Question regarding Vocal Tracks

[ResonantTone]

Hey all!

I'm lookin to eventually delve into doing vocal stuff sometime in the near future and I had a question for those that might be well-versed in that side of things.

My beautiful wife has been gifted with an equally beautiful voice, and we've talked about the possibility of doin some duets once I get rollin in that side of things. My question is this.. will we need to set her up as a separate collaborator through a PRO? Will she need to sign everything for any libraries/supervisors as a listed collaborator? We'd obviously prefer to not have to do that, but I'm wondering if it would raise eyebrows for libraries or supervisors to only see one listed composer or artist for a duet.

Any and all thoughts regarding much appreciated!

Andrew

[cassmcentee]

Personally, I would set her up with a PRO for the Long-term...
Why not keep the door wide open for her?
She could always collaborate with others (though you might not want to share - Hah )
It's all so easy to do these days

[ttully]

Hi Andrew,

You do not need her to do anything but sing!
Unless you want her to get paid from her PRO.

But if you just want to license songs, with her or anyone else...
You do not need to have them registered with a PRO.
BUT
You should have a work for hire contract...with any outside people you use
so that the terms of any payment they recieve are clear.

If I hire some musicians to record on a track..... I do not care if they are registered with a PRO or not. But I have a contract that says they get paid to record the music, and do not collect any royalties.

My 14 cents worth,
Tim

[ResonantTone]

Personally, I would set her up with a PRO for the Long-term...
Why not keep the door wide open for her?
She could always collaborate with others (though you might not want to share - Hah )
It's all so easy to do these days

That is true, Cass! Hadn't thought about it that way.

Hi Andrew,

You do not need her to do anything but sing!
Unless you want her to get paid from her PRO.

But if you just want to license songs, with her or anyone else...
You do not need to have them registered with a PRO.
BUT
You should have a work for hire contract...with any outside people you use
so that the terms of any payment they recieve are clear.

If I hire some musicians to record on a track..... I do not care if they are registered with a PRO or not. But I have a contract that says they get paid to record the music, and do not collect any royalties.

That makes sense, Tim! I'm guessing a work for hire contract setup is pretty common, so libraries and supervisors wouldn't be thrown off by not seeing multiple entities getting royalties.


Thank you both for the insight!

Andrew

[ttully]

Hey Andrew,

If you are going to have more than 1 person getting royalties....
You usually enter the data in a spreadsheet from the library...
With each person's name and the percent they will be getting.

My 3 cents,
Tim

[ttully]

Hey Tom or Andrew!

No...they could care less who is singing or playing.
You don't have to show them anything.
And they don't want to see anything, except who gets how much percent.
You can get 100% and have 50 people singing on it....it doesn't matter.
Or you could have 50 people singing and everyone gets 2%.... or whatever.
It really doesn't matter … as long as you fill out their spreadsheet correctly.

My 2 cents worth,
Tim

[ResonantTone]

This is super helpful info. I always appreciate your two cents worth! (Or should it have been your 100 per-cents worth? )

Andrew

[johnnyrowing]

I don't know if it would matter . . . but . . . having her earn her portion through royalties might have some tax implications for y'all too - either good or bad. So, if you have an accountant, you might want to ask some questions.

I am sure that this won't be a problem for you . . . but . . . for others that are considering some of the advice given here . . . Some marriages end in divorce and many of those get very nasty. Having a clear paper trail for a spouses' contributions on specific tracks rather than arguably every track might make the dividing of that asset a bit easier.

[ResonantTone]

I don't know if it would matter . . . but . . . having her earn her portion through royalties might have some tax implications for y'all too - either good or bad. So, if you have an accountant, you might want to ask some questions.

I am sure that this won't be a problem for you . . . but . . . for others that are considering some of the advice given here . . . Some marriages end in divorce and many of those get very nasty. Having a clear paper trail for a spouses' contributions on specific tracks rather than arguably every track might make the dividing of that asset a bit easier.

Good call. Thanks for the insight, Johnny!

Andrew

[jaywilliams]

This is super helpful info. I always appreciate your two cents worth! (Or should it have been your 100 per-cents worth? )

Andrew

+1, comment of the month