Music/lyrics/production split

[patpal]

Hello. I’m new here in the forum and I would appreciate your input on this issue. I’ve been trying to find these answers in music business books, magazines, but I haven’t been able to find anything very clear on this subject.

When you write the music for a song, you write the arrangement and reproduce the instruments with samples, hire a vocalist, comp the vocals, then mix and master it, in other words you do everything to make it sound “Broadcast Quality”, except writing the lyrics and singing and you then license the song for Film and TV with a music library. How do you split the performance royalties with the songwriter who wrote the lyrics? Do you split 50/50? Shouldn’t it be two thirds for songwriter who wrote the music and produced the track and one third for the lyricist?
Also, does the vocalist have a right to receive performance royalties? Or do you hire her/him as “work for hire”.
Thank you,
patpal
www.taxi.com/patricia_alvarez

[mojobone]

Split is usually fifty-fifty; this is so because historically, the music writer simply wrote the music and the publisher paid for arranging, music copying and recording the demo. Of course, you can do the split however you like, given that you can get your co-writer to agree, heh. Unless you pay the singer and get a work for hire agreement from him/her, (and any other performers on the track) they may be entitled to performance royalties. If you are co-writing with an artist who has a major deal, like Katy Perry or Ke$ha, fifty percent is more than plenty. It's pretty common nowadays for producers to get half, even if they didn't write a lick, so I guess it all evens out.

[T&V Marino]

Yes, the split is almost always equal among everyone (melody, chords, lyrics). Usually, the producer is a buy-out (paid a flat fee) unless there is a substantial contribution to the song. But that needs to be understood among the parties involved upfront.

So, the splits would be: 50% for two people involved (lyricist and the music/melody/chord writer); 33% if there are three people (lyricist, music/producer/chord writer, melody writer or any combination of the three); 25% for four people, etc. In Nashville it's done this way and there's even an old expression that goes, "Write a word, get a 1/3!"

But there are exceptions. The most common exception is in hip hop/rap music. We've seen splits that look like this, for example: 25% goes to the rapper, 40% is for the beat master/maker (usually he/she gets the biggest cut!), 15% is for the verse lyrics, 20% for the chorus/verse lyrics writer, or any combination. And we've seen as many as 20 writers on ONE hip hop song. It's crazy! The splits get even more complicated when there are samples (sound bytes, snippets or hooks) of existing songs.

The MOST important thing to remember is this: before you write anything with anyone, always have a signed and dated agreement in writing. You can find examples by Googling "Songwriter Agreements." You would not believe how many co-writing relationships have been ruined because this step was ignored, forgotten, or done "in good faith."

Keep writing,

~ Tracey & Vance

[patpal]

Thank you Mojobone and Tracy & Vance for your replies. I read that producers were getting songwriter credits but on books and everywhere else, that it was 50/50 for lyricist and music writer.
I’m writing a dance track, and what didn’t seem fair to me is that the lyric writer would get half, when I’ve been working months on this track, and that’s not even considering the investment in studio equipment, synths and knowledge in producing and mixing.
So if I understand right, if both songwriters hire and pay a producer, then the splits would be 50/50, but if one of them (me) writes the music, arrangement and produces and brings a substantial contribution to the song, then it’s fair to split a third and two thirds.
I always have the vocalist sign a release agreement but this is the first time I co-write a song with someone, she’s not a lyricist but a friend who writes very well, and I wasn’t even thinking in signing a songwriter agreement with her, but I’ll do now. Thank you for your advice.
Thank you,
Patricia

[jonathanm]

As stated above, the split can be whatever the parties agree on.

While it is good to consider that you've put in a large amount of work on the track, and therefore might deserve a larger share, you also have to consider the value of the other contribution(s).

For instance, if you wrote and produced a great track, but the lyrics make the song, that could balance things out. You have to ask yourself what value to the buying public the lyrics have in the song, regardless of effort expended. If you've got a great set of lyrics that give you a real chance at significant income, it would be foolish to fail to strike a deal just because the lyricist wants an even split. With dance tracks, lyrics are not typically as important as in other genres, but a great lyrical hook still can significantly increase a track's marketability.

$0.02

Good luck!

