Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York
Are Work For Hire Agreements Necessary for Session Musicians?
I am an indep. solo artist-pianist and singer. I recently completed recording about 8 songs that I wrote for a CD I plan on releasing on my own (I don't have a record deal yet.)I sang and played keyboards on all of these- but for some of the tracks, I hired sessions musicians to fill out the tracks. I wrote most of the accompanying parts myself, and sketched out most of the rest. I hired a drummer, percussionist, guitar player, acoustic guitar player and bass player. My discussions with each of these folks went something like ''I'm recording some of my songs, and was wondering if you do session work?'' A price was usually then discussed ''Per song'' for playing on these tracks.
Now I am wondering if I should have asked these folks to sign ''work for hire agreements.'' The implication was that these were ''one-offs'' work-for-hire situations--but no written contract was ever signed to that effect.
I would like to know:
1) Without WFH agreements signed, could I get into trouble later with having these folks wanting part of my songwriting or performance rights? Or is this paranoia?
2) Is it too late now to get these folks to sign WFHAs NOW after the fact? I am esp concerned with one guitarist who added some melody. Thanks!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Are Work For Hire Agreements Necessary for Session Musicians?
No written contracts? Anyone signed or totally indie?
Union?
Call or write for assistance.
Re: Are Work For Hire Agreements Necessary for Session Musicians?
This is no paranoia.
If your recording is successful, you can expect claims from anyone who had anything to contribute to your album, whether session musicians or any other creative personnel you employed. "Work for hire," as the term is used in copyright law is actually a fairly narrow category that may or may not fit your situation. This is especially contentious with respect to producers and arrangers of audio recordings, less so with respect to elements of original music (writing the underlying musical work).
In any event, some sort of a written contract/release should always be obtained from collaborators unless you intend them to be joint owners of your copyrights. You can try obtaining them later, but it is obviously much more difficult though still feasible before the release of your album.
Feel free to contact my office if you need representation in this matter.
The above reply is in the nature of general information, is not legal advice and should not be relied on as such.
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