What should a UK band contract include?

A UK band contract should name the parties, the booking, set length and set count, how many musicians, who brings instruments and backline versus the venue PA, whether anyone may record or stream, fees, unused booked dates, and a liability cap. Sign it before load-in.

This page is England and Wales first. Performers' rights and copyright under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 are UK-wide. Off-payroll working (IR35) is a UK tax rule and only matters when you book into an organisation as a contractor through your company. The money-claim route for an unpaid invoice is the England and Wales procedure in Client won't pay a freelance invoice. Typical venue, agency, brand and production bookings are business-to-business. A company brief does not get the consumer 14-day cooling-off. A wedding couple buying wholly or mainly outside their trade is usually a consumer, so cancellation terms must be fair. That is not a 14-day walk-away on a named-date leisure booking.

This page is live band and ensemble bookings: wedding, club, private, corporate, festival support, multi-set and support-slot bookings, a rehearsal or site visit, MC or announcements if agreed, covers versus original material, and the instruments and backline the band brings versus the venue PA. It is not a DJ set. Those jobs sit on Contracts for DJs and What should a UK DJ contract include?. It is not studio production, mixing, mastering or master-ownership. Those jobs sit on Contracts for music producers and What should a UK music producer contract include?. It is not voice-over and not a shoot day.

Contracts.io has no band template. Start from a freelancer agreement or a services agreement. Those papers already have fee, usage, cancellation and IP slots. Repeat bookings can hang a statement of work under standing terms, or sit on a retainer. A brand or agency night can sit next to an influencer agreement. A job that films the show can sit next to a videography contract. Studio work sits on a music producer agreement. Company-to-company contractor work can start from an independent contractor agreement. If you are sharing an unreleased brand event or a private guest list before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it. Contracts for bands is the shorter audience page. What should a UK DJ contract include? is the DJ sibling. What should a UK music producer contract include? is the studio sibling. What should a UK voice actor contract include? is the performers'-rights sibling. What should a UK videography contract include? is the filmed sibling.

These blocks finish this paper:

The counts, windows and splits are examples of how to write the list, not a required rate. Write the numbers you actually use.

Sign before load-in. Should I start work before the contract is signed? is the day-one rule.

Name the sets, the length of each, how many players, covers versus original material, the do-not-play list, arrival and soundcheck, and whether MC or announcements are in. “Some live music” is not a list. Extra sets, a support slot, a second room and a livestream are a change of scope, quoted first.

You play the named sets. A ceremony, a second stage and a livestream are named items or they are out.

Write nine things:

• Booking. Date, venue, room, indoor or outdoor. A rain plan is a named item, not a guess.
• Sets. Length and count of each set. A ceremony, a drinks reception and a late set are three items, not one. A support slot and a headline set are two items.
• Line-up. How many musicians on the night, including side players. A named deputy is in, or a substitute is extra.
• Repertoire and do-not-play. Named originals, named covers or styles, and a list of tracks or artists that stay off. An open “play whatever they shout” is not a list.
• MC. Named announcements — first dance, speeches, raffle — or hosting is out.
• Multi-set / support. A second room, a festival support slot or a second-stage set is a separate item.
• Rehearsal or site visit. In or out, and whether it is billed.
• What is out of scope. A second night, a livestream, recording handover, lighting design, overnight kit storage, extra players.
• Dependencies. Power, a safe stage, load-in access, a named contact on the night. Dates slip if those do not arrive.

A revision limitrevision limitA revision limit says how many rounds of changes are included in the fee before extra work is quoted.More in the glossary is the wrong tool for a live set. A change adds an extra set, a second room, or a livestream you never priced. Mixing the two is how a “quick extra hour” becomes a new product at no fee. See Client keeps adding extra work and change control.

