Why rockstars demand that all the brown M&Ms be removed

[mattbell]

The legendary "no brown M&Ms" contract clause was indeed real, but the purported motivation for it was not. The M&Ms provision was included in Van Halen's contracts not as an act of caprice, but because it served a practical purpose: to provide an easy way of determining whether the technical specifications of the contract had been thoroughly read (and complied with).

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp

It's a useful tool for all kinds of contracts. If you want to spot-check compliance, sprinkle in a few random bits.

Comments

[funcrunch.livejournal.com]

Fun and useful info - I think I'll forward this to boyziggy (who deals with a lot of stage productions). Thanks!

[dixiemouse.livejournal.com]

yeah... have heard of such... in other contracts as well, not just entertainment riders ;)

tmbg

[catithat.livejournal.com]

This American Life featured this over the summer (citing snopes). A guy from They Might Be Giants said that his contracts start with "as soon as you read this, call me" for a similar reason.

Re: tmbg

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

That's how I learned about it!