Asked to write a song for a video to be shared on a company’s social media

[bendelliott]

Hi MLR members,

I’m a new member here, and so grateful for all the useful info on this site.

I am looking for advice regarding an opportunity that come up. I’ve been asked to write and record a song with words and lyrics by a company that would then be probably uploaded to the company’s youtube channel and then shared on their social media channels.

I’m wondering what sort of agreement I should enter into with them, and how to best protect my work. I always find this part of the process challenging and extremely confusing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

[Wall_E]

I’ve done hundreds of commercials for companies.
My advice is to ask them to sign a documents where you clearly report at least:
– number of tracks and/or edits
– deadlines for each track
– number of revisions
– media of distribution (worldwide, local area…)
– exclusivity/non exclusivity
– in case of exclusivity, the period of time of exclusivity
– budget
– payment method and timing

[Michael Nickolas]

I second the number of revisions point. I once did a project where we made a full circle of revisions and ended up right where we started. This is especially true when more than one person is making comments and requesting changes. Some requests are easier to implement than others. Making tempo changes can be the most time consuming if you’re recording real instruments. Keep this in mind as you are producing. Try to work in a manner that makes it easier for you when they ask for it to be faster or slower.

[Author]

Posts