Unpublished co-authored works

[Chris White]

Thanks to everyone who answered my last question about self publishing.

Here is another question: say I have co-written a song with another artist and made a recording of it. I then want to respond to a Taxi opportunity. I know I own the recording because the performances are mine or have been done as works for hire.

However, since the song is unpublished and co-authored it seems I will also need to get some additional agreement from my co-writer. Maybe something that says I can use my recording to generate licensing and sync revenues? After that all the normal publishing stuff applies I guess.

My sense is that it is difficult to work with Taxi opportunities if I have unpublished co-authored works.

Chris

[davewalton]

A simple co-writing agreement would solve the problem... each person has the right to market and submit that track to opportunities. If/when a deal comes along, most times each person will then have to sign off on the final contract.

Of course you can submit without an "official" co-writing agreement... you won't be arrested or anything. But... it's a good habit to get into, the habit of putting the agreement on paper so that if anything *does* go bad (some kind of fallout) that you both have the pre-agreed details on paper. I think you can do a Google search and find some good co-writer agreements. I have one too that's a generic. I'll dig it up and see if I can post it or send it to you via PM.