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Checklist For Download Contracts
For the dutch mates go here for the automated version
http://www.checkjecontract.nl/nl/quickscan.aspx
For my world friends i have tryed to translate it as complete as possible
This is an example for independent lables or bands
The site that exploids your music is your licencetaker and distributor
Also called Retailer or Shopsystem
The Band-Lable is the masterowner and is called the Licenor of lable
So this checklist is NOT for contracts between master owner-lable and an Aggregator
Or a sales person who makes deals with other download supliers
An Aggregator is a big distributor
These are the 2 points that are most important to consider
1] NEVER sign a contract that is EXCLUSIVE
2] And it has to be easy to end the contract
1. Always get a Non-Exclusive contract
You do this to stay able to host your songs at various download sites
To reach more potential customers which is your motivation to put it online
The ONLY reason to sign an Exclusive contract is
If they offer you a supstansual advance payment
So if the lable is willing to give you 100.000 euros to buy musical tools
Then they spend money on you thus they got a right to bind you to them
At net-download sites they hardly do anything for you
So thats just a distributional task for them without investing any money in you
They earn their money because you give them the chance to sell YOUR product
So you are the one who offers them a way to earn money not the other way around
Another exception could be if you can get to customers that you normaly cant reach
In some contracts the distributor expects that the licencegiver
Is not only the owner of the recording but also the owner of the Author-rights
This means that if you didnt write the music and-or the texts you CAN'T sign the contract
Be very carefull with OPTIONS FOR THE DOWNLOADSUPLIER
Some contracts mention that you have to put your digital version at their site for future productions
So then you HAVE TO host your future music at their site once you get it on vinyl
2. Parties have to be able to unbind the contract in an easy and fast way
Make shure that the contract is only for a short time [ 1 year ] which will automaticly flow into a next year
That can be ended by one of the both parties looking at a waiting time of 1 or several months
Before the current year ends
A timesless contract with a short get away time is good aswell
You also got to make clear what the status of your songs will be after finishing the contract
For what time period will your songs stay available on the site and when will the final payment come
Some sites state that once you uploaded your music it has to stay on the site for 3 years
SellABand has 1 year if i recall right this for the so called investers on that site
So be clear about this since it limits your freedom of doing a new deal a lot
In almost every contract you'll see that the licencetaker expects that he can make Sub-Licences aswell
Thats not a problem but make shure that the same contract terms count on the sub-licence
And that the licencetaker stays responsable to do the payments
Make shure that the contract ending time, that counts for the licencetaker, counts for
the sub-licencetaker aswell
3. The payment and way of paying
The payments mentioned are mostly based on a procentage of netto income
Be shure that the definition of neto income gets stated clearly
And that its not based on an endless spending opertunity with an open end
Your procentage should be 50-60% of the netto price
But its important on what part the procentage counts off course
Sometimes you see clear cost payments for every download to make it clear
Get an on the side statement that clearly states what costs the downloadgiver can make
while spreading 1 download
What are the bandwidh costs, payment system costs, payments to rights organisations and other costs ?
Lets say you ask 0,99 for one download then what are the specific costs
And what is the netto amount for the band-lable
If there is no info about this in the contract then ask for an acounts example
Ask for monthly statements and payments
The downloadsuplier can only change the prices after a writen ok from the band-lable
Is it possible to have special promotional prices after an ok from the downloadsuplier ?
If thats the case how are the payments arranged then ?
If the downloadoffering site makes these actions without consulting you ,how much will you get ?
How many free downloads is he allowed to give in those situations ?
There are sites that have mebers who get special prices with their membership
What are the payments and how are they merged into the normal payments ?
4. Make clear statements about how you give your songs
It has to be clear on what way you offer your material and who takes care of the editing [DRM]
and adding of metadata so that you wont get the bill presented in the end
5. PROMOTION
On what way does the provider promote his site?
What kind of promotional things are done for you ?
Make shure that costs for these actions go to the download offerer
Is it a well known site or do customers need to search to find the site ?
Does the siteowner place baners on other sites where downloaders come to get customers ?
Is it possible to make a link to them from your artist page ?
6. A look into salles amounts and a checkup
Try to get the abillity to look into the salles statistics of the site
Salles amounts, information about the downloader, where songs got sold [statistics]
Make shure that you at least get your yearly AUDIT [Accountants check]
7. Guarenties of the downloadofferer
The downloadofferer has to take care of Authorrights payments and payments to the band-lable
And is responsable to do this within the time bariers
Some global points to look at that are different in every contract, but are less harmfull
1. Secrecy
2. How are the trax presented in lenght-Quality
3. Using of Logo, Name and Brand
4. Explicit have to's for both parties
5. On which right is the contract based [rulles are different in some foreign countries]
6. Unbind reasons for the contract and payments costs for unbinding
7. Way of communicating
8. Payments Royalty statements |
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