I recently did an interview on Orlando Rodriguez. He is a Grammy award wining audio engineer and producer who is frequently negotiating contracts. He told me of a situation where he made a deal with a label to produce and mix a song. The song had to be done in exactly a week in order for him to receive his pay and to receive thirty five percent of royalties. Orlando began working on the song, but was falling behind schedule and was not sure to finish by the deadline. He knew of a friend who was an also an audio engineer who needed work. He quickly sat down with him and explained the situation. The friend agreed to help Orlando out with the agreement that he would receive fifteen percent of the royalties Orlando would receive plus a certain amount of money, which Orlando was going to receive when the job was done. Orlando knew that without his help, he would not finish the song in time and he would not be paid. Orlando was going to agree to his terms but pushed on to bring the deal more in his favor. He knew this song was going to generate a large amount of revenue in royalties and he knew his friend was in need of money. He proposed that he would not give royalties to him, but he would give him eighty percent of the money he would receive upfront. The engineer immediately agreed. Orlando was able to get the song done in time and receive his payment. This I believe is an example of mutual benefit. Orlando had to have the song done by the deadline to receive payment. He knew he would not have it in time so he hired his friend who was in need of money to help him out. Orlando was more interested in the royalties than the upfront money he was going to receive so he gave a larger amount of that money to his friend. At the end, everybody’s needs were met and they all had a mutual gain.
