So you’re thinking about starting a podcast in 2023 but you want to make sure that you do everything correctly do you know how many agreements you need if you’re planning on starting a podcast? do you know what type of agreement you need?
If let’s say you bring on a co-host, do you know what type of agreement you need if you want to bring on a guest to your podcast maybe you want to even bring somebody in to help you edit your podcast well in this blogpost, we are going to cover a couple of different contracts that are going to serve you well if your goal in 2023 is to start a podcast so before I dive into the three most crucial types of podcast contracts that you want to have I do want you to take note of this one very important issue and that is think about whether or not you want to be owning the content that you’re creating?
So I know that this sounds like an obvious answer like, yes of course I want to own the content that I am creating but if you have a producer, say for example then you might not be owning the content if you haven’t signed the proper agreement as the podcast host or the person who actually is creating the content, so just to give you an example you know Jeff Lewis is on Sirius XM and he creates his content but he is not the owner of his content.
Sirius XM owns his content so I posed this question to you because uh you know if you’re not in that situation where you have somebody producing your content then maybe you don’t have to worry about it if you are your own producer you’re the one creating the content and you’re the one you know distributing the content then good for you then you’re more than likely going to own the content but let’s say you bring on a co-host this is where I want to start talking about the issues that could become greater problems in your podcasting Journey
If you’re not careful about how you start out so number one let’s say you want to bring on a co-host let’s say I Marcella have a podcast which I do you can check it out right here the am show for entrepreneurs it stands for ambitious and motivated but let’s say I wanted to bring on a co-host or somebody else to create you know the content for me somebody who’s going to interview the guest so that I don’t have to do it well I would definitely want an agreement that outlines how much the host is getting paid when they’re going to get paid perhaps I want to you know narrow the scope of the types of questions that they can ask and I also want to make sure that even though they’ve created it I still own the content right but maybe you know the person that I hire is going to want to own the content well we are going to have a big issue if we don’t settle that from the get-go
So if you want to make sure that you have the right contract make sure you scroll down into the description before leaving this blogpost but make sure you stay for tip number two and tip number three contrast that with a situation where maybe I just want to bring on a friend to co-host with me let’s say you know I have seen this done with you know the bachelor for example you know some of the contestants have gone on to start podcasts right and then so in the future they’ll have a co-host and that co-host will be one of the newer Bachelorette contestants.
So in this situation it’s not necessarily that you are producing and then you’re bringing on a brand new host it’s just that you’re having somebody co-host with you and if that is the case you want to make sure that you also have a co-host agreement so there we go we’ve already touched on two issues and we’re not even five minutes into this video and so this is just to highlight the importance of having the proper contracts if you are starting a podcast soon now very very very important is the podcast guest release form now I personally love having guests on my podcast so if you go back and you listen to the episodes I have people that I thought were pretty cool guests Jason Pfeiffer the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine.
I also had the founder of cool house ice cream, the ice cream brand so you know when I have guests on it’s important that I have a guest release form why well one of the more important reasons for wanting a podcast guest release form is you want to make sure that you are entitled to using all of the IP in the manner that you choose.
So if you don’t have an agreement it is possible that a pass guest can come on and say I don’t like the way you did this, why did you do this? did you include this? you know I actually own this? you don’t and so you don’t want to have any of those issues because like I said it can just create a lot of obstacles hurdles and it can definitely ruin a friendship or a business relationship and that is perhaps part of the reason why you start this podcast in the beginning right is so that you can improve business relationships not only with your guests but with your community at large and so you want to make sure that you set a good example by you know presenting all of the contracts having them sign them and then executing on your content.
Now that your content is all created perhaps you want somebody who’s going to edit the content for you it is too much for you to be a lawyer and to also have a podcast and then to also edit the podcast so maybe you want to bring on a podcast editor an audio editor perhaps you have it on video as well so you want to have a contract between you and the person editing your content you want to make sure that they are very very clear on what it is that they are to do with your content you want to make sure that they you know perhaps keep it at a certain length they want to know how much they’re getting paid they’re not doing this for free.
If your podcast is being released at a certain day and a certain time every week, every month then you want to make sure that they comply with the deadlines as well those are all items that you can include in the contracts with your editor now this also begs the question, how do I protect the title of my podcast?
Well, if you want to know how trademarks are involved in this entire process make sure to check out that video right there which I touch on in a much more specific Manner and how it relates to your podcast title and making sure that you’re not creating any kind of infringement issues with the new title that you have chosen for your brand new podcast.
And to our bonus, I wasn’t planning on doing a bonus but here we go so what if you are somebody that has already started a podcast you’ve already started to bring on guests you’ve already brought on an editor but you haven’t given anybody any type type of contract what do you do?
Do you feel like you’re going to be unprofessional or like you’re going to ruffle a couple of feathers by giving contracts to somebody who is not expecting them ? and you’re already you know halfway through your journey or you know you’re you plan on continuing this journey but you’re afraid that you might be perceived in a bad light?
Well, you can always start off the conversation in a positive light, I’ve enjoyed having you you know I love the content that you’ve been contributing this is what my audience had to say in response to you know your tips and your tricks and this is how you’ve inspired them and you can say we’ve grown so much and we want to have a positive relationship not only with our audience one that is professional but we also want to have a positive relationship with everybody behind the scenes and that means having our legal ducks in a row.
So if that is the case for you, you can’t be embarrassed you can’t be shy because this is the Empire that you are creating for yourself or for a bigger company or for your family you have major goals here and in order for you to execute on those goals you have to make sure that you’re creating layers of legal protection.
Now, if it’s hard for you to wrap your head around this type of situation, or for you to Envision it just think of the top values of the world the Grant Cardones, the Bradleys, the Amy Porter Fields, all of these people have established podcasts and let me ask you a question do you think that they’re continuing their work? their business journey and their podcast episodes without having crossed their T’s and dotted their eyes?
I think not, I hope this video inspires you to think about the mistakes that podcast hosts make and that aspiring entrepreneurs make because it’s very easy to deflect and to say well I don’t need that right now because you know so and so is a good person it’s very easy to brush off your legal needs like I don’t need that right now because this guest is really amazing, my podcast co-host is really great they would never do anything to jeopardize my situation or I know my content belongs to me because I’m actually speaking it well unfortunately in the law it goes a little bit beyond that and sometimes we need to have things in writing now.
Conclusion
If this episode was helpful don’t forget to catch that podcasting video right there because I created it especially for you podcasters out there that need help with their trademarking issues and again scroll down into the description below if there are any agreements that you need for your podcast agreement because guess what they are not expensive scroll down into the description and there you can find what you may need and if there’s something missing send me an email it’s always free to to do so and I’d be more than happy to include whatever it is that your podcast requires.