What are the red flags in a music management contract?
The five that matter: any upfront or monthly fee, a term longer than about three years with no performance-based exit, a perpetual or near-perpetual sunset clause, commission on income from deals you signed before they arrived, and a power of attorney letting them sign on your behalf. Any one of them is worth walking away over if they won't move.
1. They want money up front
A manager who charges a retainer, a signing fee or a development fee is paid whether or not you succeed. That removes the only structural guarantee an artist has. Real management is commission-only, at 15–20% of gross. Nothing else on this list matters if this one is present — just leave.
2. A long term with no way out
Multi-year terms are normal. Multi-year terms with no performance conditions are not. A reasonable agreement lets you leave if agreed benchmarks aren't met — income thresholds, a deal secured, a defined level of activity — or gives you a clean termination right after an initial period.
Watch for options that let the manager extend unilaterally. An agreement where only one side can decide to continue is not a partnership.
3. A sunset clause that never sets
When you part ways the manager should keep commissioning deals made during the term, at a declining rate, for a bounded period — commonly stepping down over roughly two to five years. That is fair; they built those deals.
The red flag is a sunset that runs forever, or one that reaches deals signed after they're gone. Read this clause first. It's the one that costs former clients the most and the one nobody thinks about while signing.
4. Commission on everything, including what came before
A manager should not commission income from contracts signed before they arrived, or from work they had nothing to do with. Ask for carve-outs: pre-existing deals, publishing where they aren't involved, and any catalogue that predates the relationship.
Also confirm exactly which streams are commissionable and whether it's gross or net. Gross is standard, but which expenses come off the top before the calculation is negotiable, and worth negotiating.
5. Power of attorney
Some agreements grant the manager authority to sign contracts, incur expenses or handle money on your behalf. Narrow this hard. Routine approvals below a low dollar threshold are fine; the ability to bind you to a recording agreement is not.
Related: your money should not flow through the manager's account. Income should go to you or to a business manager, with commission paid out — not collected by the manager and remitted at their discretion.
The thing that prevents all five
Have an entertainment lawyer read it before you sign. This costs a few hundred to a couple of thousand and is the highest-return money an early-career artist spends. A manager who discourages you from getting independent legal advice has answered every question you had about them.
Common follow-ups
- How long should a music management contract be?
- One to three years is typical for a first agreement, ideally with performance benchmarks that let you exit if the manager doesn't deliver. Longer terms aren't automatically bad if the exit conditions are real, but a long term plus no benchmarks plus a unilateral option is a bad deal.
- Should I sign a management contract without a lawyer?
- No. A management agreement determines a percentage of your income for years and often keeps applying after the relationship ends. An entertainment lawyer reading it is cheap relative to what a bad sunset clause costs.
- Can I get out of a bad management contract?
- Sometimes — through a termination clause, a breach by the manager, or negotiated settlement, and in some jurisdictions rules on unlicensed booking activity can affect enforceability. It's specialist territory, and it is much more expensive than getting the contract right at the start. Talk to an entertainment lawyer.