Tips on Performance Contracts

Video Transcript

"Now let's say this whole process goes really smoothly and someone says, 'I want to book you for a show.' Awesome. The next step in the show booking mating ritual, whatever you want to call it, is having a contract. Now you can book shows without a contract, but just let me say that you're going to run the risk of getting burned and when it happens don't be too upset about it because it will happen. The actually, the only times that I've ever gotten burned is twice and they were both related to churches. One of them finally paid me afterwards. I never got paid. When I've been playing for a bar or a club or anything like that. But when you book a show, you're going to be thinking, 'OK, well here's all these things. I want to make sure that they have some sort of guarantee that they're going to pay me.' Write it out in a contract. If you don't know how to write a contract, just write one that says essentially, 'we're going to play for you on this and this date at this and this time.' and then say 'the payment is due at the end of show' or whenever you decide. And then say, 'if payment isn't given by that time, here's what we're going to do about it.' Stuff like that. That's a legal contract. If you sign it and they sign it, it's a legal contract. As long as you send it to them and they agree to it, well then you have a legal contract between the two of you. Now as you keep writing out contracts you may find that, hey somebody, some certain person says that I want this. I want to know where do I send the money. Do I just give it to you in cash? Do I give you a check? Do I deposit it into your bank account? And you'll add those things into your contract, or when do you absolutely have to be paid by? Or maybe you want to do a thing where, once you sign a contract you owe me 20%, and you'll pay me the other 80% when I perform. Things like that. All these different conditions. Universities and other government organizations are noted for having much longer contracts. Make sure you read all of those. Most of them say things that are very much legalese. Stuff like, if an act of God occurs, we're not going to be responsible for paying you or for scraping up your piles of pooh off the payment. But in other things like that, those things you're just going to have to take what they give you. Otherwise have your own contract ready."