Key Clauses in Management Agreements Part 4: Key Man Clauses

IAR keyman clauseIn the last set of articles regarding management agreements, I have explained the termcommissions, and sunset commissions. In this article, I will explain what is known in the industry as the “key man clause.”

A good music attorney representing the artist will make sure there is a “key man clause” in the artist’s management agreement.

What happens if you sign with a management company and then your manager leaves the company? What if the other people at the company don’t understand your artistic vision or image, don’t jive with your personality, and/or don’t advocate for your career? I bet you’d wish you could continue working with the particular manager that has left the company, right? Right.

The scenario described in the paragraph above is exactly what the key man clause protects against. While it won’t be labeled as a “key man clause,” a good music attorney representing the artist will make sure that there is language in the agreement ensuring that if the artist’s specific manager leaves the company, the artist has the right to also leave the company and follow the manager wherever (s)he goes.

This language does not obligate the artist to leave the management company. If the artist feels there are others at the company who can manage the artist’s career just as well (or maybe better) than the leaving manager, then the artist is free to stay with the company. However, the artist does have the option to leave and follow the leaving manager at that point to protect the artist against being stuck in a management arrangement without someone that advocates for the artist.

Many management agreements don’t include this language and many artists (and some attorneys!) don’t know to ask for it.

If you need a management agreement template, get one from Indie Artist Resource ( CA residents click here  and non-CA residents click here).

Jacobson, Esq. Erin M.

Erin M. Jacobson is a practicing attorney that represents musicians, songwriters, music publishers, producers, and other music professionals. She is known throughout the music business as "The Music Industry Lawyer" and her clients range from Grammy and Emmy Award winners to independent artists and companies. She works directly with her clients at every career stage and strives to protect her clients and their creative endeavors through deal negotiations and proper intellectual property management. Erin founded Indie Artist Resource to provide protection to independent musicians with barriers to obtaining basic legal and business documents.

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