Example

The Band will perform the Sets specified in SchedulescheduleA schedule is an annex to the contract that holds the detail: fees, dates, deliverables, service levels. It is part of the agreement if the main body says so. An order-of-precedence line should say what happens if the schedule and the clauses collide. Swap a schedule only by the variation method the contract names.More in the glossary 1, of the length and in the room set out there, with the line-up set out there, on the date in Schedule 1. A ceremony, a second room, a support slot, a livestream, recording handover and work not described in Schedule 1 are out of scope and are quoted in writing before they start. Power, load-in access and a named on-the-night contact the Client must supply are dependencies; the Band is not obliged to start if those are missing.

In Plain English: they get the named sets with the named players. A new shape of night is priced first. No power, no start.

A freelancer agreement or a services agreement is the usual paper. Repeat commercial clients often sit under a services agreement plus a statement of work per booking.

Name who brings instruments, backline, PA, lighting and an engineer, the setup and breakdown windows, and who is responsible if the venue PA fails. UK law does not imply a kit list. Write it. A 60-minute soundcheck is a deliverable, not a favour.

A working kit clause answers five things:

• what the band brings — instruments, backline, DI boxes, spare cables, in-ear monitors
• what the venue or client brings — PA, stage power, a safe platform, lighting, an engineer
• setup and breakdown windows, and whether overtime starts if load-out runs late
• soundcheck length, and who attends
• what happens if the named PA or backline is missing or unsafe — postpone, substitute kit at extra fee, or cancel under the kill-feekill feeA kill fee is a payment due to a creator or supplier when a client cancels a project before it is finished.More in the glossary line

Do not leave “usual setup” as the list. A club that says it has a full backline and a wedding barn with a domestic Bluetooth speaker are not the same job.

Example

The Band brings the instruments and backline specified in Schedule 1. The Client supplies a safe stage, power and the PA specified in Schedule 1. Setup and breakdown windows are those in Schedule 1. A 60-minute soundcheck is included. If the named PA is missing or unsafe, the Band may postpone or cancel under the unused-date line, or supply substitute speakers at the extra fee in Schedule 1.

In Plain English: you bring the named instruments. They bring the named speakers. If the PA is a domestic speaker in a barn, you stop or you reprice.

Put the list in a freelancer agreement.

Write the fee, whether it is a set fee, an hourly rate or a package, whether VAT is extra, overtime, travel and lodging, who invoices, when invoices go out, and what unused booked dates cost. A set fee is not a buyout of the recording. For a UK business client, late commercial payment carries statutory interest.

Payment terms should name:

• the fee and the basis — a set fee, an hourly rate, or a named package (ceremony plus reception);
• who invoices — the band’s limited company, a partnership in the firm name, or named members as separate contractors;
• whether VAT is extra;
• overtime beyond the named sets, and a late-running event;
• travel, parking, congestion, overnight lodging — in or extra;
• when invoices go out — on signature, on the date, or in named stages;
• how many days to pay — net 14 or net 30Net 30Net 30 means the client has 30 days from the invoice date to pay.More in the glossary;
• a pause right if an undisputed invoice is overdue, including a right not to travel;
• that any licence of a recording you make passes only on full payment.

Write the numbers you actually use. One booking, one named payee, unless the paper says each player invoices.

A deposit before booked dates are reserved is a common shape, not a statutory rate. A 50% invoice on signature and 50% before the date is an example of how to split a set fee, not a required split. There is no default UK right to keep a deposit; both sides have to agree it. See Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?.

For a qualifying business-to-business debt, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 sets statutory interest. GOV.UK on late commercial payments states the rate as 8% plus the Bank of England base rate. Look up the current base rate when you calculate. Once that interest runs, a fixed recovery sum is also due: £40 under £1,000, £70 from £1,000 to under £10,000, and £100 at £10,000 or more, plus any reasonable recovery costs not met by that sum. See late payment interest.

Example

The fee is the figure in Schedule 1. The Band invoices through the payee named in Schedule 1. VAT is charged in addition where that payee is VAT-registered. 50% is due on signature and reserves the dates. The balance is due 14 days before the date. Overtime, travel and lodging are the extra sums in Schedule 1. The Band is not obliged to travel while any undisputed invoice is overdue. Any licence of a recording the Band makes passes only on payment in full. Statutory interest and compensation on late commercial payment apply where the 1998 Act applies.

