6.0 Termination

6.1 Termination for Breach

In the case of a fixed long term contract both parties will usually have a contractual right of termination in certain carefully defined circumstances, e.g. if the other party is declared bankrupt or is convicted of an offence involving dishonesty or if the other party is incapacitated and unable to comply with his or her obligations due to illness or accident for an extended period. More controversially, the artist may require the right to terminate the contract in the event that the manager is in breach of any of the material terms of the agreement. This is dangerous from the manager’s point of view because it enables the artist to walk away from the contract arguing that he is entitled to do so because for whatever (perhaps spurious) reason the manager has not been performing his or her obligations properly. This has the effect of muddying the contractual waters so that the manager may be less inclined to sue for breach of contract.

6.2 KeyMan Clauses

In the case of a management contract with a management company rather than with an individual an artist will usually insist that the individual concerned must be named in the contract on the basis that if he or she ceases to be available then the artist is entitled to terminate.