What to put in a music production contract
A contract isn't about distrust — it's about everyone agreeing on the same thing before money and music change hands. The biggest disputes in audio work come from fuzzy expectations, not bad intentions. A one-page agreement prevents almost all of them. (This is general guidance, not legal advice — get a lawyer for anything high-stakes.)
The clauses that matter
- Scope: exactly what you're delivering — how many songs, mix or master or both, stems or just the printed file.
- Price and payment terms: the total, the deposit, and when the balance is due.
- Revisions: how many rounds are included, and what additional rounds cost.
- Timeline: your turnaround, and what's expected from the client (files, references, feedback) to hit it.
- Rights and credit: who owns what on delivery, and how you'd like to be credited.
- Kill fee: what happens if the project is cancelled after you've started.
Tie payment to delivery
The cleanest contracts make the money and the music line up: a deposit to start, and the final file released on final payment. You don't need aggressive terms when the deliverable itself is the leverage — the client previews the work and unlocks the master when the invoice clears.
Most "difficult client" stories are really "undefined scope" stories. Write it down and most of them never happen.
Levels Flow lets you send a branded quote that captures scope and price, convert it to an invoice, and gate the final master behind payment — so the agreement and the delivery live in the same place.