In Plain English: they pay to reserve the diary. The rest is due before you load in. After an overdue invoice, you do not travel unpaid. They do not get unpaid usage of a recap. A business client can owe the statutory interest and the fixed recovery sum.

The chase sequence is Client won't pay a freelance invoice.

Write the notice both sides use to cancel a booked date, what unused dates cost, and the kill fee if they stop a started job. There is no default UK right to keep a depositdepositA deposit is money paid up front, before the main work or the final invoice.More in the glossary; both sides have to agree the sums. Typical venue and agency bookings are B2B. For a consumer, cancellation terms must be fair. A named-date leisure booking is not a 14-day walk-away.

A common freelance shape — not a statutory rule — is:

• a deposit to reserve named dates;
• short-notice cancellation of reserved dates charged in full or in part;
• a kill fee if they stop after travel or setup has started, covering work done plus a named unused-date charge;
• postponement is not a free rewrite of the diary;
• band cancellation: write the notice you give, and how a substitute line-up or a moved date works.

Contractual cancellation is the agreed unused-date and kill-fee line. Force majeureforce majeureForce majeure is a clause that pauses a party’s duties when something outside both sides’ control stops the work.More in the glossary is a clause you write: if weather, illness, a venue shutdown or a travel stop neither side could reasonably control stops the set, write who can postpone, whether the date moves, and that unused booked dates still follow the kill-fee line. Where a contract is frustrated, money paid before the frustrating event is recoverable, money payable before that event ceases to be payable, and the court may allow a just sum for a valuable benefit obtained, subject to the Act. That is the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943. A change of brief is a cancellation or a rewrite of the brief, not a frustrationfrustrationFrustration discharges a contract when an unforeseen event makes performance impossible or something radically different from what was agreed. In England and Wales the test is Davis Contractors Ltd v Fareham UDC [1956] AC 696. Taylor v Caldwell (1863) 3 B & S 826 is the classic illustration: a music hall burned down, so the hire could not go ahead.More in the glossary claim. See force majeure and frustration.

An outdoor set needs a rain plan in the scope, not a hope. Write indoor fallback, postpone, or cancel under the unused-date line.

For a business client the charge must not be a penalty. A clause is an unenforceable penalty if it is a secondary obligation that imposes a detriment on the contract-breaker out of all proportion to any legitimate interest of the innocent party in the enforcement of the primary obligation. That is Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi [2015] UKSC 67.

Example

A deposit of the sum in Schedule 1 reserves the dates in that Schedule. If the Client cancels reserved dates on less than 14 days’ notice, those dates are charged. If the Client ends the job after travel or setup has started, the Band is due the work done at the agreed rate plus the unused-date charge in Schedule 1. A postponement agreed in writing moves the dates; it does not waivewaiverA waiver is a choice not to enforce a right this time, without rewriting the contract. Accepting late work once does not, by itself, kill a time-is-of-the-essence clause if a no-waiver line is present. Waiver is not a variation: Rock Advertising Ltd v MWB [2018] UKSC 24 still requires the agreed method for a change of terms.More in the glossary the unused-date charge unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: unused booked dates are charged if you wrote that. Starting load-in and then stopping still costs them the work done and the named kill fee. Moving the date is a written change, not a free pass.

The longer consumer-versus-business page is Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?. Cancellation and kill fee is the clause page.

A live band set is a performance. Performers' rights sit with the players unless they assign them in writing, signed. They are independent of copyright in the songs you play. Recording the live set without consent infringes those rights. If a sound recording of the show is made, its author is the producer.

CDPA 1988 s.180 says a performance includes a musical performance given live by one or more individuals. The rights conferred by Part II are independent of any copyright in the work performed or in any film or sound recording of the performance. Section 182 says a performer's rights are infringed by a person who, without consent, makes a recording of the whole or any substantial part of a qualifying performance directly from the live performance.

