Jim Hefner, President
Herb Henry, 1st Vice President
Katye Hefner, Interim Treasurer
Marcelle Slaughter, 2nd Vice President
Edna Wright, Secretary
Gary Young, Membership Chairman
Kenneth Wilson & Lane Reed, General Counsel

P. O. Box 2594
Albertville, AL  35950-2594
(256) 891-2930 

To: SGPA Members

For sometime now the officers and members of SGPA have insisted that we have more control over our contracts. That being the case, I spoke with our legal counsels about this situation and the following is the recommendation.

“After discussions with Jim Hefner concerning promoters/artists contracts, as general counsel to the SGPA, I would advise before signing contracts in the future some serious consideration be given to the addition of some provisions that will protect the parties due to the dire economic situation we are all in at this time. Kenneth Wilson”

Contrary to the beliefs of some in our industry, Mr. Wilson is not advising us to refuse to sign contracts, he is simply saying to look at the possibilities and situations that we could face in the coming year. As everyone knows our economy is weak nationwide. It could be much better in 2010, but it also could be much worse. He is only stating what any good counsel would advise and that is “don’t get in a situation that could destroy you financially”. In other words, do not get yourself caught with a handful of contracts that you are locked into with no avenue of escape if, in fact, the economy does worsen.

For most of this year promoters have faired much better than in recent years. Money is still being lost, but in lesser amounts. I would like to see this trend continue. The contract that we currently sign has several paragraphs which tell us what we can and cannot do. How much that we are to guarantee the artist and, in some cases, insist that we pay for lodging - and we live with that because that is the way it has always been - fair or not.

But the paragraph that I want you to look at, and that also caught Mr. Wilson’s attention, is the paragraph that allows the artist to break the contract if something unavoidable arises. Hey, we do not even have a problem with that! After all no one should be penalized for something beyond their control.

We, as promoters, want nothing more than the same clause protecting us. Just like the clause that allows the artist an out if something beyond their control arises, we want the same clause allowing the promoters a way out if something beyond our control arises. A nationwide depression would be out of our control - right?

The artists have had this clause for years. Now, we are asking for one. We are not asking for any changes as to what we agree to do in the contract. When we sign a contract we agree to a complete page of “dos and don’ts”. We are only asking for one concession. I am a country boy and I believe that what is “fair for the goose is fair for the gander”. Again, we are only requesting one concession.

If this is all about ministry, as we all claim it is, then I am sure everyone involved will believe that this is more than fair.

I fully believe that this one clause should be in future contracts. This will be the main topic on our agenda at NQC. That is only two months away and I believe any contract would not suffer if not signed until then. However, if everyone in our industry is in agreement with us, then this is a non-issue. I would appreciate your response.

Jim Hefner