pick your brain??

[Casey H]

Wow, I'm trying to keep up with all the info here... Sorry if I missed something before I responded. And these are MY opinions...A few comments, FWIW...A lot of people use the word "published" incorrectly in terms of what it means, legally, in the music world. "Published" means offered for sale in a commercial way. It does not mean a single-song publishing contract has been signed or refer to registration with a PRO. This may or may not be relevant to the discussion, but I thought I'd mention it. Did you mention on the thread how the writing was shared? Were the songs copyrighted with both your names as authors? When multiple writers are listed on a copyright, it is assumed to be an even split unless additional documentation such as a signed collaboration agreement are available. A US Copyright, to the best of my personal knowledge, does not specify splits.OK, when two people enter a partnership ,written or verbal, and agree to split everything 50/50, both writing and publishing revenue, everything that is done until the partnership is changed or dissolved should stay that way IMHO. Squabbling about who's contribution was greater is a meaningless waste of energy.I'm co-writing a few pieces right now. The notion of doing anything other than 50-50 across the board, doesn't even come up. Sometimes, I will do more of the writing, sometimes my partner will. For publishing, maybe a contact my partner has for pitching will be the "one".... Maybe I'll mail out a bunch of demos and hit pay-dirt... whatever... So, here's my take... Leave everything you've created until today as 50/50. If you want to continue working with your partner and they are willing to change it-- fine, but bad blood won't help the end results. If you do not want to continue with your partner then leave the past alone and stop working together.BTW, Lennon and McCartney shared writing credits on every song regardless of who wrote it. Lennon made money on "Yesterday", McCartney on "Strawberry Fields", etc. JMHO'sCasey P.S. I read an article once about marriage and how couples fight about money. The point was made that things have an "emotional cost" as well as a "financial one"... Think about it...

[trentoliphant]

A couple of thoughts on this thread.First of all - wow I wish I were that prolific.Whether you agree with the fact that 50% of performance royalties goes to the publisher or not - that is the industry. If your partnership weren't publishing it someone else would get that 50%. You need to separate in your mind the writing and the publishing - even if you do all the publishing yourself. The fact that he is doing about half of the publishing work sounds like a true partnership for the publishing and so he should get half of the publishing end. Basically you should be getting 75% of the performance royalties on the songs you wrote yourself. (50% writers share + 25% (1/2 of 50%) publishers share).Now the license fees (for the initial placement - not the broadcast) are negotiable. Do you currently just share those 50/50 with your partner? That would mean that the publisher is retaining 100% of the license fee, which is not unheard of - but it seems that many agreements are 50/50 or 60/40 (at least that I've seen on TAXI). Of course this only applies if you are licensing directly to the end user and not going through a library. If you go through a library don't you have to assign the publishing to them?How do you guys handle expenses?If you think that it is a good working relationship, you just need to clarify the roles. From what I have read - you are a publishing company partnership first and occasionally you also co-write. Again - separate in you own mind the 2 parts and WRITE up an agreement formalizing it. That is where you get an attorney involved - to make sure that you both understand and agree on the specifics. Trent

[ragani]

Quote:Do all the things, the way you wanna do them, from now on.Quote:if you're writing like mad, in another 10 years, this temporary hassle you're facing will become a distant mouse fart in the wind.I'm totally jazzed about your post, jk. Shoot for the stars! There is nothing more delicious than taking a turn you long to take in life... I hope you more than go for it! Raags

[jamkern]

Thanks for all the input!!!! I have to agree in general that the publishing is the way it is--50/50....After a nice long Korean lunch, my partner and I decided to keep all previous business the way it is (writer takes his % and publishing is split 50/50---upfront money? does that still exist???) For now, we're both going to produce and publish our own tracks, while running the previous agreement as a music library. I might have taken a financial hit, but, business is business- friendships are friendships AND you do not always get the perfect deal in life! I'm thrilled and lucky to be where I am ( got a long way to go to catch up with Matto May we all kick ass in 08 and may our PROs start paying us for internet plays and give a bigger payment for backing instrumentals!!!peece to all!