Need a contract for studio sessions? (lost files issue)

[LiveMusic]

I have not heard of having a contract with a studio in the Nashville recording scene but surely it has been done and I'm a nobody. What comes to mind is... what if the studio, somehow, loses or screws up the session files beyond repair prior to their delivery to the artist? It would be the studio's fault, obviously, but if you don't have a written contract, could you make a claim for damages (costs of the session, including all the players)? For a small artist, this would be severe loss.

Regarding this issue, have you ever heard of somebody losing/destroying the files like this?

Also regarding this, do most/any studios have redundancy built into the recording process? I know they have backups after the files are written but is there redundancy such that the files are being written to two hard drives?

[DupleMeter]

You’ll never get a studio to sign off on that. In fact, most studios (including the one i manage) claim no responsibility for files & put the onus of storage & backup on you. The basic deal: you don’t own the files/ recordings until they are paid for in full, so if something did happen, they aren’t yours yet. Once you pay for them, you are 100% responsible for storage & backup. So if something happens once you own them, they’re your responsibility.

Digital files are pretty sturdy. I’d spend your energy prepping for the session, not worrying about file management. And, bring a hard drive with you for your files.

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

You’ll never get a studio to sign off on that. In fact, most studios (including the one i manage) claim no responsibility for files & put the onus of storage & backup on you. The basic deal: you don’t own the files/ recordings until they are paid for in full, so if something did happen, they aren’t yours yet. Once you pay for them, you are 100% responsible for storage & backup. So if something happens once you own them, they’re your responsibility.

Digital files are pretty sturdy. I’d spend your energy prepping for the session, not worrying about file management. And, bring a hard drive with you for your files.

The OP says the studio lost or screwed up the files before the artist got them. If that is accurate the studio would certainly be responsible.

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by runamuck

The OP says the studio lost or screwed up the files before the artist got them. If that is accurate the studio would certainly be responsible.

Right. And it’s covered in my response.

If you never paid, you never owned the files.

If you did pay, it was your responsibility to insure they were backed up.

Believe me, the lawyers cover the bases.

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

Right. And it’s covered in my response.

If you never paid, you never owned the files.

If you did pay, it was your responsibility to insure they were backed up.

Believe me, the lawyers cover the bases.

What if you have paid up front but the files were never delivered?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

I have not heard of having a contract with a studio in the Nashville recording scene but surely it has been done and I'm a nobody. What comes to mind is... what if the studio, somehow, loses or screws up the session files beyond repair prior to their delivery to the artist? It would be the studio's fault, obviously, but if you don't have a written contract, could you make a claim for damages (costs of the session, including all the players)? For a small artist, this would be severe loss.

Regarding this issue, have you ever heard of somebody losing/destroying the files like this?

Also regarding this, do most/any studios have redundancy built into the recording process? I know they have backups after the files are written but is there redundancy such that the files are being written to two hard drives?

First I am not a lawyer or a studio owner
So with that in mind

First given you have posed what appears to be a before the fact hypothetical ?you might want to disclose some more detailed info

Like:
#1 are you actually planning a trip to Nashville to record ?
#2 are your songs county ? If not what about a local studio ?
#2 if so, are you planning on recording demos, or a full set of finished songs to be ready for mastering and or release ?



If one of the former I can only relate my single Nashville recording experience

I recorded 4 demos in a studio just north of Nashville proper

There was no written contract so legally it would be considered a verbal contract , if there were some kind of issue.. But there wasn't

We spent 2 hours on 4 songs
I paid the 3 session players immediately after recording, in cash $100 per hour
so $600 for that .

I was actually trading finish carpentry work on the studio for the studio and owner/engineer time... The studio owner was the recording/mixing engineer and also played bass
So-No money exchanged hands for those services ..

I had sung scratch vocals during the 4 sessions which was done live style with everyone playing at the same time to my vocals
I had to leave right after the recording session and came back the next morning
to dub in the finished vocals. We then did the finish mix for all the tracks. He then cut a data CD of the finished PT session files as well as an MP3 -to- CD to give me and also put them in his separate backup files location.

I do not know if he was recording to two different drives or not

Seems to me though if you are considering going to Nashville perhaps the best bet would be to call around to some studio's and ask them these questions

[Bob Womack]

On the question of dual backup, that will vary from studio to studio. Many went through a phase of mirror-image RAIDs at one point but I think many discovered that management of the RAID slowed down the performance of the collective virtual drive. At the studio where I work we once used RAIDS but have since gone to extremely fast solid state drives with automated backups and do manual session backups to at the end of the session. Our automated backups go to a second drive in the same case and our manual backups go to a NAS (Network Attached Storage) with a managed RAID.

Bob

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by runamuck

What if you have paid up front but the files were never delivered?

It was likely your responsibility to ask for the files. You can check the studio policies, but knowing from experience from dealing with this for my studio & talking with my lawyer...once clearly laid out, there is little wiggle room on the onus of responsibility. The problem comes when it becomes an "archive", e.g. the studio is holding onto the files because you didn't take them. Almost no studio has a policy that says they will archive your sessions, and has all kinds of wording to indemnify them of any responsibility if they are holding onto your files while they wait for you to take them.

I think the one scenario you have a solid case in is if you finished the session, then immediately asked for the files & they said "oops, they're FUBAR".

The sad fact is that we live it a litigious society, so any studio is putting the burden of backups & file corruption squarely on the renter/artist. It sucks, and I know I go above and beyond to make several copies of everything to avoid disaster.

Now, in 30 years of doing this, I've lost more tape than digital files. The tape was gone forever, the files I had backups of. Almost no one paid for extra tape to make safety copies. Of course, no one expected the tape to go bad either (sticky shed), but who knows how they were storing them. Once you hand over tape you just have to assume they get stored properly.

So, all that said, I do find it odd that no backup was made. Because, regardless of the policy, every engineer I know makes a quick backup for clients to make sure they can deliver the files. Not delivering is a great way to lose a customer.

Was this a small/independent/one man studio or an established commercial facility? It just seems odd & I have thoughts about another scenario that may have played out & now they're covering themselves.