When you pay for materials or space, buy or sell artworks, insure artworks, and engage in any other type of transaction, you should have a contract in place. There can be many different ways of structuring a transaction, with significantly different outcomes for the artist depending on the wording of the contract. Contract language itself can be difficult to read. Various artists’ associations in which you may have memberships may offer model contract language to use when you are setting up a new deal.
Contract language is often impenetrable to the musician or artist. This piece identifies key standard (“boilerplate”) clauses from the five major record labels, translates them into ordinary language, and analyzes the extent to which they benefit or harm an artist who signs a contract including these clauses.
Future of Music Coalition [www.futureofmusic.org]
Future of Music Coalition/Major Label Contract Clause Critique
When you should see an attorney in the course of developing a contract for your work, and warning signs in the course of the process that might also alert you to the need to see an attorney.
ArtBusiness.com [artbusiness.com]
Alan Bamberger/When to See an Art Attorney
Alan Bamberger/Common Artist Legal Problems and How to Avoid Them
When a legally valid digital signature is required, and descriptions of various approaches to providing one.
Cypherphunks [www.cypherpunks.to]
Cypherpunks/Digital Signature Legislation
Buyers of art works also need to be careful about the contracts involved in order to make sure they know exactly what it is that is being sold. Seeing what a transaction looks like from both sides is valuable for both parties. This is a discussion of what an art buyer should look for in a purchase contract.
Fine Art Registry [www.fineartregistry.com]
Cindy Ellen Hill/Terms of Art: Contracts for the Purchase of Original Art from the Artist
Purchase contracts often are accompanied by a “certificate of authenticity.” This piece discusses the ways in which such certificates are and are not useful. (The Fine Art Registry, which published this piece, is in the business of selling a patented ID system that builds on the internationally recognized Object ID system by adding unique tags to objects.)
Fine Art Registry [www.fineartregistry.com]
Theresa Franks/Certificates of Authenticity – Are They Worth the Paper They Are Printed On?
A description of provisions often included in contracts with galleries and collectors.
New York Foundation For the Arts [www.nyfa.org]
Matthew Deleget/Dr. Art on Contracts with Galleries & Collectors