Contracts, Lawyers - Oh My!

Invoice from My Lawyer

Today I got an invoice from my lawyer who helped me look over and negotiate an agent/artist contract.

First I have to say GET A LAWYER. Find and IP (intellectual property) lawyer AND one that is familiar with contracts in the world of art licensing. They are worth every penny! They will know what is missing from the contract and what needs to be amended or taken out. What effect it will have on other aspects of your current business etc.

Before I hired a lawyer, I was thinking that I was fairly well educated on art licensing contracts and what kinds of things are considered normal/standard in these types of contracts. I had done my homework.

What I realized, as negotiations went along, that many things are not normal/standard. It is an agreement between two people/businesses. Since each person/business is unique - of course each contract will be unique. It is kind of a no-brainer, but it didn't hit home for me until I lived it.

Since I don't have any experience with contracts or negotiating a contract - my lawyer was again worth EVERY penny :-) AND doing my homework helped me with understanding the legalese —better than if I had not done any homework.

This is a resource on my Christmas list. If you have it, let me know what you think of it! anntroe@cox.net    
"How to Understand Art Licensing Contracts" by Maria Brophy & Tara Reed