A Brief Introduction About the Entertainment Contract
An Entertainment Contract is a legal document that is created between two or more parties. One party is in the business of providing various forms of entertainment services such as singing, dancing, theatre performance, bartending, etc. The second party may be another individual or a company renting out their service for a mutually agreed period. This contract establishes a legal understanding between both the parties and encourages them to know their specific duties and limitations, along with the rules and regulations they need to follow at all times.
Who Takes the Entertainment Contract? – People Involved
In the creation of the contract, two or more parties are usually involved – the individual or organization that is providing entertainment and the individual or organization that wants to rent these services. In common parlance, they may be called the entertainer and the client.
Purpose of the Entertainment Contract – Why Do You Need It?
While the use of an Entertainment Agreement is every day enough in today’s industry, there are still instances when artists and clients get confused between the use of proper entertainment agreement and artist contract. Mentioned below are a few important points one should know about an Artist Contract.
Entertainment contracts are one of the simplest ones to create. By just spending a few hours crafting a well-documented contract, which can be reused over and above, both the artist and the client can save time and money by making the process more streamlined and efficient. By having an entertainment agreement in place since the very first meeting, one can avoid misunderstandings in terms of payment, the duration of the artist’s performance, and much more.
An entertainment agreement is best suited for use if you are a musician and or artist, and need to have the security of a contract. Another use can be if you are a company and or organization and needs to ensure that your money is being put to good use.
Some of the key things to note while creating the contract are the following.
Some of the other names by which an Entertainment Contract is known in the market are Artist Contract, Band Performance Contract, Music Concert Contract, Theatre Contract, etc.
Contents of the Entertainment Contract – Inclusions
A standard entertainment contract template contains the following terms
- Details of both the parties to the contract
- Effective date of the contract
- The broad type of entertainment that the entertainer is involved in
- The nature of services for which the entertainer is being hired for
- The duration that the entertainer is being hired for
- Whether such performance is a one-off, a serial performances, or over a period of time
- Payments to the entertainer
- Confidentiality clause
- Advances and retainers for any performance
- Restricted activities by the client towards the entertainer
- Restrictions on the marketing by the company in using the brand of the entertainer
- The minimum marketing the entertainer is required to perform for an event
- Responsibilities of the entertainer in performing requests from the company
- Use of the company’s IP, brand, or copyright
- Use of the entertainer brand or copyright in the marketing activities
- Force majeure
- Indemnification of the entertainer
- Insurance by the client
- Safety, security, and other costs associated with the entertainment activity will be borne by whom
- Tickets for the exclusive use of the entertainer
- Severability and termination
- Events that constitute termination of the contract
- Riders to the contract
How to Draft the Entertainment Contract?
When drafting this contract, some points that need to be kept in mind, subject to the entertainment law, are
- Whether the entertainer is equipped to provide the niche services you require
- The kind of marketing you need to do for promoting the event
- Whether the entertainer is famous enough so that word-of-mouth will work as a form of marketing as well
- The frequency of marketing obligations put on the entertainer for the promotions
- The security and lodging services provided to the entertainer
- Whether the anticipated turnout is worth the cost spent on the entertainer
- The alternatives in the picture for the entertainer
Negotiation strategies would primarily center around the price that would be paid — usually as a percentage of the total attendance. Apart from this, the marketing that both parties would have to do is an important negotiation. As always, the points to remember, and the terms mentioned above in the entertainment contract sample need not entirely be involved in your contract.
There will always be different requirements because entertainment isn’t a single form of service. For example, a music performance contract would focus on the artist’s health, the duration of each song, the number of songs, the interaction with the public, etc. In the end it depends on what your requirements are
Benefits of the Entertainment Contract
The most significant benefits are as follows.
The contract mentions the responsibilities, obligations, and limitations and hence makes sure that all parties are aware of them at all times. This document acts as legal proof and thus can be produced in court if there is a need in the future.
In the absence of an Entertainment Agreement, neither of the parties have legal proof of an understanding taking place between two entities, and thus if the matter is ever brought to court, both parties stand to lose.
What Happens In Case of Violation?
In the case of violation of the contract, certain remedies come into effect, and in a few cases, the contract is dissolved, and a new set of terms and conditions are agreed upon. Other than violation(1) of an Entertainment Agreement, if both parties mutually decide to end the tenancy agreement, they can do the same. But parties may decide on their own about the severability of the contract. If there is a breach of contract, and it is not cured, then the parties are free to approach the court of law
An Entertainment Agreement is created with the thought of initiating a smooth and efficient transaction between two parties and to make sure that both are mutually profited from the transaction. Thus, it is always advised that both parties create an Entertainment Contract when such a transaction is concerned.