I strongly recommended that you have a real contract from a lawyer if you’re investing money in an artist, whether as a producer or to put that individual’s material out on a record. If your goal is to get a deal for the artist you’re working with, you must have a formal contract or you may stand to lose if you do hook up the deal. IF you act as middleman for the artist, you’ll need that person locked up in writing with you if you want your fair place in the deal. I’ve had too many of my students call me crying that they’d taken the artist into the studio and the artist left them afterwards because there was no contract. No contract, no profit! Get in writing.
