A good influencer manager contract says exactly what the manager will do, which of your income it covers and whether that is exclusive, how long it runs and how it renews, what commission continues after it ends, who collects brand money and how quickly it reaches you, what happens if your named manager leaves, and how either side can walk away. Read each of those clauses against the checklist below, ask for specific changes in writing rather than verbal reassurance, and have a lawyer review anything exclusive or long-running before you sign.
Start with scope: what is actually being managed
Start with the services clause, because a vague one is hard to hold anyone to. If the contract says the manager will “manage the talent's career”, you have no way to show later that they failed to do something. List the services instead: pitching brands, negotiating fees and usage terms, reviewing brand contracts, scheduling deliverables, invoicing and chasing payment, and whatever else you agreed on the call.
Britain's rules for regulated agencies give a ready-made baseline that works well anywhere. GOV.UK's guide for entertainment and modelling agencies says written terms must cover the work-finding services provided, any authority to act on the worker's behalf, any authority to receive money for them, the fees and how they are paid, how fees are refunded, and the notice each side must give to end the contract. If your draft is silent on any of those, you have found your first edits.
Pay special attention to authority. A clause letting the manager sign brand contracts in your name means you can be bound to deliverables, usage rights and exclusivity you never saw. Ask for written approval of every deal before it is signed, and for any power of attorney to be limited, revocable and ended automatically at termination.
Exclusivity: exclusive for what, exactly
Exclusivity can mean that only this manager may represent you for brand partnerships, that every deal you do must run through them, or that they take commission on everything you earn. Those are very different bargains. Narrow it to the work the manager actually does, and carve out income they have no hand in, such as platform payouts, products you sell yourself and brands you worked with before signing.
Ask the conflict question too. A manager who also represents creators in your niche, or who is paid by brands to recruit creators, may be negotiating against your interests on some deals. Ask for written disclosure of any brand-side role and of every payment they receive in connection with your work. If a non-compete is proposed for after the contract ends, have a lawyer check whether it is enforceable where you live before you accept it.
Term, renewal and early exit
Check the start date, the end date and what happens in between. Automatic renewal is easy to miss: the contract rolls over unless you give notice inside a short window you will not remember a year later. Diary the notice date the day you sign, or ask for renewal to require both parties to opt in.
Australian creators have an extra protection if the manager uses a take-it-or-leave-it template. The ACCC's guidance on contracts and unfair contract terms explains that since 9 November 2023 it has been illegal to propose, use or rely on unfair terms in standard form contracts with small businesses, now defined as fewer than 100 employees or less than $10 million in annual turnover, for contracts made, renewed or varied from that date. A contract is presumed to be standard form unless the party that prepared it proves otherwise. Its examples of terms that may be unfair include ones that let only one party end the contract, or penalise only one party for ending it. Only a court decides whether a particular term is unfair, but a one-sided exit clause is worth challenging before you sign.
Commission and the post-term tail
The fee mechanics, from the commission base to sourced versus inbound deals, are covered in how much influencer managers take. On the contract itself, look at the defined terms. “Gross income”, “introduced deal”, “term” and “post-term period” are usually defined near the start, and those definitions decide what the commission clause really means.
For the tail, ask for four things: it applies only to deals signed during the term, it says plainly whether renewals and extensions count, it ends on a fixed date, and it falls away if you end the contract because the manager breached it. Without that last point, a manager who stops doing the work can still collect for years.
Payment flow and trust accounts
There are two common set-ups. In the first, brands pay you and the manager invoices you for commission, so your money never sits in someone else's account. In the second, the manager invoices the brand, receives the payment, deducts commission and passes on the rest. The second is convenient but carries more risk for you, so it needs firmer drafting.
Some places already set the rules. Under the NSW performer representative rules, money not passed on straight away must sit in a NSW trust account and reach the performer within 14 days of being received. California's Labor Code section 1700.25 requires a licensed talent agency to deposit artists' funds in a trust account and pay them out, less commission, within 30 days, subject to narrow exceptions. In Great Britain, regulation 25 of the 2003 Conduct Regulations requires agencies that receive money on behalf of people in listed entertainment and modelling occupations to use a client account, hold the money as trustee for no longer than ten days unless the worker asked for longer, and give a statement with each payment showing when and from whom it arrived, the work it relates to and every deduction.
