What should a UK podcaster contract include?

A UK podcaster contract should name the parties, the episode deliverables and platforms, whether the deal is a guest slot, a host or producer retainer, or a sponsorship, fees and unused booked dates, who owns the master and clips, exclusivity, approval, confidentiality, advertising disclosure when the episode is an ad, a liability cap, and late payment. Sign it before the first recording.

This page is England and Wales first. Copyright under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is UK-wide. The consumer cancellation right cited here is UK-wide. Off-payroll working (IR35) is a UK tax rule and only matters when you work into an organisation as a contractor. The money-claim route for an unpaid invoice is the England and Wales procedure in Client won't pay a freelance invoice.

There is no podcast-only template on Contracts.io. Start from an influencer agreement for a brand sponsorship or host-read. A host or producer retainer sits on a freelancer agreement or a services agreement. A monthly slot sits on a retainer. A video podcast can sit next to a videography contract. Audio production can sit next to a music producer agreement. Repeat work can hang a statement of work under standing terms. If you are sharing an unreleased product before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it. Contracts for podcasters is the shorter audience page. What goes in a freelance or contractor agreement is the shorter how-to. What should a UK social media manager contract include? is the ads sibling.

Twelve blocks finish this paper:

The 48-hour cancellation, 30-day exclusivity and 50% deposit are examples, not a statutory rate. Write the numbers you actually use.

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

Name the episodes, the length, the format and the platforms. “A podcast” is not a list. “Six 40-minute interview episodes; RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify; YouTube video in scope; clip cutdowns quoted first; no live taping” is a list. Extra episodes, a second season and paid amplification are a change of scope, quoted first.

Write six things:

• Format. Solo, interview, panel, or a named series. An interview with a guest is not the same job as a solo essay.
• Count and length. How many episodes, and how long each one is. A “season” without a number is not a list.
• Platforms. RSS feed, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube audio or video. Name which are in, and which are out.
• Clips. Social cutdowns, audiograms, YouTube Shorts. Included, or quoted first.
• Live. Studio, remote, or a live audience. Travel and venue are extra unless written.
• What is out of scope. A second season, a documentary edit, paid ads on the clips, and a tour.

A statement of work is the usual place for that list under standing terms. Extra work goes through change control. Video-heavy work sits next to What should a UK videography contract include?. Audio production sits next to What should a UK music producer contract include?.

Example

The Services are the episodes 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: six interview episodes of about 40 minutes, delivered as an RSS-ready master for Apple Podcasts and Spotify. YouTube video is in scope. Social clip cutdowns, live audience recordings and paid amplification are out of scope and will be quoted first.

In Plain English: they buy this list of episodes on these platforms. Clips and a live taping are extra.

Scope creep and change control is the longer page for extras that arrive after signature.

Write which deal you are doing. A guest appearance, a host or producer retainer, a host-read ad, and a brand-funded series are four different papers. Mixing them on one silent page is how a free guest chat becomes an unpaid brand campaign.

Four shapes:

• Guest appearance. A named recording date, a release of the guest’s contribution, whether the guest is paid, and whether they may share clips. Often there is no fee. The show still needs a licence of the guest’s words and performance for the named platforms.
• Host or producer retainer. Ongoing capacitycapacityCapacity is the legal power to bind yourself to a contract. Adults of sound mind and companies registered under the Companies Act 2006 have it. A company's own constitution cannot be used to undo a deal it has done: Companies Act 2006 s.39. Minors can still make some contracts; the Minors' Contracts Act 1987 sets the modern rules.More in the glossary: a named monthly episode list, a fee, notice. Sit it on a retainer or a freelancer agreement.
• Sponsorship / host-read. A paid marketing communication. Fee, category exclusivity, usage of the read, approval, and an Ad label. Start from an influencer agreement.
• Brand-funded series. The brand pays for production of a named series and usually wants a licence or buyout of the masters, plus host-reads. That is a production job plus a sponsorship, not a guest slot.

Example

This agreement is a host-read sponsorship of the episodes in Schedule 1. It is not a guest appearance and not a production retainer. The Host will deliver the named reads on the named episodes. A guest booking, a second season, or a brand-funded series is a separate paper.

In Plain English: say which deal this is. A guest who talks about their book is not a paid host-read unless you both wrote that.

