Terms and conditions

Quotes

Every job is quoted individually. A quote states the scope, the fee, what is delivered and the delivery date, and holds for 30 days.

Deposit and payment

Work is scheduled when a deposit of 50% of the quoted fee is received, and the balance falls due on delivery. Scores, parts, and files are released once the balance is paid.

Invoices are payable within 30 days. Late payment on a business account carries interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, at 8% above the Bank of England base rate plus the fixed sum the Act sets for the size of the debt. I would always rather send a reminder than an invoice for interest.

I am not registered for VAT, so none is added. A quoted fee is the fee.

Delivery

Work is delivered electronically: PDF score and parts, and where agreed MusicXML and a playback render. Printed materials are not supplied unless separately agreed.

Revisions

One round of revisions is included. It covers the piece not yet being right against the brief you gave me: balance, voicing, a tempo that does not sit, a line that is awkward for the player who has to play it.

A change of brief is different work, and I will quote for it before starting. Deciding after delivery that a piece should be for other forces, in another style, or at another length is a new job rather than a correction, and a transposition of more than a third is one for the same reason: the writing changes, not only the key. Further rounds are quoted before they begin.

Ownership and copyright

Commissions

I keep the copyright in music I write. That is where the law starts: the composer is the first owner of copyright in a commissioned work unless it is assigned in writing, and nothing here assigns it.

What a commission buys is the first performance. You have the right to give or promote the première, provided it takes place by the date we agree; after that date I am free to arrange a first performance elsewhere. If you want a period of exclusive performance beyond the première, ask at the quote stage, because it is one of the things that shapes the fee.

I remain free to offer the work for publication. I assert my right to be identified as the composer under Part II of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and you will be credited as the commissioner on copies of the full score. I warrant that music I write for you is my own original work and that I am free to agree to write it.

Delivery as PDF is not a licence to copy without limit. The files are licensed for the performances we agree and for the copies the players and the conductor need to give them. Copying for a later performance, another ensemble, or a hire library is a separate agreement, and one I am glad to make.

Transcription and arranging

Transcribing or arranging music that is still in copyright needs the rights holder's permission, and obtaining it is the client's responsibility. I will say what is likely to be needed. I cannot grant it, and I do not carry the cost or the risk of it being refused.

I make no claim over music I did not write. The engraving is supplied for your use.

Credit

Tell me how you want to be credited in programmes and on recordings and I will match it. Where the music is mine I ask to be credited as its composer, and on an arrangement or a transcription both names belong in the programme.

Cancellation

If you cancel after work has begun, the deposit is not returned. It stands for time already committed and for the work turned away to keep the slot. Where a job is cancelled well into the writing, I will invoice for the proportion completed and send you what exists of it.

If I cannot deliver by the date we agreed, we can set a new date in writing, or you can withdraw and I will return the deposit in full. Missing a date is my problem to carry, not yours to pay for.

Performing materials

Perusal scores are supplied for assessment only and may not be used in performance. Performance materials are supplied on hire or purchase; terms are given on request.

Law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.