Even where none of those rules applies, you can write the same protections into your contract: a separate client account, a payout deadline counted from the day the brand pays, a statement with every payment, and a right to see the brand contract and remittance behind any figure.
Key-person clauses, assignment and termination
You may sign with a company, but you chose a person. A key-person clause names the individual who will manage you and lets you end the contract, ideally without any tail, if that person leaves or stops handling your account. Pair it with an assignment clause that stops the company transferring your contract to another business without your written consent.
Termination needs two routes. Termination for cause should name serious failures, such as missed payouts or signing deals without approval, and give a short period to fix them. Termination without cause should be possible on reasonable notice for both sides. Then spell out the handover: pending deals, brand contacts made on your behalf, files, logins for any account in your name, and the final statement.
Clause-by-clause checklist with suggested asks
| Clause | What to look for | Suggested ask |
|---|---|---|
| Services | A general promise to manage your career | A numbered list of services, with response times you agreed on the call |
| Authority to sign | Power to bind you to brand contracts | Your written approval before any deal is signed; authority ends at termination |
| Exclusivity | Commission on every income stream you have | Exclusive for brand partnerships only, with listed carve-outs |
| Term and renewal | Automatic rollover with a narrow notice window | Renewal by mutual written agreement, or a reminder duty on the manager |
| Post-term commission | No end date, or commission on deals signed after you leave | Deals signed in the term only, a fixed end date, none after termination for breach |
| Payment flow | Brand money paid into the manager's business account | Direct payment to you, or a client account with a payout deadline |
| Statements and audit | Monthly summaries with no source documents | A statement per payment and a right to inspect brand contracts and remittances |
| Expenses | Open-ended costs deducted from your share | Prior written approval above a threshold you set, at cost, with receipts |
| Key person | No named manager, or freedom to reassign you | A named individual and a right to exit if they leave |
| Assignment | The manager can transfer the contract to anyone | No assignment without your written consent |
| Termination | Only the manager can end the contract early | Mutual notice rights, termination for cause with a cure period, a handover list |
| Name, image and content | Rights to use your name, likeness or content beyond the term | Use only to promote your deals during the term, with your approval |
| Disputes and governing law | A court or arbitration seat far from you | Your home jurisdiction, with mediation before any court step |
Questions to settle in writing before you sign
- Which person will run my account day to day, and what happens if they leave?
- Which of my income streams does the commission cover, and which are excluded?
- Who invoices brands, whose account receives payment, and how many days until it reaches me?
- Will I see every brand contract before it is signed and receive a copy afterwards?
- What exactly continues after the contract ends, and on what date does it stop?
- Do you receive any payment from brands, platforms or other agencies connected to my work?
- Which costs can be charged to me, and do they need my approval first?
- How do I end the contract if it is not working, and what notice do I give?
- Are you licensed or registered anywhere, and which law do you say governs this agreement?
- Will you put the answers to these questions into the contract itself?
If the manager calls themselves an agent, or says they will find you work, read the legal difference between influencer managers and talent agents before you send your redlines, because licensing rules can change which clauses are allowed.
Rules that may already protect you
In New South Wales, a manager charging above the fee caps needs an entertainment industry managerial agreement that is written, signed by both sides, fixes the fees and includes an additional fee acknowledgement. A cooling-off period ends at 5pm on the third business day after signing, and the representative must give you an information statement. In California, a licensed talent agency's contract form must be approved by the Labor Commissioner under Labor Code section 1700.23, and must state on its face that the agency is licensed. Check whether either applies before you negotiate, because a clause the law already overrides is not worth trading away anything to remove.
If money is already overdue under a contract you signed, the steps in getting unpaid fees back from an influencer agency start from the payment clauses discussed above.
Limitations of this checklist
This checklist covers mainstream creator management agreements and is general information, not legal advice. It cannot tell you whether a given clause is enforceable where you live, and the protections described apply only to particular regulated roles, contract types and places. Brand contracts you sign through a manager raise separate issues such as usage rights and deliverables. If you are reviewing an OnlyFans management agreement, use our OnlyFans agency contract checklist instead, because platform access and content control change the risks. For any contract with exclusivity, a long term or a tail, paying a lawyer to review it before you sign is cheap insurance.