Contracts for agencies is the campaign sibling when an agency books the brand.

Write the fee, the basis, whether VAT is extra, when invoices go out, unused booked dates, and 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 if they stop a started job. VAT is added if you are VAT-registered; that is practice, not a rate we invent. 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 or charge unused days; both sides have to agree the sums.

Payment terms should name:

• the fee and the basis — per episode, per campaign, or a monthly retainer;
• whether VAT is extra;
• milestones — signature, recording, delivery, go-live;
• 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;
• that any licence or assignment passes only on full payment.

A deposit of 30–50% on signature is a common shape, not a statutory rate. Unused booked recording dates need a written charge. A kill fee if they stop after recording has started covers work done plus a named unused-date charge. See cancellation and kill fee.

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. We do not print the current base rate. 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. The 1998 Act does not apply to a consumer client.

Example

The fee is the figure in Schedule 1. VAT is charged in addition where the Host is VAT-registered. Fifty percent is due on signature; the balance is due within 14 days of delivery of the master. Booked recording dates cancelled on less than 48 hours’ notice are charged. If the Brand ends the job after recording has started, the Host is due the work done plus the unused-date charge in Schedule 1. Statutory interest and compensation on late commercial payment apply where the 1998 Act applies.

In Plain English: they pay half to hold the date. A late cancel of a booked studio day still costs them. A business brand can owe the statutory interest.

Those percentages and the 48-hour window are examples, not a statutory rate. The longer cancellation page is Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?. The chase sequence is Client won't pay a freelance invoice.

The author is first owner of freelance copyright unless they assign it. CDPA 1988 s.11 says so. For a sound recording the author is the producer — the person who made the arrangements necessary for the recording (s.9(2)(aa) and s.178). Commissioning an episode does not move that. An assignment is not effective unless it is in writing, signed. Paying the invoice does not move title.

A podcast usually stacks more than one copyright:

• Sound recording (the master). Author is the producer as defined above. First owner under s.11 unless they are an employee making it in the course of employment.
• Literary work (the script). The writer is first owner. A host-read script the brand supplied stays the brand’s literary work; your recording of it is still a separate sound recording.
• Film (a video podcast). Author is the producer and the principal director (s.9(2)(ab)).
• Guest contribution. Write a licence of the guest’s words for the named episode and platforms. Do not assume a handshake records their interview for every clip and every ad.

The employee exception in s.11(2) applies to employees, not to a host or producer on a contract for services. If the contract is silent, a court may find a limited implied licence for the purpose of the commission. That is not ownership. Silence is how a brand puts your episode into a paid ad without a further fee.

CDPA 1988 s.90 is the assignment rule. An IP assignment has to be in writing, signed by you or someone signing on your behalf. A licence is permission to use the work. It is not a transfer of ownership. 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 and intellectual property assignment.

Keep four piles:

• This episode’s master and the agreed edit — licensed or assigned on full payment.
• Clips and social cutdowns — named uses, or quoted first. Not an open social licence unless the paper says so.
• Paid amplification / whitelisting — the brand running the episode or a clip as a paid ad. A separate fee, a named channel, a named window. The influencer agreement already treats paid media as extra.
• Show kit — intro music, stings, templates, unused takes. Licensed for this job as pre-existing materials, not assigned.

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. Write licence or assignment in English words.

Example

Copyright in the master and the agreed edit remains with the Producer. On receipt of full payment the Brand is granted the licence in Schedule 1 to use the episode on the named platforms. Until then the Brand has no licence to copy, communicate or adapt it. Social clips and paid amplification are not included unless Schedule 1 says so. Intro music, stings and unused takes stay with the Producer. Assignment of copyright is not included unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: they may run the named episode on the named apps once they have paid. Clips and paid ads are extra. They do not own your sting.

If they publish unpaid audio, see Client using your work without paying. Contracts for music producers is the master-recording sibling. Contracts for videographers is the film sibling.

LicencelicenceA licence is permission to use work in an agreed way, without taking ownership away from the person who made it.More in the glossary the named use unless they must own the master. An assignment is a buyout: writing, signed, on full payment. A licence is permission. Most sponsorships need a licence of the episode and named clips for a named window — not a transfer of the copyright. 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 in a script or a film stay with the author or director unless they 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 them in writing, signed.

