What if someone defaults on a contract?

Something that comes up quite often in the music industry, especially for bands who are just starting out is the refusal to pay. The situation would be something like, a club owner said he would pay you $400 to play one night. Your band does so, but at the end of the night he says they didn't make enough money so you only get $50. Many bands will wonder if there is a way to fix this problem. The quick fix is to go back to the contract. If there is something in there that says your pay is determined by the earnings of the club, then the club owner might be right, but if it simply states that the club owner will pay you, then you should be entitled to the entire amount and you can take legal action.

But what if you don't have a written contract? Obviously your first step will be to be very insistent about getting what you are owed. You will almost want to be annoying. Chances are you aren't going to play for that club anyway if they aren't going to pay, so you don't have to worry a whole lot about burning bridges. Whether the club owner ends up paying you or not, still ensure that you tell others (in the music industry especially) the problems that you had. A club functions solely on the ability to get people in the door, if they can't then they can't operate. Make sure that the owner knows of your intentions to do this. The more pressure you apply to the owner, the more likely he will be to pay.

What if he still doesn't pay? You can always head for an attorney's office. The downside to this is you will end up paying a fee for the attorney, so you may end up spending more on the attorney than you are going to make from the club owner. That said, it would only make sense if the club owes you a very large sum of money.

Another legal venue you can take is small claims court or filing a complaint with the clerk's office. The complaint itself should be very short and to the point. Basically state the date and what the agreed terms were, then that the club refused to abide by them. After filing the complaint you will have to start on the lawsuit. Each local court is slightly different, so your particular clerk's office should be able to walk you through the steps necessary to complete the lawsuit. In the end you will have to bring the lawsuit to the club owner yourself. This will also include a court date. When you appear in court you will want to bring anything with you that was connected to that night. Especially any contracts or written agreement that was made. Normally these cases are short and to the point and the judge will simply hear the stories from each side and make a ruling. Evidence of your case will help tremendously, but those rules are a little less strict than in large court case.

You can see that forming a contract with any club owner or venue or almost anyone that you deal with on a professional level in the music industry will simply make things easier for you later. Now, that doesn't mean that some people will still try to not pay you for your work, it just means that when they do you have a bit more leverage and proof of what they promised you. The contract will work both way though, don't think that your band won't be required to do a few things to fulfill its end of the contract. Normally this includes the amount of time or songs that will be played, and some owners will require that the establishment makes a certain amount of money before the band gets much of anything. Each contract is different, but make sure that you have one that you agree to follow the terms of.