _________________________.Musician Signature: ________________________.ADDRESSDATE: _______________.Okay. What kind of credit are they talking about above. Is it just the Musician's name on copies of the product as a contributor? Or are rthey talking about money or other payment. Some of the people who played for me did it in swap for X # of hours of free recording in my studio.Anyway, I need a few particulars just to make sure I don't screw this up.

[zircon]

Ok. In legal terms, "work for hire" means that the creative work goes to the employer - IN FULL. The original artist gives up every right they have to the work. In the eyes of the law, they didn't even create it. This is a very dangerous thing to do as a musician because you basically have no chance of ever getting the work back, or profiting from it (outside of your employee-employer relationship, which probably has some sort of predefined compensation in place). Hiring someone to do a defined amount work for you does not necessarily mean they are employees of yours, and so it might not make sense to use work for hire to describe the relationship. WFH is more typically used in a situation such as a programmer working for a large software company. If the company had to deal with copyright claims from hundreds of employees, nothing would get done. So it makes sense that the law just gives the company all the rights.I would say that release is somewhat vague, in regards to credit. Contracts need to be specific. If you have indefinite terms, you're asking for a world of legal trouble down the line if things don't work out. You could write in something like this, instead.CREDIT. Upon release of the album ______, Musicians' first and last names, as well as role in recording (eg. instrument played) shall be written in the liner notes under the "Credits" heading.Something along those lines - you want to be as specific as possible. Likewise, if you had some sort of non-monetary compensation, that would be noted. Rather than "PAYMENT" you could write...COMPENSATION. In consideration for their work, the Musicians shall each receive ten (10) hours of recording time at Studio ______ free of charge, to be used consecutively or on different dates. Hope that helps.

[horacejesse]

That does help quite a bit. Very excellent. Thanks.