CDPA 1988 s.191B says an assignmentassignmentAssignment is the transfer of rights under a contract to someone else, such as the right to be paid. In England and Wales a legal assignment of a debt must be in writing, absolute, and notified, under the Law of Property Act 1925 s.136. Duties do not pass by assignment; moving duties takes a novation.More in the glossary of a performer's property rights is not effective unless it is in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor. A licence is permission. It is not a transfer of those rights.

Where a member wrote an original musical or literary work, CDPA 1988 s.9 takes the author to be the person who creates it. Authorship is not first ownership. Section 11 makes that author the first owner of copyright in it. Where the work is made by an employee in the course of employment, the employer is the first owner, unless agreed otherwise. A member employed by a band company who writes in that job is still the author; first copyright normally sits with the company unless they agreed otherwise. A member who is not that employee is first owner unless they assign it in writing, signed (s.90). Playing the song live does not move that copyright. A live booking is not an assignment of the catalogue.

If a sound recording of the show is made, CDPA 1988 s.9(2)(aa) takes the author to be the producer. Section 178 says the producer is the person by whom the arrangements necessary for making the sound recording are undertaken. Combined with s.11, that author is the first owner of copyright in the sound recording. Playing the set does not, by itself, make the band the producer of a recording someone else makes. If you record your own show, write whether you undertook those arrangements. Do not leave “the recap is yours” as a heading.

If a film of the show is made, s.9(2)(ab) takes the authors to be the producer and the principal director. Both of them own first copyright in the film unless the employee exception in s.11(2) applies. A freelance band is not, by playing, an author of that film.

CDPA 1988 s.90 is the copyright assignment rule. An IP assignment of copyright you hold has to be in writing, signed by you or someone signing on your behalf. See IP licence vs assignmentIP licence vs assignmentAn IP assignment transfers ownership of copyright or other intellectual property. A licence is permission to use it; the author still owns it. In England and Wales there is no work-made-for-hire first-owner rule for freelancers: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s.11. An assignment must be in writing and signed: s.90. Say which you mean, and when it happens.More in the glossary.

Keep six piles:

• The live performance. Performers' rights with the players until a written, signed assignment on full payment.
• Original songs a member wrote. Author is the person who creates the work under s.9. First owner is that author under s.11, unless the work was made by an employee in the course of employment — then the employer is first owner unless agreed otherwise. Later assignment still needs writing, signed, under s.90.
• Covers you play. Third-party musical and literary works. You do not own that copyright. You cannot licence or assign it.
• A sound recording of the show. Author is the producer under ss.9(2)(aa) and 178. Write who that person is.
• A film of the show. Authors are the producer and the principal director under s.9(2)(ab).
• A recap or edit you make as a deliverable. Licence named uses of copyright you hold in that recording on full payment, or assign it in writing, signed. Covers inside it stay on their own licences.

A US “work for hirework for hireWork for hire is a phrase, common on US-style papers, meaning the client is treated as the author and owner of the work from the start.More in the glossary” heading does not do that work in England and Wales. See work for hire.

Example

Performers' rights in the Sets sit with the players unless Schedule 1 attaches a written, signed assignment on full payment. Recording or livestreaming the Sets needs the Band’s consent. Copyright in original musical or literary works a member wrote sits first with that author under CDPA 1988 ss.9 and 11, unless the work was made by an employee in the course of employment — then the employer is first owner unless agreed otherwise — or unless Schedule 1 attaches a written, signed assignment. Copyright in any sound recording of the Sets sits with the producer as author under CDPA 1988 ss.9(2)(aa) and 11; Schedule 1 names who undertakes those arrangements. Covers played during the Sets remain on their own licences. On full payment the Client is granted the licence in Schedule 1 of copyright the Band holds in any recap the Band delivers, for the media, territory and duration named in that Schedule. That licence does not transfer copyright in third-party works.

In Plain English: they need your consent to record you. They do not get the covers you played. Original songs first sit with the writer, or with a band company if the writer made them as its employee, until a signed assignment. A recap you make is licensed as the schedule says, once they have paid. Write who is the producer of any recording.

