Music Performance Contracts

Do I need a performance contract?

If you are planning a live music event you will need to make sure you have a contract in place with the performers. This is especially important if you have a financial stake in the event and are inviting paying customers. You need to make sure you have a written guarantee that the cover band will attend the engagement and what is expected from both parties. There may be occasions with local function bands and wedding bands where a contract is not needed. Sometimes an email confirmation may be enough if you know of the act.

If you do go down the contract route the live band may issue you a standard contract with their terms. These are available from the Musicians Union and are very simple straightforward contracts. It will usually include as a minimum the date and time of the engagement, the location, fee and duration of the performance. More in depth contracts may include who is responsible to providing equipment such as staging and PA systems. Some cover bands will be paid a set fee for the gig and other larger acts may ask for a percentage of ticket sales as well. This is something that should be negotiated early on.

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PCI Compliance Woes on the Road

FRAUD, FINES, AND OTHER COMPLIANCE ISSUES.

The music business long has used show tickets as currency for friends and industry contacts - usually they are some of the best tickets in the house.  Most time these days they aren’t free - “no comp” tours are the norm.  If you are “privileged” enough to be invited from the tour, often you are asked to fill out a form and fax it or email it with your personal and credit card information.  And the good folks from the tour who process these forms have no idea that they are conducting millions of dollars of commerce in probably the most risky and non-compliant method imaginable, putting them, their VIPs, and their credit card processor at great risk for fraud, fines, and other compliance issues. 

But VIP ticketing for tours is not subject to PCI regulations, right?  Not on your life. According to Eric Drago, a Portsmouth-based NitroSecurity, a security information and event management solutions company, tours processing VIP tickets are subject to compliance rules:

“Any entity that stores, processes or transmits payment card data, must be in compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), or risk fines and losing its ability to process credit card transactions. PCI compliance isn’t limited to those businesses conducting sales through an e-commerce Web site. If your business collects credit/debit card data written on paper, or holds credit/debit cards then PCI compliance applies to your business as well.”

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