Moral rights sit next to the economic rights for a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, and for the director of a film. The author or director has the right to be identified (s.77) and the right not to have the work subjected to derogatory treatment (s.80). Those rights cannot be assigned. They may be waived by an instrument in writing signed by the person giving up the right (s.87). They do not attach to a sound recording as such. A host credit on an audio-only episode is practice; a waiver of script or film moral rights is a signed paper. See moral rights and usage rights and credit.

Whitelisting and paid amplification are a licence of a named extra use, not an assignment. Write the channel, the window and the fee. “Organic only” means the brand may not run the clip as a paid ad.

Example

On full payment the Brand is granted a non-exclusive licence to communicate the episode on the platforms and for the duration in Schedule 1. The licence is not assignable. Social clips and paid amplification are not included. Assignment of copyright is not included. The Producer does not waive moral rights in any script or film unless Schedule 1 attaches a signed waiver.

In Plain English: they can put the episode on the named apps once they have paid. They cannot sell the copyright on. A paid ad on the clip is extra. A credit stays unless you signed it away.

Contracts for copywriters is the words sibling for the same licence-versus-assignment split.

Name the competing shows or sponsors, the category, and the window. An open-ended ban on any other podcast work is how a small fee buys your whole diary. Price exclusivity. Keep it narrow. 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 also look like employment on an IR35 paper.

A working exclusivity line answers four things:

• Who. Named rival brands, or a named category (for example sports drinks, not “all CPG”).
• What. Paid host-reads, a competing show, or both. Unpaid editorial mentions are a different pile — write if they are in.
• Where. This show only, or every channel you host.
• How long. From signature, from go-live, for a named number of days after the last episode. Thirty days after the final host-read is a common freelance shape, not a statutory rule.

The influencer agreement already has an exclusivity slot for competing brands. Use it. Do not paste a non-competenon-competeA non-compete is a promise not to do similar work for a competitor, or in a named market, for a period after the job.More in the glossary that outlives the campaign by years.

Example

During the term and for 30 days after the last sponsored episode goes live, the Host will not publish a paid host-read for a brand in the category named in Schedule 1. This restriction is limited to paid reads on this show. It does not stop unpaid editorial episodes, other shows, or work outside that category.

In Plain English: for a short window you do not do a paid read for a named rival on this show. You can still interview people. You can still host another show.

Contracts for social media managers is the ads sibling when the same brand also books social posts.

Write what a revision round is, how many working days they have to approve, and any embargo on an unreleased product. One round against the agreed brief is a common shape, not a statutory rule. Silence after a short window is acceptance. A new brief, a new guest or a recut for a new platform is new work, quoted first.

Revisions and acceptance should name:

• What a round is. Consolidated comments on the delivered master or the host-read script. Not a drip of Slack voice notes.
• How many. One inclusive round is a common freelance shape. Write the number. See 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.
• How long they have. Three to five working days is a common shape, not a statutory period. Then the work is accepted if they stay silent.
• What is new work. A new guest, a new claim, a recut for YouTube, or a request to rewrite the episode.
• Embargo. A named date before which the episode and clips stay unpublished. Useful when the guest or brand is talking about an unreleased product.

Example

The fee includes one round of revisions against the agreed brief. Comments must be consolidated and sent within five working days of delivery. Silence after five working days is acceptance. A new guest, a new claim or a recut for a new platform is new work and will be quoted first. The episode and clips stay unpublished until the embargo date in Schedule 1.

In Plain English: they get one pass on the cut you both agreed. A new guest is a new quote. The product stays off the feed until the named day.

Scope creep and change control is the longer page for extras that arrive after signature.

Write the notice both sides use to cancel a booked recording date, what happens if they postpone rather than cancel, and the kill fee if they stop a started job. There is no default UK right to keep a deposit or charge unused days; both sides have to agree the sums. For a consumer, a 14-day right can apply, and the term must be fair. Most brand–creator podcast deals are B2B.

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;
• one postponement to a new named date, with a charge if they postpone again;
• a kill fee if they stop after recording has started, covering work done plus a named unused-date charge.

For a business client the charge must not be a penalty. A genuine pre-estimate of lost booked time is the shape that holds; a figure designed to punish is the shape that fails. See Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi. We do not invent a holding beyond that.

