9 Key Elements Every Podcast Guest Contract Should Have
Want to know which crucial elements you should have included in your podcast guest contract? These are the essentials for both hosts and guests.
Having a guest or being a guest on a podcast is very exciting, but if you're anything like me, you are researching everything you need to ensure you have everything you need in your podcast guest contract to protect yourself legally. As a lawyer myself who drafts contracts for both podcast hosts and guests, I am giving you the breakdown of the crucial elements that your contract needs, whether you are the host or the guest.
You will learn about all the necessary provisions for your podcast guest contract, also called a podcast guest form, to ensure you have everything you need, whether using a paid podcast guest contract template or a free podcast agreement template.
After learning about all these elements and what is essential, you will be a pro and fully equipped to protect yourself.
This post is all about the essential elements every podcast guest contract needs for podcasters and guests.
Essential Podcast Guest Contract
Podcast Guest Form
Here is the breakdown of all the elements you need in your podcast guest contract.
1. Consent to be recorded
Whether or not the applicable law of your state or country permits recording a conversation (that you are a part of), you still need your guest's consent to record the guest's voice (and image if you are also recording on video). Your guest has certain privacy/publicity rights that you would infringe on if you were to make the recording public on your podcast (or any other platform). So, you need to get your guest's explicit consent, which you should have included in your podcast guest contract.
I explain in more detail why you need the consent of your guest in this blog post: 3 Key Reasons Every Podcaster And Guest Must Have This Essential Podcast Contract.
2. Ownership rights
In my blog post on the key reasons why you need a podcast guest form, I explain in more detail the copyrights involved in a podcast recording.
But, essentially and in general (as, of course, it depends on the situation at hand), both the podcaster and the guest own copyrights to the contents of the recording, while the podcaster owns the copyrights to the recording itself.
Ultimately, in the case of a podcast recording, copyrights give you the right to:
determine if someone may use it;
determine how someone may use it;
determine if and how to edit it; and
have it deleted or edited if it's already been published.
If you are the podcaster, it would be more in your favour if the guest assigns the guest's rights to you instead of licensing them to you. When rights are assigned to you, you become the owner of those rights, and you have the freedom to do what you want with the recording. This freedom does have its limits, though, as you can't use your guest's voice or image solely to disparage them or cause other harm on purpose.
However, if you have a license to the guest's rights, you can still make that license as broad or narrow as you like. You can basically create the same freedoms as would be the case you were assigned those rights. However, the guest remains the owner of those rights, and the guest can still limit those rights. You need to specify each and every right you have under the license, which makes it a bit more complicated.
Likely, you will use other materials and information from the guest, like the guest's name, logo, biography, or, perhaps, a freebie for the listeners. These materials and information will be licensed to you (as you should not become the owner of such materials/information). Regardless of whether the guest's rights contained in the content of the recording will be assigned or licensed to you, you will need to specify in your contract that the guest gives the podcaster the license to use those materials.
If you are the guest, giving a license to your rights would be more in your favour instead of assigning them to the podcaster. That way, you have more control over what the podcaster does with your voice. However, if the podcaster has paid you to be on the podcast, then it may be reasonable to assign the rights (depending on how much you get paid and the publicity you may get, of course).
In any case, make sure that it is clearly stated in the contract whether the copyrights and rights of publicity are licensed or assigned.
3. (Limitations of) use & edits
This is the part you must pay the closest attention to, especially if the (copy)rights are not assigned but licensed out.
Obviously, the podcaster will use the recording as a podcast episode. However, (and this happens more often than not now, as people have become clever with repurposing content) the recording may also be on video. And, speaking of repurposing, as both the podcaster and the guest, you want to have a mutual understanding of what each party may use the (audio or video) recording for. Is the other party allowed to use (parts of the recording) for social media? You likely want them to promote the podcast episode. So, you want to allow the other party to use the recording on different platforms and be able to edit the recording.
But then, for what purposes? Because you do not want them to use the recording in a way that could be confusing or even upsetting to the audience if it's taken out of context.
Does the other party need prior approval from the other party before posting part of the recording? You probably want to avoid asking permission because it's annoying to ask permission, so neither party will create (as much) content with that recording as they otherwise would. But you want to ensure that you have the right to tell the other party to take a post down if it has a negative effect on you, so you need to specify in the podcast guest contract what is considered a "negative effect." You need to have specified what is regarded as a "negative effect" in your podcast guest contract template.
I have witnessed a lot (whether it be a podcast recording, YouTube collab, or Zoom webinar) that the content is (later) repurposed for paid platforms, like Patreon, the paid membership area of YouTube, and online courses. Thus the podcaster is gaining financially from the recording, while the guest has not been and will not be paid and was not aware that the podcaster would use the recording for financial gain. So, in the podcast guest contract, you need to clarify that that is not allowed (unless you have agreed to it and are getting compensated for it, which you should also specify in the contract).