If they publish unpaid work, see Client using your work without paying.

Licence named uses of any recording you make, unless they must own those rights. An assignment is a buyout of rights you hold: writing, signed, on full payment. It covers copyright you hold, not covers. A new window, a paid ad and a second territory are a separate use. Price them.

An exclusive licence is a further step. CDPA 1988 s.92 says an exclusive licence is a licence in writing signed by or on behalf of the copyright owner authorising the licensee to the exclusion of all other persons, including you, to exercise a right which would otherwise be exercisable exclusively by the copyright owner. If they want exclusivity of use of a recap, write it as an exclusive licence of named uses, not a heading.

Moral rightsmoral rightsMoral rights are the author’s personal rights in a copyright work: to be identified as author, and not to have the work subjected to derogatory treatment. In the UK they sit in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ss.77–80. They cannot be assigned. They can be waived in writing, signed by the person giving them up, under s.87.More in the glossary for a performer sit under CDPA ss.205C, 205F and 205J: the right to be identified as the performer when the performance is given in public, broadcast live, or a sound recording of it is communicated or issued to the public, and the right not to have the performance treated in a way that is prejudicial to reputation. They may be waived by an instrument in writing signed by the person giving up the right. A credit line on a recap is a contractual promise; name it if you want the credit. See moral rights and usage rights and credit.

Example

On full payment the Client is granted a non-exclusive licence of copyright the Band holds in any recap the Band delivers, for the media, territory and duration in Schedule 1, plus consent to use the performance in that recap. That licence does not transfer copyright in third-party works. It does not transfer copyright in original songs a member wrote. Any assignment of those songs must be separately agreed in writing, signed by or on behalf of the actual owner. A further cut, a second territory, paid amplification and assignment of those Band-held rights are not included unless Schedule 1 names them and the extra fee. The players do not waive performers' moral rights unless Schedule 1 attaches a signed waiver.

In Plain English: they can use a recap you made in the named window once they have paid. They do not get the covers. Original songs first sit with the writer, or with a band company if they were written as an employee. This licence does not transfer that copyright. Any assignment must be separately agreed in writing, signed by or on behalf of the actual owner. Running it as a paid ad, in a new country, or as a buyout, is extra. A credit stays unless you signed it away.

Contracts for DJs is the DJ sibling. Contracts for voice actors is the performers'-rights sibling. Contracts for music producers is the studio sibling.

Name who may record or livestream the show, and that covers stay on their own licences. You do not grant a licence in songs you do not own. Playing a cover in the room is not clearance to publish a recorded mix of it. Write who operates any stream, and who handles third-party permissions it needs.

A working recording clause answers:

• whether a phone recap, a board-mix, a film crew or a livestream is in
• who operates it, and who keeps the files
• that recording the live performance needs the players’ consent — CDPA 1988 s.182
• that covers remain pre-existing materialspre-existing materialsPre-existing materials are tools, libraries or work the supplier already owned, which are licensed for the job rather than handed over.More in the glossary on their own licences
• that original songs a member wrote first sit with that author under s.11, unless made by an employee in the course of employment — then the employer is first owner unless agreed otherwise — and later assignment still needs writing, signed
• who is responsible if a published recording is taken down because a cover was not cleared for that use

Split the jobs. You warrant the performance is yours to give. They warrant the room, the stream platform, and any permission they need to publish other people's works. A line that the band will obtain all licences for every cover in a public stream does not fit if you have no budget and no chain of title. Name who handles that pile. See usage rights and credit.

The venue or promoter often holds the public-performance permissions for the room; that is a different paper from this booking. A livestream or a published recap is a further use. Write who obtains it, or write that it is out.

Example

Recording or livestreaming the Sets is out of scope unless Schedule 1 says so. Where it is in, it needs the Band’s written consent. Covers played during the Sets remain on their own licences. The Client is responsible for any permission needed to publish a recording or stream that includes those works. Original songs a member wrote sit first with that author under CDPA 1988 ss.9 and 11 unless made by an employee in the course of employment — then the employer is first owner unless agreed otherwise — or unless Schedule 1 attaches a written, signed assignment. A recap the Band delivers is licensed only as clause 6 says.

