Originally posted by Sammy1 on Mon 25 Apr, 2022
Hi Sammy1
Thanks for reaching out with you questions!
Regarding legal value or compliance questions, I would say that you would have to consult with a lawyer in your country to get answers on that. ProCollabs is pretty global in its membership, so one of the challenges you will definitely have in collaboration is this issue of what is really legally binding, and probably more important, what is enforceable. In other words, my answers are an opinion, and your lawyer (and other members) may tell you differently :)
Does a collaboration agreement have any legal value? I would say, probably, yes. It is an agreement that is assumed to be accepted by all parties involved in the project. You have at least some evidence of that with the fact that it is shared within the project, and you know that members who have joined the project have been required to digitially agree to it when adding anything to the project. On the flip side, I would say it is not a very strong contract legally, not least because, if ProCollabs was to dissapear tomorrow, then you would be left with no documented evidence at all.
If you are looking for a contract that is more airtight, then you would probably want to have a lawyer draft the agreement and have all parties physically (or digitally) sign.
The Collaboration Agreements on ProCollabs are more designed to help ensure that all participants are on the same page, and to avoid disputes at the end of the project.
Similarly, and perhaps more importantly for your question, when a project is being completed, all participants must agree and sign off on the song's coprights (publishing and master). Again, the record is held by ProCollabs only, but if you want to take the extra step, the splitsheet is available to download and print, so that you can collect signatures from all parties as needed.
Regarding knowing if a member in the project is who they say they are, then no, you don't really know. When joining ProCollabs, we do a very basic check, where we try to make sure that it is a real person who is joining the site, and not a spammer. It is not 100% foolproof, and someone who has the intention to get onto the site could manipulate that check and successfully become a member.
For an additional level of confidence, a member who wants other's to know that they are (probably) real can do a verification check. You will see this in their profile, with the green tick that says "Account Verified". This check is basically done by the member either paying for membership, or making a small payment so that they are required to use a PayPal account to make a payment, and therefore less likely to be bluffing. It still doesn't mean that you, or we, necessarily know who they are, but it is just an extra level that can be helpful to garner some trust.
Like anything, there is a fair amount of trust needed when it comes to collaborating on an international level on a public website. Occassionally you will find a bad apple! But talking from my own experience, the benefits far out weigh the risks. What we normally recommend to new comers is, take your time. Get involved by listening, posting comments and feedback on other people's projects, and start getting to know people,maybe even make friends! You will quickly see those who appear, post a project and dissapear, or do not respond to messages and learn to avoid them; while those who are here to collaborate and make some serious music will start to stand out.
Hope that helps!