Brand, host and guest can each cancel. Write all three. A guest who no-shows is not the same as a brand that kills the campaign. The host still wants the unused-date rule against the party who booked the studio.

Example

A deposit of the sum in Schedule 1 reserves the dates in that Schedule. If the Brand or the Host cancels reserved dates on less than 48 hours’ notice, those dates are charged. One postponement to a new named date is allowed; a further postponement is treated as a cancellation. If the Brand ends the job after recording has started, the Host is due the work done at the agreed rate plus the unused-date charge in Schedule 1.

In Plain English: unused booked days are charged if you wrote that. Moving the date once is a postponement. Moving it twice is a cancel.

The longer consumer-versus-business page is Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?. How to end a freelance contract is the notice sibling.

Unreleased products, embargoed episode topics and the fact of the booking stay private. Write the usual limits: a court order, or what the brand or guest has already made public. A confidentiality 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. If you are opening an unreleased product before the deal is signed, put a mutual NDA next to it.

Confidentiality on the podcast agreement should name:

• the product, the brief, the recording, and any embargoed claims;
• how long the duty lasts — the life of the product’s 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 brand or guest in a portfolio. Many unreleased-product jobs say no until launch.

That is practice, not a statute we invent. 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 sends before they will brief the host-read is common. Read it. A clause that assigns copyright in the episode, 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 Host will keep the brief, the unreleased product and the embargoed episode confidential, 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 Host’s breach. This duty survives delivery until the embargo date in Schedule 1, or until the Brand makes the product public. Portfolio use of the Brand’s name is not included until that date unless Schedule 1 says so.

In Plain English: the product stays off the feed and off your socials until they launch. You do not tease it. After launch you may name them if the paper says so.

Contracts for podcasters is the shorter page around this paper.

Your own invoices, subscriber list and show analytics are typically data you control. UK GDPR Article 28 applies when you process personal data for a client organisation — for example collecting emails onto their newsletter, or running tracking links they gave you. 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 mailing list, and your own show analytics. That is your business data.
• Processor. You collect audience emails for the brand’s list, or you fire their tracking links. 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.

Write who owns the newsletter list you collect on a sponsored episode, who is the controller of those emails, and that tracking links the brand supplies stay their processing. Do not dump a brand’s audience list into your own CRM unless the paper says so.

We do not invent further UK GDPR obligations beyond Article 28 and the controller/processor split. High-level only.

Example

Where the Host collects audience emails or uses tracking links for the Brand, the Brand is the controller and the Host is the processor. Processing is governed by this clause and is limited to the campaign in Schedule 1. The Host will not add those emails to its own list. On request at the end of the job the Host will delete or return copies that contain that personal data, except where the Host must keep a copy to meet a legal obligation. The Host’s own show mailing list and analytics remain data the Host controls.

In Plain English: their giveaway list is their data. Your show newsletter is yours. Do not mix the two.

This is B2B framing for a brand client. An individual guest sending their own bio is usually giving you data they control; you still keep it confidential.

A paid host-read, a gifted product, or any other incentivised brand mention must be obviously identifiable as advertising. Write who is responsible for that line — typically the host labels the episode, the brand warrants the claims. We do not cite the advertising code as a statute; it is the ASA CAP Code, with CMA guidance sitting next to it.

CAP Code rule 2.1 says marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such. Rule 2.4 says marketers and publishers must make clear that advertorials are marketing communications; for example by heading them “advertisement feature”. The ASA advice on recognising ads and the CMA guidance for content creators treat a payment or any other incentive as enough to make the content an ad. The ASA and CMA prefer a clear, prominent Ad label. We do not invent further clause numbers.

A working split:

Write that split in the warranties clause. The influencer agreement already has a disclosure slot. If they want a matching indemnity for third-party claims that the content was not original, cap it, and sit it next to the originality warrantywarrantyA warranty is a promise that something is true, such as “this work is original” or “we have the right to grant this licence.”More in the glossary. Do not use a small host-read fee to guarantee global advertising-code compliance.

Clips and audiograms need the same label. A bio line or a previous episode is not disclosure of this one.

Example

The Brand warrants that the facts, prices, testimonials and claims it supplies are accurate and that it has the right to use them. The Host will label each sponsored episode, the show notes and any agreed clips as advertising, using the wording in Schedule 1. The Host does not warrant that the Brand’s claims are true. The Brand does not warrant that the episode will convert.