In Plain English: they do not film you unless the paper says so. They do not get a licence in the covers you played. Original songs first sit with the writer, or with a band company if written as an employee. If they want a public stream, they handle that clearance — or the stream is out.

Contracts for video editors is the post sibling when someone cuts a film of the night. What should a UK videography contract include? is the filmed sibling. What should a UK DJ contract include? is the DJ sibling.

Unreleased brand events, product launches, private guest lists and embargoed set lists stay private until the go-live window. Write the usual limits: a court order, or what the client has already made public. A confidentialityconfidentialityConfidentiality is a promise to keep shared information private and to use it only for the agreed purpose.More in the glossary clause is not an NDANDAAn NDA is a contract in which one or both parties agree to keep shared information confidential.More in the glossary by itself. Put a mutual NDA next to the deal if you open an unreleased campaign first.

Confidentiality on the band agreement should name:

• the event, the product, the launch date, the guest list, unreleased assets, and the fact of the booking until go-live;
• how long the duty lasts after the night — the life of the remaining sensitivity, not “forever” as a slogan;
• the usual limits: a court order, information already public, or information you already held;
• whether you may name the client in a showreel or on socials. Many unreleased launches say no until the embargo lifts. See publicity and portfolio use.

An embargo is a go-live rule, not a separate statute. Write the date and time zone a clip may post, and that a leak before that time is a breach. Do not post a story from the stage the week before their announcement.

A one-way NDAone-way NDAA one-way NDA is a confidentiality agreement where only one side discloses information and only the other side is bound to keep it private.More in the glossary the brand or agency sends before they will share a guest list is common. Read it. A clause that assigns copyright, or that bans you from working for anyone in their sector, is not an NDA. See NDA for UK freelancers and the NDA generator.

Example

The Band will keep the event, Product, launch date, guest list, unreleased assets and the fact of this booking confidential until the go-live window in Schedule 1, and will not disclose them except where required by law or a court order, or where the information is already public other than through the Band’s breach. Showreel or social use of the Client’s name is not included until that window, unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: the brand night stays in the job until the named go-live. You do not post it early. You do not put their name on your reel until they said you could.

NDAs explained is the longer NDA page.

Guest lists, request sheets and client contacts you hold for the event are personal data. Your own invoices and booking diary are typically data you control. UK GDPR Article 28 applies when a booking collects other people's data for the client. A one-line “you will comply with data protection law” is not that contract.

The split is:

• Controller. You decide why you hold your own invoices, your own CRM and the showreel you publish.
• Processor. You store a guest list, request sheet or contact sheet they asked you to hold for the night. They decide the purpose; you process on their instructions.
• Article 28. Processing by a processor must be governed by a contract that is binding and that sets out the subject-matter, duration, nature and purpose, the type of personal data and categories of data subjects, and the processor terms in Article 28(3)(a)–(h). See data protection.

Typical booking data:

Do not copy their guest list onto a personal phone “to make a backup” unless the paper says so. On ending, you stop processing and return or delete what the schedule requires.

Article 28 and the data protection clause are the processor terms that sit on this job.

Example

Where the Band processes personal data for the Client — including guest lists and request sheets the Client supplies — that processing is governed by the processor terms in Schedule 2. The Client is the controller. The Band will not process those data except on the Client’s documented instructions. The Band’s own invoices and showreel remain the Band’s data.

In Plain English: their guest list is their data. Your own reel stays yours. You play the night they booked; you do not become the controller of their invite list.

Often no. A venue, agency, brand or production house buying a set in the course of business is not a consumer. A company brief does not get the consumer 14-day cooling-off. Consumer rights bite when the counterpartycounterpartyThe counterparty is the other side of the contract — the person or company you are making the deal with.More in the glossary is a wedding couple buying wholly or mainly outside their trade. Being a consumer is not a 14-day right to cancel a named-date leisure booking.

