A work-for-hire agreement is an agreement in which an entity or person commissions, or hires a musician to create music for a certain production or album. Typically, the entity or person doing the commissioning will control all of the rights and own all of the income streams related to that piece of music, except that the writer retains the writer’s share. However, all terms are negotiable and each agreement is unique, so songwriters should always have a lawyer look over any Work for Hire agreements.