Your first project deserves more than a handshake.

A feature agreement sets the terms before anyone steps in the booth. It covers the featured artist's credit on the record, whether they receive a flat fee or a percentage of royalties, how many revisions you can request, and what happens if the song gets licensed or placed. Without this, a feature artist can claim creative ownership or demand more money once the song gains traction. Lock it in before the session, not after.

When two artists collaborate as equals — co-writing, co-producing, or building a joint project — this agreement defines the terms from day one. It covers creative ownership, how decisions get made, what happens if one party wants to walk away, and how revenue gets split across streaming, sync, and licensing. Collaborations start with excitement and end with ambiguity. This document keeps the excitement and removes the ambiguity.

A split sheet records who contributed what to a composition — lyrics, melody, arrangement, top line — and the percentage of ownership each contributor holds. It gets signed in the session or immediately after, while everyone's in agreement. This is the foundational document of your publishing rights. Without a signed split sheet, disputes over songwriting credit can take years and thousands in legal fees to resolve — and that's if you even win.

If you're paying a producer, a mixing engineer, a session vocalist, or any other creative contributor a flat fee to work on your music, a work-for-hire agreement confirms that ownership of the finished work transfers to you. Without it, the contributor could argue they retain a stake in the composition or master recording. This document closes that gap cleanly — protecting both sides by making expectations explicit from the start.