Having your own podcast is extremely fun and exciting, and if you're anything like me, you want to protect your podcast legally, so your producer can not take your podcast away from you or hurt your podcast in any way. As a lawyer myself who drafts contracts for podcasters like you, I am giving you the crucial elements your podcast agreement must have when working with a producer or production company.
You will learn about this podcast agreement form, including the applicable podcast contract law for your podcast production agreement.
After learning about this podcast agreement, you can confidently work with your producer, knowing that your podcast is safe and can not be taken away from you.
This post is all about the essentials every podcast agreement with a producer needs for podcasters to protect their podcasts.
Three essential legal elements must be covered by any podcast agreement you conclude with anyone you work with in your podcasting business, which I have listed below:
Now that you know the essential elements every podcast agreement needs, let's dive into what elements are crucial for the podcast production agreement.
1. Responsibilities & deliverables
The relationship with every podcast producer, whether an individual producer or a production company, varies from podcast to podcast. Some producers take care of everything, from the actual recording and creation to the editing, to guest research and scheduling, to the distribution. Some provide promotion and marketing materials, and others even take care of the podcaster's marketing and promotion. So, the role of a podcast producer can be as limited or broad as you see fit. That means you have to be very clear on the producer's tasks. Here are some examples of the different tasks, responsibilities and deliverables that may or may not be allocated to the producer:
These are all questions you must be able to answer and set out in your podcast agreement with the producer.
2. Ownership rights
The ownership rights are the most crucial aspect of your podcast agreement with the producer. If you have not made any arrangements or have not adequately described the ownership rights in your podcast production agreement, that could lead to the producer becoming co-owner of your podcast. Depending on what the responsibilities of the producer are, you could even be regarded by the court as being merely the host of the podcast, and the producer is the full owner of the podcast. That's a scary thought, isn't it?!
That is why it is crucial to specify in your podcast agreement that you are and become the owner of all the intellectual property rights attached to:
3. Factual control
Factual control is another critical factor you need to get right in your podcast agreement and in practice! What I mean by "factual control" is having actual access to all the different platforms on which the podcast is published, like Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube.
It happens way too often that producers create accounts for the podcasters, and the podcasters never receive access to the accounts of their own podcasts and don't know the username or password to those accounts.
Do NOT let the producer create an account for you OR give them your login information, and definitely do not agree on that in the podcast production agreement.
The relationship between podcaster and producer may end for whatever reason. The collaboration did not go as either party had envisioned. You found another producer. You have a falling out. Or, perhaps, the producer suddenly ends up in an accident or becomes very ill. It could be due to multiple different reasons. What if, due to any such event, the producer will not give you the information you need to access your accounts to distribute your podcast? Then, you are in some deep trouble. It does not happen too often, but it does happen now and again, often enough for you to take the proper measures to keep your podcast safe.
Avoid that by simply creating these accounts yourself and giving the producer the permissions the producer needs within your account to publish the episodes on those platforms. This should also be clearly stated in your podcast agreement.
4. Costs
You also need to be upfront about and insert in your podcast agreement what costs are involved and who carries which costs.
You will likely purchase your own podcasting equipment, and you pay for that equipment yourself. However, when it comes to the music for your intro and outro or that you use as background music, who arranges that? What are the costs for the proper licenses for that music? Who carries those costs?
If you are using software to collaborate, such as frame.io (if the podcast is recorded on video), then specify the software's costs and who carries those costs. Maybe the costs are included in the monthly fee you pay to the producer, but specify in the podcast agreement that those costs are included in the price in that case.
In addition, include a statement that the producer carries any other costs the producer makes, so the producer can't surprise you with any (hidden) fees.
5. Indemnities for IP infringements
Suppose the producer is responsible for choosing and adding music and sound effects to the podcast episodes. In that case, the producer should have the proper licenses to use the music and sound effects without infringing on anyone's copyrights. That is the producer's responsibility. And then, it's vital to have an indemnity in your podcast agreement stating that the producer will indemnify you for any third-party claims related to IP infringements on the music or sound effects used.
The same goes for any other content that the producer creates for you, such as the show notes, any visuals the producer provides to add to the video recording or even the marketing material.
The producer is supposed to help you save time and make money with your podcast, which should be shown in your podcast production agreement.
All these essential elements are to protect your podcast, your ownership rights to that podcast, and your income so that you can focus on the creation and growth of your podcast with your producer!
The podcast agreement we just discussed is a podcast production agreement, but many other podcast legal documents are involved when running a podcast. Here are some examples of a podcast agreement form:
If you want to know about the core podcast legal documents you need for your podcast, read this blog post on the 5 Must-Have Podcast Contracts Every Professional Podcaster Needs .
I create and sell contracts for creators, including podcasters like you, in my contract shop. You can find every contract agreement you need, such as the Podcast Sponsorship Agreement and the Podcast Guest Agreement, but also the complete Podcaster Bundle, which includes the Podcast Production Agreement!
If you want to learn about the other essential podcast legal documents you need as a podcaster, read this blog post on the 5 Must-Have Podcast Contracts Every Professional Podcaster Needs .
If you want to learn more about the podcast guest agreement, read this blog post on the 9 Key Elements Every Podcast Guest Contract Should Have .
