I found the easiest way to get a contract with your interview subject is to get an agreement on the phone. There is a contract and it’s called a Recording Release Form where someone signs the release form that gives you the right to the interview and you can have a contract and I’m sure if you Google search.
I just get an oral contract. You know, like I said, it is an understood thing that if I’m interviewing an expert they are in it for free promotion, potential product sales if I’m an affiliate. It is understood that I’m going to be distributing the interview and that I have the rights to do so.
But what you can do if you’re worried about it, before your big interview, right before you’re ready to do the interview I would say, “Hey, okay here is what we’re going to do, I’m recording now and you understand that I’m recording this call and that you agree that we’re going to do an interview and that I have all the rights to do whatever I want with the interview. I can sell it, I may want to create packages down the road, and I want to be able to put it on my site and other sites and to promote you. Is that alright? Is that okay with you?”
Then why would they say no? They are going to say, yes that’s fine. So you have that on a recording so you have a contract, an oral contract. I don’t know how solid it is if they ever came after you or wanted you to stop doing it. I think if they wanted you to take the interview down or stop using it you just stop doing it. I’ve never had a problem ever with this in all the years I’m doing it.
I did start doing a recording release but I thing contracts scare people and it was more of a hindrance so I don’t do them anymore. It’s an understood, implied agreement and then I will back it up on the master of the audio interview in voice that we have an agreement of what we are doing.
