Cowriting & "You must own or control 100% of your master..."

[johncolumbo]

Hey Guys,

This seems like a stupid question, but I have to ask...
If I've co-written a song that I want to pitch to Taxi... how does the statement "You must own or control 100% of your master and copyright" apply?

My situation is that I have a good friend and very talented folk artist that I've produced and we have a 50/50 deal. He is currently not a member of taxi (yet), but we're wanting to pitch to some opportunities. Would the above stipulation in a listing disqualify us from that particular listing?

Sorry if my question is not very clear.

Thanks for your help,
John

[andygabrys]

Casey and others will likely tune up my answer......

but to me this means that you could in short notice sign off on the song, meaning actually legally sign a license.

Its generally accepted that you can pitch stuff through TAXI as long as you have part of the writers share, but you can't pitch a song for a friend who doesn't want to sign up if you don't own any part of the song.

so if its you and a co-writer (TAXI or not), in most cases that means you have the entire writers shares between you and also own the publishing. one stop sign off if a client wants to use that tune.

It would be a different story if you had already placed the song in a library or with a publisher, then the library / publisher would have to get involved. And some contracts don't even allow you to pitch material on your own to film / tv.

does that make sense?

[shellsings]

Ok. So if you are splitting 50/50 then make a contract that states such and that you either control the masters or you both control it and allow each other to pitch. Any contact you get from a forward, both of you are gonna have to sign anyway because you are both writers on the song. You just want to make sure that it's ok with your partner to pitch and that you or both of you control the masters. Sometimes people will get a song produced and the person who produced it controls the master or wants to control it. This is something you need to work out with them. If you pay someone for production then get them to sign a work for hire that releases all control of the masters to you. Be in control ! Lol. Does that make sense?

[johncolumbo]

Thanks Shell and Andy...
So, from what I gather, the 100% of master and copyright statement boils down to 1) owning the song (seemingly obvious, but evidently not) and 2) being able to sign off on it quickly?

I think it is starting to make sense. My situation is that I'm producing songs for a friend and we agree that we want to pitch them to opportunities on Taxi. I guess my confusion is still in the details of owning the masters, writer's share, and publisher's share. I'm reading through the book "All you need to know about the music business by Donald Passman" right now, so things are slowly becoming clearer to me.
Do you guys have any suggestions for other books to read or sites to check out to continue to shed light on how all the licensing stuff works? Maybe something that made the lightbulb turn on for you guys when you were first getting started?

Sorry my response was delayed, I thought I was getting notified of responses from the forum but evidently not... need to go figure out why.

THANK YOU BOTH for taking the time to help me through this.
Are you guys going to be at the rally?

John

[andygabrys]

hey John,

yeah I am going to be at the rally. look forward to meeting you.

[johncolumbo]

Cool! Same here Andy.