Who the other side is splits the page:

• A business client (a company, or a person buying in the course of business). No statutory 14-day cooling-off under the 2013 Regulations. An agreed cancellation charge must not be a penalty. The 1998 Act can apply to late payment.
• A consumer (an individual buying a personal booking wholly or mainly outside their trade). Cancellation terms must be fair. Distance and off-premises contracts carry a 14-day cancellation right unless a regulation 28 exception applies.

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give that right (regulation 29). For a service contract the cancellation period ends at the end of 14 days after the day the contract is entered into. Booking by email or a website, without both of you in the same place, is a distance contract.

The leisure-date exception. Part 3 (cancellation) does not apply as regards the supply of accommodation, transport of goods, vehicle rental services, catering or services related to leisure activities, if the contract provides for a specific date or period of performance (regulation 28(1)(h)). A wedding or party band booking that names the performance date is a specific-date contract. The exception is for leisure-related services. It is not a blanket exclusion of every dated band booking.

Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.62 says an unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer. Section 49 says a trader supplying a service must do so with reasonable care and skill. Neither section turns a venue or agency booking into a consumer contract. Neither section is a 14-day cooling-off.

Most venue, club, agency, brand, festival and production bookings on this page are the left-hand column. A couple booking their own wedding band is usually a consumer. Consumer status brings the fairness test. It does not, by itself, give them two weeks to cancel a named-date leisure booking.

Example

If the Client is a consumer and this agreement was made at a distance or off-premises, the Client may cancel in the cancellation period without giving a reason unless a regulation 28 exception applies. For the Services that period ends at the end of 14 days after the day this agreement is entered into. Regulation 28(1)(h) excepts the supply of services related to leisure activities if the contract provides for a specific date or period of performance. This clause does not apply where the Client is buying in the course of a business.

In Plain English: a venue buying a Friday resident does not get the statutory 14-day cooling-off. A couple who booked a wedding band online for a named Saturday does not automatically have two weeks to walk away. Part 3 cancellation does not apply to leisure-related services if the contract specifies the performance date or period. Whether a cancellation charge is fair is a separate Consumer Rights Act 2015 question.

Cap liability at a multiple of the fees. In England and Wales you cannot exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence. Do not guarantee the floor will dance, a volume the venue has banned, or that a platform will keep a stream up. See the longer liability guide.

Limitation of liability on a band job usually does four things:

• caps the Band’s total liability at the fees paid for that booking, or a named multiple;
• excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence from that cap — Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 s.2 does not let you exclude it;
• says other negligence liability can be limited only so far as the term is reasonable;
• leaves the implied termimplied termsImplied terms are obligations the law reads into a contract even when the parties did not write them down. In England and Wales they come from statute — for business services, reasonable care and skill under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.13 — or from common law where a term is necessary for business efficacy.More in the glossary that a service is performed with reasonable care and skill — Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.13 for B2B, Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.49 for a consumer.

Reasonableness is a fact-specific test. A cap at the fees, with the UCTA floor left in, is the common freelance shape.

A liability cap is not an indemnityindemnityAn indemnity is a promise to cover another party's losses arising from a particular event or claim.More in the glossary. Do not sign an unlimited indemnity for “any loss arising from the night” on a product-launch brief without pricing that risk. The client warrants the room, the power, the guest list and any stream they run; you warrant the set is yours to play and that you will carry out the booking with reasonable care and skill. How a freelancer caps liability is the longer page.

Example

The Band’s total liability under this agreement is capped at the fees paid for the Sets. Nothing in this agreement excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. The Band does not warrant a commercial result, a dance-floor outcome, or that a platform will keep a stream available.

In Plain English: if the job goes wrong, they can come for the fee, not for an open-ended loss. You still owe care and skill. You cannot write out death or injury caused by negligence. You did not promise the night would sell the product.

