Question on Collabs and Owning 100% Listing Requirements

[Razor7Music]

Hello--

This has probably been covered in previous posts, but being a noob, I'm not aware of it.

In just about every listing I've seen it says you have to own 100% of the rights, etc. What do you do when you have a piece that was written, by say two Taxi members? How do you submit that piece to a listing that requires you own it?

[AmandaAnderson]

Thank you Stephen for asking this - it's something I have been wanting to ask about.

I was thinking, like you, about Taxi collaborations. But what about say husband & wife teams where just 1 of the pair is the member (like Tony & I), and 1 writes the lyrics and 1 the music - which is what we do sometimes.

Looking forward to the answer

[Casey H]

Any co-writer can submit to a Taxi listing. The member must be one of the writers to submit.

As long as all the writers jointly own and control 100% of the rights (master, publishing, etc), no problem. They simply need to avoid the scenario whereby the rights to a track have been assigned in some way such that the writers can't readily sign a deal. For example, if a song had copyright assigned to a publisher, that would constitute NOT owning and controlling all the rights.

Casey

[AmandaAnderson]

Thank you very much Casey

So in the case where there are 2 people in collaboration, either one can sign off on a contract ? It doesn't require both signatures ? Or does it ?

Sorry for all the questions

Amanda

[Razor7Music]

Any co-writer can submit to a Taxi listing. The member must be one of the writers to submit.

As long as all the writers jointly own and control 100% of the rights (master, publishing, etc), no problem. They simply need to avoid the scenario whereby the rights to a track have been assigned in some way such that the writers can't readily sign a deal. For example, if a song had copyright assigned to a publisher, that would constitute NOT owning and controlling all the rights.

Casey

Got it. They just want to make sure no publisher or non-writer owns a part, or some situation where one of the writers isn't locatable to sign, etc.

[NathanNasby]

It's a very good business practice to have a collaboration agreement between artists in order to keep everything above board. There are a few online that I've downloaded and used for the collabs I've done. I have also done some collabs with just email agreements and that's fine too, though somewhat less legally concrete with no signatures etc.

As to who has signing authority and such a good collaboration agreement will list the rights that each collaborator has. Things such as royalty share %, ownership, artist names, PRO affiliate and registration #'s, Song title, Lyrics, each collaborators contribution, Signing privileges, incurred expenses allocation for promotions etc. are all items that are addressed and written up on a collaboration agreement. I know a couple ops that wouldn't accept a submission without all collaborators being signed with a PRO, and 1 where they wanted proof of a properly written collaboration agreement so there wouldn't be any licensing issues down the road.

I usually just bring up the collaboration agreement when I approach or someone or someone approaches me. If you are seriously going to chase down the ops not taking care of the business end of these collaborations can come back to bit you in the ass. Especially if there is a time constraint on submissions or getting the op agreements off to a supervisor.

Just a few things to consider.

[Razor7Music]

It's a very good business practice to have a collaboration agreement between artists in order to keep everything above board. There are a few online that I've downloaded and used for the collabs I've done. I have also done some collabs with just email agreements and that's fine too, though somewhat less legally concrete with no signatures etc.

As to who has signing authority and such a good collaboration agreement will list the rights that each collaborator has. Things such as royalty share %, ownership, artist names, PRO affiliate and registration #'s, Song title, Lyrics, each collaborators contribution, Signing privileges, incurred expenses allocation for promotions etc. are all items that are addressed and written up on a collaboration agreement. I know a couple ops that wouldn't accept a submission without all collaborators being signed with a PRO, and 1 where they wanted proof of a properly written collaboration agreement so there wouldn't be any licensing issues down the road.

I usually just bring up the collaboration agreement when I approach or someone or someone approaches me. If you are seriously going to chase down the ops not taking care of the business end of these collaborations can come back to bit you in the ass. Especially if there is a time constraint on submissions or getting the op agreements off to a supervisor.

Just a few things to consider.

Good to know. What do you suggest someone do if they have already copyrighted a song and then they want to bring in a collaborator?

[NathanNasby]

Good to know. What do you suggest someone do if they have already copyrighted a song and then they want to bring in a collaborator?

I'm not sure if all PRO's work the same, but as long as your song isn't licensed in a library or in a contract of some kind that prohibits changes, I would just go in and make changes through your PRO account. I know with SOCAN I can access any of my registered works and change any of the information (Song Title, Length, shareholders, percentage of royalties to shareholders etc.) It's easiest to have all this information in your PRO as when the royalties are paid to the PRO they will dispense it to each of the shareholders depending on their % share. I know I've had some instances where due to the circumstances of my collaborator being charged through their PRO to make any changes to a songs registration we just wrote up a contract that he would act as the publisher for the song and receive 100% of the royalties through his PRO and then send me my share of any royalties received. I wouldn't recommend this though and only did that myself because this is a personal friend who I trust very much.

I Suggest simply making changes to the song to accommodate any changes to the shareholders and % of royalties through your PRO and then the money will be dispensed properly from them. Also be sure to go through any of your online upload libraries and update any song credit information to include the new individuals contributions. Collaborators always appreciate credit, as that's often all they're getting for their work !

I hope that helps.