Solution: What to Do to Prevent Non-Paying Clients

This excerpt was originally posted in my old and now defunct blog on January 12, 2008. It’s pretty much a waste to let the idea vanish with the death of said blog so here it is again with additional musings (original post in italics):

Recently, there was a thread started in IndieGamer.com about a non-paying client. Basically, the musician felt that he was not being paid for the work done while the client felt that the work was for sampling only and was not to be paid for. What interested me was not who was right or wrong but what the solution would be to prevent something like this from happening again in future.

Several people voiced their opinions on this including communicating better, signing a contract and paying fees in advance or incrementally. Personally, I think the best way to go is for the musician to send protected music to the client initially and only giving the full, unprotected piece upon receipt of payment. This way, the client may listen to the piece and the musician still has control over his work. If the deal falls through and the client does not want the ordered music, the musician can sell those pieces to another client or as royalty-free works.

Aside from music, this can be said for other contracted work as well. For example, for Pixel Petunia, it would be in my best interest to either,

a) crop or resize images from their original size and essentially show a thumbnail
b) show a pixelated version of your graphic
c) place visual watermarks such as an opaque title of your site or name, or
d) all of the above or a combination thereof

If you’d rather not deal with these hassles, as a precaution you can just state before working with the person that all images presented are owned by yourself until payment is received and will then be licensed or owned by the client. Should the client use the images anyways, it will be a copyright violation and steps will be taken (i.e. warning the client or any business entities the client will deal with such as portals, web hosting provider, etc.).

With that said, it all basically boils down to communication. Each party should point out their expectations from the beginning, leaving nothing to assumptions. Personally, I’d be wary of a person that’s withholding information or their lack of communication such as late replies (unless they have a valid reason and it isn’t something that happens multiple times). Try the best you can to cover all your bases because in the end, your dealings with another person can make or break you. Who knows, maybe your “dirty laundry” will be aired out publicly too.