Contracts for agencies is the sibling when an agency sits between the brand and you. Contracts for freelancers is the delivery sibling.

IR35 only matters when you book into an organisation as a contractor through your company. It does not apply to a private couple buying a wedding set. No label decides the tax. From 6 April 2021, public authorities and medium or large clients must give a status determination statement. Small private-sector clients leave that decision with your company.

Write the working practices, then work that way:

• you decide how the sets are played, within the brief;
• you can send a qualified substitute line-up, and you have actually used one or can;
• there is no obligation on them to offer further dates, and none on you to accept them;
• you are not on their org chart, in their Slack, or in their holiday rota.

A heading that says “independent contractor” does not take you outside IR35. Chapter 10 of ITEPA 2003 (ss.61K, 61N and 61NA) puts the status determination on the public-authority or medium or large client with a UK connection. Chapter 8 and s.60A leave small private-sector clients on the older rules. See IR35 contract clauses checklist and sole trader vs limited companysole trader vs limited companyA sole trader contracts in a personal name and is personally liable. A limited company is a separate legal person; the company is on the hook, not the director, unless there is a guarantee. Switching from one to the other is a novation, not a letterhead change. IR35 / off-payroll rules can still apply to a personal service company.More in the glossary.

An exclusivity clauseexclusivity clauseAn exclusivity clause stops one side working with other people in a named market, for a named time. In England and Wales a lock-out has to be for a fixed period: Walford v Miles [1992] 2 AC 128 is why an agreement to negotiate exclusively with no end date fails.More in the glossary that stops you working for anyone else can look like employment. If they want you off competing brand nights for a window, price it and keep it narrow.

Most direct-to-couple wedding bookings never reach this heading. Agency-to-band jobs into a medium or large end-client still should, because the end client is often an organisation.

Example

The Band is an independent contractor. The Band decides how the Sets are performed, may send a qualified substitute line-up, and is not obliged to accept further dates. Nothing in this agreement makes the players employees, workers or agents of the Client. The parties will work in line with any status determination statement the Client is required to give.

In Plain English: the tax follows how you actually work. A label on page one does not decide it. A large company client has to give you their determination.

On Contracts.io both sides draft, negotiate and e-signe-signatureAn e-signature is any electronic way of showing agreement to a document, such as a typed name, a drawn signature or a click.More in the glossary one shared band agreement, so the set list, the backline line and the kill fee are the version you both signed. Describe the booking in a sentence. Lex, our AI host, drafts. You share one link. Nobody emails v4_final.docx back and forth.

The client opens that link. They can Accept, Counter or Decline on the same version, then both of you e-sign it. The other side never pays and does not need an account.

Start from a freelancer agreement or a services agreement. Repeat work can hang a statement of work under standing terms. A brand night can sit next to an influencer agreement. A job that films the show can sit next to a videography contract. You can also start from the AI contract generator or the contract generator. If you are sharing an unreleased brand event before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it, or use the NDA generator. Studio production sits on a music producer agreement, not this paper. A DJ set sits on Contracts for DJs, not this paper.

That does not chase an invoice for you. It does mean the licence or IP assignmentIP assignmentAn IP assignment is a transfer of ownership in the work, so the client owns it instead of the person who made it.More in the glossary, the kill fee, the backline split and the recording line are the words you both signed, not a line lost in email.

Free £0, then paid plans from £15 a month — see /pricing.

Try it on contracts.io: describe the booking in one sentence, share one link, and e-sign before load-in.

Contracts for bands is the wider set of terms that sit around this paper. Contracts for DJs is the DJ sibling. Contracts for music producers is the studio sibling. Contracts for voice actors is the performers'-rights sibling. Contracts for video editors is the post sibling. Contracts for videographers is the filmed sibling. Contracts for influencers is the brand-night sibling. Contracts for agencies is the campaign sibling. Contracts for freelancers is the delivery sibling. What goes in a freelance or contractor agreement is the shorter how-to. NDA for UK freelancers is the pitch-stage paper. Should I start work before the contract is signed? is the day-one rule.