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Need Advice: Splitting Rights Between Artist and a Contributor


CrownedMartyr

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I'm looking for some advice regarding a situation involving ownership/royalty percentages. I'm very new to music publishing and would greatly appreciate any feedback.

 

Background

​I wrote lyrics to a song and asked a friend if he would help me come up with some music for it. It was never stated that this would be "his" song or that he would ever claim any ownership rights to it. I was just asking for his input. We got together one day and over the course of an hour recorded a rough version of the song with his music. Afterwards, over the course of a year, I offered him the chance to get it professionally-recorded with me, but he never took me up on the offer.

 

​I recently got in contact with a producer in Nashville that was interested in recording my song. We spent a few days recording and substantial changes were made to the music in the song - the lyrics were not changed, and it is only my vocals on the track with musicians provided by the producer. In the words of my friend, "[the producer] shifted the feel of the song and changed 2 chords, cut the second half of the bridge, shifted a few melody lines." In addition to all of the hours I put into this song, I also paid $1500 + other expenses for the recording.

 

When I returned home and finally received the finished track, my friend showed excitement and wanted to hear it, so I sent him the track. When I went to upload it to ASCAP, I asked for his information so I could list him as a cowriter. He proceeded to tell me that he would upload it to his BMI and give me 50% of the royalties. I have registered it with both ASCAP and the US Copyright Office.

 

​I have been advised by my producer, as well as other friends who have produced music, that he should not be able to claim any ownership rights to the song.

 

My Question

​How is something like this typically handled?

Would anyone who contributes to a song receive ownership rights?

He has since told me that he is going to upload it to his BMI anyways. If he shouldn't be claiming rights to it - what actions should I take?

 

​Even if there is no exact answer, I'd really appreciate it if anyone could at least point me in the right direction. Thank you.

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Got a lawyer? Get one!

 

 

Okay, this is my non-legally binding take on this situation: your former friend, hence referred to as 'litigant' :facepalm:, wrote the music/melody to the original version of the song. Now the music/melody has been changed, but the crux of the issue is the MELODY. Copyright law is very straight forward. Absent a copyright on the version you and 'litigant' wrote originally, he really is going to have a tough job convincing a court of law these are the same melodies, since he admitted the melody was changed. Arrangements are not copyright-able, except as form SR [sound recording ] which was not filed on the original version he contributed to, right?

Who is on the copyright filing?

Who filed the published version?

If the work is not the one he worked on, he maybe is entitled to a minor interest [as a co-writer], his percentage though has to be determined. If he is a minority contributor, he does not have any right to file this with BMI under his membership as his work per se...unless stipulated as such in a contract, which obviously, you do not have.:wave:

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This is a common problem (the BMI/ASCAP thing) I know several songwriters who have a spppouse or significant other who belongs to the rival rights organization just so they can co-write with whomever they want. I know a few famous dogs and other pets who regularly get songwriting credits. However, I'm with Daddymack on this one. It sounds like the song was changed substantially. If the melody is differernt, it's all yours

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First go to the Library of congress copyright site and register. Registration is free. Once you register you can download the information packet that spells out all the details and all the different ways to file a copyright.

 

Note* Once a song is recorded it "is" copywritten. (Something I didn't know before I downloaded and read the information)

 

Registering a copyright* Gives your lawyer legal weight in court to win a suit. No more no less. If you didn't sign a contract with the guy and register, neither of you have any legal right to anything. You both have an earlier recording and he can get a settlement is there's any money worth collecting. He would need to pay for a lawyer of course and sue you. You would have to do the same.

 

Even if it was registered, it is not a guarantee others will honor it. You have thousands of bands out there using other peoples music who never pay a dime for the use of that music. Why? because the bands who wrote the music cant possibly afford to hire a lawyer and sue every band copying their music.

 

My advice is, since you wrote the music together, just forget it at this point. Write new music that doesn't involves others and you can claim all the rights to it. Either that or pay someone up front to write the music and make sure they sign off on it up front. They know there's no guarantee any song will be a hit. Music alone doesn't sell itself. Artists record promote songs to make them popular. They don't get there on their own. I wouldn't worry about him uploading it either.

 

BMI is not a copyright office, its a music distribution site. You can sue him for uploading it without your permission. Not that you'd want to. Chances of that song making a dime is less likely then you winning the lottery. It just isn't going to be magically discovered by the masses and make you a star. Unless you have an extremely popular touring act, no one is going to have a clue its even on the site. People don't just go on line and aimlessly sift through unknown artists. If they did I'd be a mega millionaire with all the music I've written in the past 50 years.

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