What is the contract that makes the beat in the band go bump, bump, ba-dump, ba-bump? What is it that makes the music industry a whirlwind of agreement and agreements and music and deals and contracts? Listen up, as I delve into the dark corners of the music business to learn about a fixed-term contract definition according to…well, according to me, and why they are actually a good thing. Very good, in fact.
Now we all know that contracts are all about setting expectations. They are how we as individuals know what’s what when it comes to an agreement to do something and how much the other person will pay for that something. Contracts are like a road map, though. They tell you what’s on one end, what’s on the other, where the dotted line is, and what comes in between. Contracts, at their core, are about various types of verbs, doing things and giving or getting.
There’s also something lurking beneath the surface, something that, like any good song has a bass line, is the undercurrent that makes everything else move in rhythm and rhyme. And that is what I like to call a “context” “content” combination, and it’s going to beat you senseless until you learn to “hear” it.
When it comes to music, there are various ways to “hear” music and get a sense of the rhythm of what’s going on, if you will. You can hear the bass, the guitars, the keyboard, the drums, and the horns. You can hear the lead vocalist, the back up singers, and if you’re paying really close attention, you can even hear the whistling of some guy in the back row of the bar when everyone is really getting into the song.
The same thing happens with contracts. On the surface, they are all about context. You have a company who wants to hire someone to do something, that person wants to be paid if the company wants to hire them. That person and company reach out to lawyers, who put together a document that sets out the who, the what the where, and the why. What’s hidden beneath the words and the lines, though, is the content. These agreements are about more than just the things that are written down in them. It’s a shame that people don’t really pay close attention to much of the content, because it’s important to understand what the agreements say, but it’s often overlooked.
With a fixed-term contract, for example, the employees, the musicians, really anyone who gets hired for a limited period of time knows that on Friday, August 23, 2013, they will be employed by Company X, and that Company X will pay them a salary and provide benefits. However, come Saturday, August 24, things are going to be a little different. Like the beat of a song dropping off at the end of the track, the checks will no longer show up and the music will stop playing.
This is, in fact, where the real content of a fixed-term contract comes into play. If you don’t know what you need to know in advance, the music will still stop, but you’re not going to much like the sound of a guitar scraping against a mic stand mid-solo. So, if you have a contract that ends on a certain date, like what would happen if a new artist signed with a new record label and the label wanted to sign her for a predetermined period of time, you have to know what the options are once the contract is up and how it will impact the future.
It may seem like we’re getting lost on this beat, but walk with me, if you will, into the wilderness where only so many have gone before you as you listen to the content and let the content flow around you and through your fingers.
Hopefully, you’ll come out on the other side of the wilderness into the dayglow sanctuary of the reality on the other side. The best way to avoid some of the disappointing notes in a fixed-term contract is to come to grips with the fact that, on August 24, 2013, there are only two things going to happen with that contract. Either the individual signing the agreement is going to be around long enough to negotiate another deal (which, as a side, you definitely want to allow for in the agreement), or they’re not going to be around to negotiate a new deal. The only thing left to do from the perspective of the employer and the individual is to figure out what to do next.
So, imagine this scenario. In order to deal with the reality that on August 24 everyone’s going to go their separate ways and never again make eye contact at the Grammys or any other awards show. You have two options. The first option, which is what anyone in their right mind would do, is just cut the contract at the end of the term and go your merry way. That’s not the most beneficial option, though, for either the employer or the individual signing the contract. Neither is it going to be the most common option. The second solution is to talk to each other and determine whether a new fixed-term contract is something that both the employer and the individual signing want.
In other words, just like whatever negotiating is necessary to hang on to your talent and make sure that the next album goes multi-platinum, signing a contract is just one part of a larger process. Once you get to the end of the album, that’s not the end of the song. Instead, it may very well be the beginning of something more. That’s the art and science of any fixed-term contract. It’s really a decision about whether it’s worth it to stay together or roll the dice.
So, yes, fixed-term contracts are all about providing content to a contract and helping you to understand the context in which that content makes sense. But they are also about knowing the rhythm of where people are at, what it is that they need, what is in their best interests now and for the future, and how to best address what it is that they’re looking for. It’s about hearing the beat of the bass as it walks right into the sax and the drums without missing a note. So, you may be an indie-rocker or a traditionalist, but if you have a fixed-term contract, remember to look past the details and tap into that rhythm beat in order to really hear what’s going on.
For more information on contracts and their implications, you can visit Wikipedia’s page on contracts.
