Sponsorship

Sponsorship Lawyers London

Sponsorship lawyers London tips on sponsorship and sponsorship agreements for musicians.

Sponsorship Lawyers London and Sponsorship Agreements

Our previous article on sponsorship agreements considered them generally, but this article is about sponsorship agreements relating to musicians.(IP Protection) For sponsorship agreements generally please learn more at: Sponsorship Agreements

Sponsorship lawyers London and the difference between sponsorship and merchandising

Basically sponsorship is someone paying you to sell their products. There lies the major difference with merchandising which is usually the exploitation and marketing of your own brand. Sponsorship is about getting paid to help someone else sell their goods or services.

Creative Control

Creative control is very important in sponsorship agreements. Most artists are quite wary of sponsorship. This is quite understandable since most artists don’t want to be censored or to come across as too commercial. After all most artists cherish their artistic freedom, and sponsorship may well affect artistic expression. Many artists turn down sponsorship opportunities including TV ads for other brands’ products.

However artists will try to get a sponsor or several sponsors for a tour that range from mobile phone network providers to cosmetic companies. For example, Motorola Mobility sponsored Justin Bieber’s “believe” tour; and Virgin Mobile sponsored Lady Gaga’s “Monster Ball tour”.

Sponsorship doesn’t always have to be at the end of the scale where every single aspect of the tour has sponsors attached to it. It could be very low key, with say drums or guitars provided by the sponsors.

Agent

Although many artists approach sponsors themselves and some are approached by sponsors, most artists engage a sponsorship agent. Which requires a separate sponsorship agent agreement.

Scope

The scope of the sponsorship deal is important. Often the deal will be just for a particular tour, or even just one leg of it for example European or Asian. Or it could be for a particular event, perhaps a televised gig or product launch appearance.

Other aspects to consider will be:

* Consents and approvals
* Exclusivity
* Venue considerations
* Payment – it should be clear as to how the much the sponsor will pay you and when.
* Termination

Conclusion

It is a good idea to try to get a lawyer to advise on sponsorship agreements for the reasons above and a number of other issues that have not been covered above.

If you like this article then you will like our article on:

Sponsorship Agreement Lawyers

To book a face to face consultation for commercial legal advice you should contact a specialist Sponsorship Agreement Lawyer (charge rates may apply and may vary).