I told them that, in my mind, this makes the contract virtually worthless.\u00a0 They came back with this:<\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
TERMINATION FOR CONVENIENCE:<\/span>\u00a0 Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time upon written notice to the other party. If this Agreement is terminated before the performance, the University shall have limited obligations to pay Artist, as defined below. If this Agreement is terminated during the performance for any reason other than the Artist\u2019s breach of this Agreement, the University shall compensate Artist on a prorate basis.\u00a0 Under no circumstances will either party be liable to the other for indirect, consequential, or incidental damages, including but not limited to anticipatory profits. The University may from time to time, under such terms and conditions as it may prescribe, make partial payments and payments on account against costs incurred by the Artist in connection with the terminated portion of this contract whenever in the opinion of the University the aggregate of such payments shall be within the amount to which the Artist shall be entitled hereunder.<\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n I feel that I wouldn\u2019t be doing my due diligence as a Manager to sign this, but it\u2019s a very important venue to me and I do quite a bit of business with them.\u00a0 But I think this is unconscionable. Am I wrong? <\/i><\/p>\n \u201cUnconscionability\u201d implies a certain level of moral indignation is generally unwarranted in a simple engagement negotiation. The venue is merely proposing terms that are in its own best interest, not demanding that you sacrifice a sack full of kittens! If acting in one\u2019s own self-interest were unconscionable, then most artists would have an incalculable amount of karmic debt.\u00a0However, you are quite correct that the terms they are proposing are unfair to your artist. I’ve seen more and more presenters and venues trying to give themselves the unilateral right to cancel. I get it. Times are tough. Tickets are hard to sell. But it\u2019s unreasonable and unfair to expect an artist to bear the entire loss of a cancellation. The venue\u2019s proposed compromise is basically to reimburse the artist for any out-of-pocket costs, but not to pay the artist for the lost performance or the fact that the artist may have turned away other engagements. That\u2019s not exactly what I would call an equitable compromise.<\/p>\n Regardless, the point of a contract is not to provide some false sense of security or protection, but, rather, to enable the parties to identify any issues that need to be negotiated, evaluate the pros and cons of a deal, and determine whether or not to proceed. In this regard, this contract has proven to be extremely valuable in that the venue has made it quite clear that they want to have the right to cancel without consequences. You have done your due diligence in reading and evaluating the contract. Now comes the hard part. What to do? You need to determine whether or not to engage in further negotiations, to accept the venue\u2019s terms and sign the contract, or walk away and find another engagement. Ultimately, the decision is up to your artist. Your job as the Manager is solely to evaluate and advise your artist.<\/p>\n All art requires risk. The performing arts business requires a certain amount of risk as well. As the Manager, its your job to help your artist evaluate reasonable risks from unreasonable risks. Obviously, I don\u2019t know enough about your specific artist or the specific venue to render an opinion. However, I can tell you that what is completely irrelevant to the analysis is whether or not the venue is important to you and whether or not you do \u201cquite a bit of business with them.\u201d \u00a0As a Manager, the focus of all managerial decisions must be what is best for your artist, not you. Is the venue particularly prestigious or important to the artist? Is the fee is particularly large? Does the engagement offer your artist a particularly advantageous opportunity? Then it may be worth advising the artist to take the risk. Otherwise, the artist should decline the engagement.\u00a0The impact of the artist\u2019s decision on your own relationship with the venue, past or future, is beside the point.<\/p>\n If your ongoing relationship with the venue is more important to you than the relationship with your artist, then you should drop the artist. I have often heard Managers say that artists come and go, but venues are forever. However, I don\u2019t necessarily believe this. In my experience, if an artist is popular and in demand, and especially if an artistic director wants the artist, the presenter or venue won\u2019t care if the artist is represented by Satan himself.<\/p>\n _________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n For additional information and resources on this and other![\"GG_logo_for-facebook\"](\"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/GG_logo_for-facebook.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/a> legal, project management, and business issues for the performing arts, visit ggartslaw.com<\/a><\/p>\n