Comments on: Your studio as employer … or contractor?

By: Ryan Acosta

Ryan Acosta — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 17:46:48 +0000

I rent a space at a studio, and am granted autonomy for the most part. Teachers are required to log each lesson, and receive an invoice for rent at the end of each month. The owner of the studio recently demanded that I give her the names & phone numbers of each of my students in case of emergencies. She also said that failure to hand over my student contact info would result in mebeing pushed out of her studio. Is this legal? Also, should there be a lease agreement?

By: alanna

alanna — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 05:59:43 +0000

“there are some online services which are fairly inexpensive and can help you submit info electronically.”
recommendations?? feel like i’m pulling my hair out trying to find one that makes sense for our small studio.

By: Debbi Hutchins

Debbi Hutchins — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 17:34:16 +0000

I am looking at a contract – where I have to set up lessons and pay the studio 40% of my fees a month ahead of time – this does not seem right especially when just starting out – Thoughts? The contract also requires me to pay all taxes etc and states the 40% I am paying them is for overhead and services such as parking, rest rooms, snow removal etc. It also includes a non compete clause for during and a year following the contract with the studio. All of this sounds very restrictive and not very teacher friendly – Thoughts?

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 01:03:33 +0000

Hi,

Is it better to hire teachers as independent contractors or employees? meaning 1099 form vs taking taxes out of there pay.

I have one teacher say she needs to see if it’s worth it to her because of a 1099 form to be submitted in January. She’s worried she’d have to pay more than she makes.

By: Studio Helper Blog » Blog Archive » Grow Your Studio, part 3 — In Touch with Teachers

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 20:58:08 +0000

[…] Some studios choose to treat teachers as employees, with paychecks, tax withholding, and benefits such as contributions to health insurance. These benefits tend in and of themselves to build a stronger connection to your teachers than having them as independent contractors. For more on the employee/contractor issue, see the earlier post on this topic. […]

By: Ed Pearlman

Ed Pearlman — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:34:27 +0000

@Maria: I hope you’ve found some help in viewing sample contracts. There are links online for such things, too. For example, http://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/employment-contract will take you through all the steps of putting together an employment contract, so you have an idea of what might be involved. You have to pay $15 to get it completed for you but even if you don’t pay you can get a pretty good picture of some of the issues to think about. Or see http://public.getlegal.com/legal-info-center/hiring-process/employment-contract-and-benefits for some helpful information. The trick is that for music teachers you might not want as formal a contract as shown on some of these sites — it could be a little intimidating or off-putting for some teachers, so you might want to edit the contract down to essentials you care about, and write in plainer English. It’s a good idea to speak with your local chamber of commerce and the state agency in charge of labor to make sure you have a checklist of what’s required of you when you hire people. You could do more research on contracts; also there is software available that can give you all sorts of contracts you might want to use. Sometimes the most useful thing about these resources is that you get to see what employers think about when hiring people. Best of luck!

By: Maria

Maria — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:14:47 +0000

I am thinking of hiring some teachers and expanding my studio to a multi-teacher studio. I would like to view some contracts others have with their teachers to use as sort of a template for establishing my relationship to my teachers. If anyone is comfortable sharing that with me, I will send you my email.

By: epearlman

epearlman — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:52:15 +0000

@MusicLessonBusiness: Thank you for that comment; I have revised my post to include your idea, and mentioned that sometimes a contract is a good idea, just to make sure teachers and studio management understand each other. It’s good to have people initial or sign, not so much to hold them to a legal contract as to just make sure they’ve read your policies and expectations and are not making presumptions that don’t match your understandings.

By: MusicLessonBusiness.com

MusicLessonBusiness.com — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 04:59:08 +0000

Great article.

One thing that I would add is regardless of how you structure the relationship with the teachers in your studio, MAKE SURE THEY UNDERSTAND YOUR EXPECTATIONS