In Plain English: they own their product claims. You own putting Ad on the episode. A clip without the label is still an ad.

What should a UK copywriter contract include? is the claims-warranty sibling. What should a UK social media manager contract include? is the social sibling.

Yes, on a distance or off-premises service contract. A consumer may cancel during the cancellation period without giving a reason. For a service contract that period ends at the end of 14 days after the day the contract is entered into. An unfair consumer term is not binding. A company buying a sponsorship or a production retainer is not a consumer for those rules. Most brand–creator and B2B sponsor deals are not Consumer Rights Act or 2013 Regulations consumer contracts — do not force those rules onto a typical podcast sponsorship.

Who the client is splits the page:

• A business client (a brand, a network, an agency, 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.
• A consumer (an individual buying a personal production package wholly or mainly outside their trade — for example a private memoir podcast). Distance and off-premises contracts carry the 14-day right. The term must be fair.

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give that right (regulation 29). For a service contract the period ends at the end of 14 days after the day the contract is entered into (regulation 30). Booking by email or a website, without both of you in the same place, is a distance contract.

Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.62 says an unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer. A term is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faithgood faithGood faith, in English commercial law, is honesty and not undermining the deal you have just made. There is no general implied duty of good faith in every contract. Some long-term relational contracts can carry one: Yam Seng Pte Ltd v International Trade Corp [2013] EWHC 111 (QB). If you want the duty, write it, and say what it requires.More in the glossary, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to the detriment of the consumer. Section 49 says a trader supplying a service must do so with reasonable care and skill.

The longer consumer-versus-business page is Client cancelled: can you keep the deposit?.

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. For the Services that period ends at the end of 14 days after the day this agreement is entered into. This clause does not apply where the Client is buying in the course of a business.

In Plain English: an individual who booked a memoir podcast online has two weeks to walk away. A brand buying a host-read does not get that statutory cooling-off.

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 downloads, rankings, or that a regulator will accept the claims in a host-read. See the longer liability guide.

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

• caps the host or producer’s total liability at the fees paid for that job, 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.

We do not invent a case holding that a particular cap is reasonable. 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 episode” on a product-liability brief without pricing that risk. How a freelancer caps liability is the longer page.

Example

The Host’s total liability under this agreement is capped at the fees paid for the campaign. Nothing in this agreement excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. The Host does not warrant download numbers, rankings, or that a regulator will accept the Brand’s claims.

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.

Contracts for consultants is the sibling page when the work is advice rather than a recording.

IR35 only matters when you work into an organisation as a contractor through your personal company — a brand, a network, or an agency. It does not apply to a private individual buying a memoir episode. 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 episode is made;
• you can send a qualified substitute, and you have actually used one or can;
• there is no obligation on them to offer further episodes, and none on you to accept them;
• you use your own tools and studio;
• 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 clause that stops you hosting anyone else can look like employment. If they want category exclusivity, price it and keep it narrow.

Example

The Host is an independent contractor. The Host decides how the episodes are produced, may send a qualified substitute, and is not obliged to accept further work. Nothing in this agreement makes the Host an employee, worker or agent of the Brand. The parties will work in line with any status determination statement the Brand 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 brand has to give you their determination.

Most direct-to-consumer memoir work never reaches this heading. Most network and agency retainers still should, because the end client is often an organisation. Company-to-company contractor work can start from an independent contractor agreement.

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 podcast agreement, so the episode list, the ownership of the master and the Ad label are the version you both signed. Describe the job 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 an influencer agreement for a sponsorship or host-read. A host or producer retainer sits on a freelancer agreement or a services agreement. A monthly slot sits on a retainer. A video podcast 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 product before the deal is signed, a mutual NDA sits next to it, or use the NDA generator.

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 exclusivity clause and the disclosure 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 podcast job in one sentence, share one link, and e-sign before the first recording.

Contracts for podcasters is the wider set of terms that sit around this paper. Contracts for social media managers is the ads sibling. Contracts for videographers is the video sibling. Contracts for music producers is the audio sibling. Contracts for copywriters is the claims sibling. Contracts for freelancers is the delivery sibling. Contracts for agencies is the campaign 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.