Fair Agent Agreement definition

A fair agent agreement is an agreement made between an artist and an artist agent in regard to how the agent will go about gaining exposure for the artist’s work.  Some agreements are exclusive agreements – in other words, one agrees to work with only one particular agent.  Some agents desire an artist to sign an agency agreement that lasts up to three years.  This provides them the chance to market one’s work and start working on licenses agreements.  It is best not to sign an agreement longer than a year with an art agent unless one is interested in licensing one’s work.  This way if an agent does not perform his/her job to one’s tastes, one can then switch to another agent in a shorter amount of time.

A few key items that are important in a fair agent agreement are statements that allow any work loaned to the agent to be returned once the agreement ends, a description of the reservation of an artist’s right to end a licensing or sale agreement, a description of who will take on the cost of advertising and promotional materials and additional expenses, the amount the agent will be paid for up-coming transactions (like sales, licenses…) without the assistance of the agent, as well as provision of the rights of both parties to end the agreement.