Roylaties, rights and such for an arranger/producer

[shellsings]

Hello

I wrote a song, lyrics and melody, basic chords. My friend who plays and sings is helping spruce up the chord charts, will play and sing and do the recording. I will do some background vocals. He is not taking a fee for this, however So what kind of
rights does he have to the song?

since he is "producing it" , singing and playing on it. has said that "we" would own the Sound Recording, I would own the music and lyrics and as a prodcuer would get about 5% of any royalties.



I will copyright it as a SR , do I put him as a work for hire. He knows I own the rights, I just want to get our "contract" right. He may want some performance royalities if it gets picked up, but i think we are going to do that on the side and I want him to sign all rights to me so I can pitch to film and TV.

Just wanting to make sure I get this right.

[greatmoves]

The First thing is to be fair to your FRIEND. IMO

Second... Did you write the song completly before he got involved?

If you wrote the song, did the basic arrangement from beginning to end, then you need to negotiate his fee. maybe to be paid from a combination of a deposit and the rest after some income is generated by the song. But if fee based it should be agreed upon upfront. If he is willing to work for no pay now then he should be compensated for fronting you his services in advance.

If he made some significant changes to your song ask him what he wants in exchange for his input. You have to ask him, in order to see just how far apart you are.

If you can't agree, then stop working on the song with him and do not use any of his inputs. If you do use his inputs and you are lucky to sign a contract and he hears the piece, with his edits in it, there you go. Law Suit. Needless to say who ever you signed with will not be happy and probably won't work with you any more.

Also, I can't remember the term or wording, but there is a way to have you control all licensing rights to the song and still have a separate monitary split with a collaborator. They just will have no rights to how it's used. Which will not affect the Music Library, Etc... ( it's likely Mazz will know if he sees this)

This is just my opinion of how I would do this. If you and your friend are really close and you suspect money matters will be a problem, (Which I suspect you have, being that you are seeking help here) then find a non-friend to do business with.

After all you will need a friend to help you spend your money...


BB

[mazz]

Get it all in writing.

If he wants to own some of the master recording, then you probably need some sort of power of attorney in order to be able to pitch the song freely without having to check with him every time.

I would try to negotiate that he doesn't own anything and you agree to cut him in on a percentage of any monies the piece would generate, including sync fees and performance royalties. You would pay him personally.

You could consider just doing a songwriting split and having him as a co-writer so that any performance royalties come to him directly from the PRO and you don't have to do anything. Some co-writing agreements are worded that both parties own a part of the master and you'd have to decide whether or not you would want to include it.

No matter what, you want to make it so that you can pitch this song with absolutely no strings attached. At the very least you need a work for hire for his performances, most libraries and publishers will want to see that if the person isn't listed as a co-writer.

These are just ideas from my experience. I'm not an attorney so this isn't legal advice.

Get it all in writing, whatever it is you decide to do. Get it in writing before you start to pitch the song. And next time, get it in writing before you record a note. It's better that way!

Cheers!

Mazz

[shellsings]

thanks Mazz and Great Moves!

He just wants a small percentage like 5% and his name in the credits.. he will sing a version and he is playing the instruments. I wrote the melody and lyrics. So I am trying to word it that he relinquishes all rights to me so that I can pitch the song and I will pay him separately.

thanks!