Jonathan

[patpal]

Thanks Jonathan for your input. You’re right, what’s more important is the contribution to the song and not the time spent on it. That’s why I think that not only in hip-hop, but in pop and dance songs, producers probably receive a large share, because the songs wouldn’t be really good without the music hooks, which could contribute to the success of the track more than what lyrics could. Even if the lyrics are really good as you say, good music hooks have to be worth a lot in those styles. That’s what I think, but I didn’t know how if it’s usually split like that, or even legal.
Thanks,
Patricia

[rnrmachine]

Hey Patrica,

If I had done all the work you said you are doing and a vocalist/lyricist was working with me I wouldn't want a 50/50 split either.

UNLESS... The trouble is, in the past, a lot of people got paid flat fees/hourly rate for their work. You are doing all that flat fee type work yourself. SO, you could make an agreement with the singer/lyricist that you should be paid a certain amount to cover these fees... to recoup your time lost. It would be a completely FAIR offer... considering if you two had paid to go into a studio to do this you'd expect your partner to cover half the cost if she/he is gonna reap half the reward... right?!!

All of these would be separate costs in the past. Recording... mixing... producing... mastering. Not counting in musicians since you didn't mention you had a 3rd party. And if you are using all MIDI generated sounds/samples then recording is limited to the vocals. So that fee shouldn't/wouldn't be too much.

Good Luck!!

Rob

[patpal]

Thanks Rob. What you say makes more sense for most styles, but would you pay Tiesto a flat fee? I’m not Tiesto, but still, I think the splits in dance songs are more comparable to the splits in hip hop/rap, like the scenario stated above by Tracy and Vance.

[davewalton]

I think it's really more potential problems to do uneven splits. At last year's Taxi Rally, Jeff Steele (huge Country songwriter... tons of hits for many artists) talked about that. When they're doing songwriting sessions, if the guy bringing the coffee makes a suggestion that makes it into the song... he gets an even split with whoever else is in there already. They don't really sweat those details, they just all work together for the common cause (getting their music in albums and on the airwaves). It does make sense... no squabbling or anything. They just focus on writing great songs (however that gets done).

I just prefer to do even splits when both parties are contributing creatively. It could be their little 5-second riff that really makes the song or catches the ear of a library, publisher or label. And... being easy to work with is something that always pays off eventually.

[matto]

Patricia,

I can understand why you would be unhappy with a 50/50 split under the circumstances. However I think you are lumping together two different things: the Song itself, in other words the "composition" as it would appear in a lead sheet (melody, lyrics and chords) and the Master, the "sound recording", the thing you can listen to and which you worked so hard on.

Although it's technically permissible to have a split other than 50/50 on the song, equal shares are the standard that most professionals stick to.

However, if you and the singer are the only people who worked on the master, then the two of you would own that master, and the lyricist wouldn't. And if your singer signed a work for hire release, then you would be the sole owner of that master (assuming nobody else participated on the recording).

How could that come into play?

Well there are basically three types of income your song/master could potentially generate: Performance royalties when your song airs on radio or tv, synchronization license fees when a song is licensed to film/tv/advertising etc, and mechanical royalties from the sale of "physical product", i.e. CDs or paid downloads.

In the US, performance royalties are paid only to the songwriter/composer/lyricist. NOT to performers or for recordings (which is also why your singer would never be entitled to a share of performance royalties even if (s)he didn't sign a work for hire release). So assuming a 50/50 writer split, both you and the lyricist would collect equal shares of airplay royalties.
The sync license fees are customarily thought to be half for the song itself, and half for the master. Sometimes this is even spelled out in the license. So in this case you would collect 75% of those license fees, since you are a 100% owner of the master and 50% owner of the song.
For mechanicals, as the producer of the master you are entitled to "points", i.e. a certain percentage of those mechanicals (which producers have traditionally participate in). So, you would collect a negotiable percentage of the sale price of every copy sold before you split the remainder with your co-writer.

So as you can see, there are legitimate ways by which you can get paid for your efforts without resorting to a non-standard songwriters split.
Of course all of this should be agreed upon in writing.

All that being said, I usually produce all the songs I write, and I normally still split everything 50/50 with my lyricists, despite the fact that I do the bulk of the work. But in the early days of mt professional career I did have uneven master splits since I was depending on every penny I legitimately earned from my efforts.
You would be entirely within your rights asking for a larger percentage of license fees and mechanicals in this situation, but I would agree with everybody else that it's best to keep the songwriter's split at 50/50.

HTH,

matto