I go into this in more detail in this blog post: 3 Key Reasons Every Podcaster And Guest Must Have This Essential Podcast Contract.
4. Release from liability
The contract needs to include a provision that releases the podcaster from damages and liability for using the guest's voice, name, image, likeness, etc. (in accordance with the podcast guest contract).
The same release from liability should apply to the guest, as the guest will use the host's voice, name, image, likeness, etc., at least for promoting the podcast episode on the guest's social media.
5. Disclaimers
Listeners of the podcast can do crazy things, like make a claim against the podcaster or the guest for whatever the listener has chosen to do based on whatever is said on a podcast.
Regardless of whether you are the host or the guest, you don't want anyone to make a claim against you for something that someone else has said.
Therefore you should have a provision in your contract that protects you against claims from not only the listeners but the other participants in the recording as well. As the guest, you also want to clarify that nothing you say during the recording may be construed as (professional, legal, financial, etc.) advice.
6. Who, what, when, where & how
When you are going to record a podcast, different logistics come with it, like:
the place and medium of recording (online or in-person? Zoom or another recording platform?),
who exactly will be interviewed if it concerns a company you're contracting with,
what and how the guest will need to prepare for the recording (like a quiet space if the recording is done remotely, a good microphone, good lighting if the recording is also on video, etc.),
how many minutes the host and guest will meet before the actual recording (to ensure everything works properly) and thereafter (to discuss how the interview went, if the podcaster needs to edit anything out, etc.).
7. Obligations to publish & promote
If you are a podcaster, you want the freedom to publish the recording on your podcast. Or not! What if the conversation/interview went terribly? What if the guest says something controversial or hurtful (during the recording or anywhere else), and you do not want to be associated with the guest anymore? You want the option not to air the recording in those cases and get paid back any payments already made to the guest.
As the guest, you want to ensure you receive any payments you made to the host for being on the podcast back if the podcaster decides not to air the recording on the podcast. And, if you have paid to be a guest on the podcast and your episode has been published, you want to make sure you receive (part of) your payment back if it is removed one week later.
Both parties will want to have listeners and attract people to their business, so you might agree that the guest and host make promotional videos or posts on social media. Make sure to include such agreements in your contract, so it's an actual obligation.
8. (No) payments
You need to specify in the contract for both the guest and the host whether they receive any payments. Yes, sometimes people pay to be a guest on a podcast too. If either party gets paid, such payment will often be a fixed fee or lump sum. Make sure to specify that this fee includes all payments and that no additional payments, like royalties for licenses, are paid or will ever be paid. If no one gets paid, make sure to specify that and that no payments will be made in the future, either. Why? Because, even if it is clear that no payments will be made at the time of recording or publishment thereof, they can always come back to you later.
Do not underestimate how often people suddenly show up at your door for money when your "little" podcast or your "small" business suddenly becomes huge. You want to avoid that from ever happening. This also happens when someone dies, and the heirs want to receive payments for that podcast episode.
Make sure to also explicitly state in the contract that each party carries its own costs of the recording, so it's clear that the guest pays for his/her/their microphone and headphones, for example. Or, if the podcast recording is in-person, then it's clear that the guest has to pay for his/her/their travel costs.
9. Information rights
Suppose the podcaster will publish the recording on a paid membership platform to which the guest has no access. The platform may be a membership area on the podcaster's website, Patreon or a paid membership area on the YouTube channel of the podcaster. In that case, the guest may want access to it, so the guest can monitor whether the recording is being made available in accordance with what they have agreed to (and within those limits). Or, the guest may want to keep track of the performance of the recording on that platform.
If you are the guest, make sure to include in the contract that the podcaster will give you access to the platform (without any cost to you) whenever you request access.
Free Podcast Agreement Template
You can find a free podcast agreement template online. However, often it is a simple consent & release form or guest release form template, so it only contains elements 1, (maybe) 2, and 4.
However, it's better to have some of these crucial elements than non at all.
Podcast Guest Contract Template
If you are looking for a podcast guest contract template, I sell it in my contract shop! You can find this specific contract on this page.
Are you not sure how to present a podcaster or guest with a podcast guest contract? Do you feel awkward about it? I have written about how to do it less awkwardly in this blog post: 3 Key Reasons Every Podcaster And Guest Must Have This Essential Podcast Contract.
Podcast Legal Documents
The podcast guest contract is just one of the podcast contracts you need if you are a podcaster.
You can learn more about other podcast legal documents you need as a podcaster in this blog post: 5 Must-Have Podcast Contracts Every Professional Podcaster Needs.
This post was all about the essential elements every podcast guest contract needs for guests and podcasters
You can learn more about why you need a podcast guest contract here: 3 Key Reasons Every Podcaster And Guest Must Have This Essential Podcast Contract.
You can get your legal podcast bundle (which includes the podcast guest contract template AND all the podcast legal documents you need as a podcaster) here!
You can get the podcast guest contract template separately here!
