A well-written Performance Agreement keeps everything (and everyone) on track in the lead up to, on the night of and after your event. While drawing up a performance agreement does add to your admin time, its ability to make your gigs run more seamlessly means that they're well worth it. Read on to find out how you can develop and use performance agreements to reduce gig issues.
According to AMIN a performance agreement “allows a venue to state the rules under which an act is to perform a show and the rules under which both parties must act. These rules may include, but are not limited to, promotion, ticketing, production, payment, hospitality riders.”
Performance agreements can be issued to any kind of performer (not just bands) and usual practice is that they are drafted and sent by the venue - or by the venue’s external booking agent on behalf of the venue - to the performer. The performer can suggest changes if necessary to meet their requirements.
The best kinds of agreements are written in plain language - forget trying to be ‘lawyerly’. As the Live Music Office says “issuing an agreement before an event helps make sure everyone involved is on the same page.”
Performance agreements are not just for the big-shots - all venues and small scale events should have written agreements.
A simple email with dot points is fine, so long as the performer replies and agrees to it.
But we recommend you use Onto It Media’s free Performance Agreement Template Builder, to get an agreement to suit your venue’s specific needs.
Agreements generally include:
Venues should also consider including a section on ‘performer and event personnel conduct’ to support the venue’s Patron Safety and Crowd Control policies.
We recommend that you outline specific marketing/promotional expectations in your performance agreement. State what the venue provides in lead up to the event, and what you expect performers do to.
For example your agreement could state:
“In the lead-up to the event, the venue will promote the event with a minimum of:
The performer is required to:
Our free Performance Agreement Template Builder will help you create terms to suit your venue’s marketing needs.
Make and send it once the performer, their agent or manager has confirmed a performance date and fee with the venue.
The performing act’s representative is expected to sign it (or reply by email to formally accept the agreement) and store a copy of it for their own records.
According to AMIN, clarifying the terms of a performance agreement well in advance of each gig “allows time for both parties to negotiate the terms of the gig and understand their responsibilities prior to, during and after the performance. It is essential that everyone is aware of what each party expects prior to the performance to avoid any conflict over expectations on the night.”
While it’s ideal to get the performer to sign the agreement, that can sometimes be logistically difficult.
Instead, you can:
1. Create email with subject heading: Performance Agreement [Name of Performing Act].
2. Attach a non-editable (eg PDF file) of the agreement to the email.
3. In the body of your email write:
Please accept the attached agreement by forwarding this email back to me, then write the following statement in the body of your email:
“I [Full Name], accept the attached agreement on behalf of [Performance Act Name], as an authorised representative of the act.”
Please ensure you forward the email (not reply), so the agreement I’ve attached is emailed back to me.
4. Email it to the performer / their representative.
Once the performer’s representative has sent their email to you, check they’ve done step 3 and that the agreement is still attached. We recommend you create a folder in your email called ‘Signed Agreements’ and move their email into that to keep track.
Venues that Onto It Media works with have different ways of doing things, but most make agreements using Microsoft Word, Google Docs or Open Office.
Managing and tracking so many files can be tricky, so we recommend trying these steps:
Create two folders to store agreements:
Save new performance agreements into the Upcoming Events folder.
Name each performance agreement file with this identical format:
Performance Date written as YYYYMMDD_The Name of the Performing Act_The Venue Name
Example file names:
20191229_The Jezabels_The Hopetoun Hotel
20191230_The Presets_The Hopetoun Hotel
Example above means The Jezabels are performing on 29 Dec 2019, and The Presets on 30 Dec 2019.
Why this format? It means you can:
Create a non-editable PDF version of the agreement and email that to performers.
But DELETE that PDF copy once you’ve emailed it, because you’ll have the original word/google doc on your system (plus the PDF will be in your sent email folder).
Arts Law Centre of Australia clarifies the details of an agreement versus a contract, deed and other document types in this handy information sheet.
Build your free Performance Agreement Template.