Anyone who thinks they can perfectly define a genre is most likely wrong, because genres to me seems like an ever evolving structure or set of conventions that is constantly being influenced by the environment it pertains to. The music industry has seen as much change to its overall profit model as any industry in the past decade. From the day Sean Fanning invented Napster in his dorm room record companies have been in a constant scramble to attempt to preserve their position as the ones controlling the distribution of popular music, and therefore the ones who benefit the most financially. As the attempt to control free trading of music has failed to maintain sales revenues, record companies and musicians have seen that revenue from live performances has become more crucial than ever. This has likely lead to changes and more importance being placed on the use of proper booking agreements and performance contracts, along with other aspects of the music industry.
A music contract can be very powerful and often times dictate in which ways a musical artist’s career can go. For my essay I would like to focus directly on the use of performance contracts, or booking agreements, which are often formed between an artist and venue, or for larger productions an artist and a live music producer, such as Live Nation. Maria La France and Brett Trout do a great job of discussing the important elements of a booking agreement. At the beginning of her article, titled “Performance Contracts” Maria states “It never hurts to review and improve even a contract you've been using for years.” I like that she wants the reader to be aware of potential changes and how they affect contracts, but think that there should be more importance placed on this. You could go as far as saying that with the evolving importance being placed on revenues from live performances that you should constantly be evaluating your booking agreements and looking for ways to improve them.
In general, booking agreements contain mostly formal types of writing, with hardly any emotion, and are straight to the point. The content is the most meaningful aspect, and the less amount of time and space it takes to cover the content the better. When it comes to establishing authority, neither the artist nor the venue want to feel as if they are being undermined and don’t have an equal say, which is why it seems to me that there is an attempt in booking agreements to avoid placing authority on either party. Instead it is a mutual agreement in which both parties participate and will benefit from. Since neither party wants to feel undermined or left out it is essential that the details of the agreement are stated as clearly as possible. This is likely why Maria suggests that as the first part of the contract you establish a definition of the performance, in which you “Provide a clear yet concise description of the nature of the performance, including minimum length, set breaks, and anything else unique to the performance (1-3 sentences is fine).” She then suggests you follow this with an establishment of the date and time of the performance. These first two aspects are incredibly crucial, because many disagreements stem from a lack of establishment of these details, and the agreement is sure to hold a lot stronger if both parties understand and agree to these details. In the sample booking agreement I have been going over, which was provided online through a company named the ISP Group, they list date and time of a performance as the first elements of the contract, following the listing of the names of the parties involved. I think it is no coincidence that the multiple examples I have sifted through have chosen to place emphasis on location, date, and time of the performance. It is likely common in most contracts regarding employment for an event that the most crucial information comes first and foremost so as to establish the authority of the contract itself.
Earlier I discussed that since a booking agreement is a mutual contract; neither party is given authority over the situation. The authority is in turn given to the contract, that both parties must follow the contract once signed, and if not may in turn face consequences. I don’t believe that contracts either require a great amount or employ Ethos in their establishment of power. Most Ethos that is used is through the fact that contracts, which can vary greatly depending on the situation, share some common language and style. The use of the style repeatedly establishes authority in the contract. Examples of this include the use of the word “this”, in example “THIS CONTRACT, entered into on this __th day of ________, 199_, is for the personal services of the Musician(s) for the performance described below.” By speaking about itself in this manner, the contract is establishing its power and importance and taking it away from either party.
It’s tough to find any concrete usage of Pathos within a record contract, since it tough for an inanimate object to project emotion. It seems as if booking agreements may purposely avoid the use of emotion, in order to better come across as a professional document. The use of logos is not very prevalent either. Most times convincing a certain party of something is not the priority of a booking agreement. One instance in which I detect the use of logos, could be in an additional terms section of a contract, in which a band may prefer a certain pre-show requirement such as a type of food, which they may then try and convince the venue of its importance in helping put on a sufficient performance. Alternatively, a venue may attempt to persuade a band to enter into agreement with them by providing details in a contract on what amenities they usually provide for the musicians, and how this will benefit them going forward. Overall a booking agreement attempts to maintain its formality and authority, which forces the partaking parties to take the agreement serious, and understand that upon signing the contract they are obligated to follow its stipulations.
It is interesting to look at the way a booking agreement forms a relationship between an artist and the venue or party they are going into agreement with. Bawarshi stated, “Our interactions with others and with our environments, therefore, are always already mediated not only by physical contexts but also by rhetorical contexts which, as I mentioned earlier, are ideologically and discursively embodied and reproduced by genres.”(p.72) There are two parts to this quote I would like to address. The first is that our relations with others are mediated by our physical contexts. Physical contexts can certainly play a role in mediating a relationship when it comes to signing a booking agreement. If a certain venue is much more prominent than the band entering into agreement with them, then they would have more leverage and bargaining power, allowing them to use their physical presence to influence the contract and the artist. An artist may be intimidated by a certain party and think it has a lesser role in the negation stages than it is actually capable of, and may allow the physical environment to dictate the relationship between the two parties.
In addressing the second aspect of this quote, that our interactions are mediated by rhetorical contexts, which are embodied and reproduced by genres. The genre of a music contract, or more specifically a booking agreement, tries to lend itself to open and equal interaction between the two parties involved. This is done through the straight forward and mostly emotionless nature of the writing in a booking agreement. This is of course in contrast to the possibilities I raised of the way physical contexts can influence the interaction and relationship. These two conflicting aspects, which play a role in influencing the genre of music contracts, can be attributed to overall change in atmosphere that has been taking place in the music industry over the last decade or so.
Music venues, and more so big time record labels and music producers, have always tried to be in the position of power when it comes to bargaining. They have always attempted to prove how artists could not survive without them, and this still comes across in the physical nature of the relationship which I spoke about earlier. The language of a booking agreement, however, has lent itself to the notion that the two parties are in fact equal, and can mutually benefit from each other, and that neither has power over the other. This is of course following trend with the overall developments that have taken place in the last decade in which artists want to take power away from the major record labels and music companies. One could say that as the music industry has been facing dramatic changes to its overall business model, so too has the genre of music contracts, and specifically booking agreements.
These changes in rhetoric and genre have been leaning towards taking power away from the major record labels, and evening the playing field for both artists and the parties they go into agreement with. There are still gaps or flaws in the system that need to be addressed, and hopefully future changes will reflect these needs as the change in the booking agreement has reflected the needs and desires of musicians. 
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