record contract

sensorarray · Post by **sensorarray** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:09 am

new question: anyone know anything about publishing contracts...
specifically, when you sign one do you have to specifically assign a percentage of what a band member contributed? for example:

john doe wrote the lyrics and the basic song but band member one and two came up with their own guitar and piano parts respectively...

do you assign something like:

john doe 50%
and band member one and two 25% each

???

or since john doe wrote lyrics and basic song structure it's more like:

john doe 100%

i know it's confusing but bear with me.

thanks for any help,
derrick

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:49 am

It depends on the agreement the contributing people come to. Typically, stuff like specific guitar parts of whatever aren't necessarily credited as part of authorship, unless they're a major factor in ther performability of the song. Like, you could legitamately perform "Every Breath You Take" without playing Andy Summers' arpeggiated guitar part and people would recognize it. Therefore, Andy Summers doesn't really get a publishing credit since Sting came up with the chord structure and melody.

(I'm using that as a fabricated example and have no idea whether or not Sting or Andy or Santa Claus came up with the arpeggiated guitar part--but I'm pretty sure Sting holds the sole writing credit.)

That's the short version of how the courts typically handle it. Like, whoever came up with the "lead sheet" version would be the writer(s). Of course, an agreement could certainly be made in support of another argument, but like most things, it's best to sort that out up-front, before any funny stuff can occur.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

sensorarray · Post by **sensorarray** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:34 pm

thank you for the response, it clears up things a bit more. please if anyone else has anything to add the help would be appreciated.

thanks,
derrick

hyde maintenance · Post by **hyde maintenance** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:31 pm

I was in a band that signed with a major label in the late 90's. When it came to song credit we had a pretty pinko attitude. Everyone contributed to the song formation and everyone received a fair cut. Even previous members who were around to 'touch' a song were cut in. We had 2 main songwriters, but the process of actually realizing these songs was long and drawn out, often times developing into a unrecognizable form of the original material, so it kind of made sense. We also performed and recorded ex members material so it kind of had to be a blanket approach so as to keep everyone happy.
In the end we were dropped before any royalties could be realized so the experiment never really developed long term, but it seemed like a good approach at the time. It really depends on the dynamic of the band though- we were all pretty heavily invested in the project.
BTW, we spent almost year with our A+R guy figuring out who would produce, 2 months in a $pensive studio (on a confused, shitty sounding album), racked up huge debt, and were dropped in label restructuring. We ended up getting about 30K per band member (because we had a good lawyer), and then broke up.
I still don't know if this was a happy story or a tragedy- an experience for sure.

spectralgrey · Post by **spectralgrey** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:29 am

r0ck1r0ck2 wrote:
go get a lawyer, the internet is for porn.
anyone wanna recommend this chap a decent lawyer...
where else besides pornoland would you find one..
yellow pages?
well it is california...
i'm sure there are 2 entertainment lawyers in wisconsin..maybe 3

There are more than you'd think...the first one that jumps to mind is Beth Russell in Madison. She taught my copyright management class at MMI and seems pretty down-to-earth and easy to deal with.

DWPardoe · Post by **DWPardoe** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 2:39 pm

Man o man.. I signed with wind-up records about 2 years ago... record deals are the devil, I do want to sign with an indie label but I have to wait another 3 years... just be careful and get an attourney... not a lawyer..

good luck.

stinkpot · Post by **stinkpot** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 4:03 pm

My very humble opinoin...

If you want your band not to break up over money issues, split everything you make equally between all members. Just take that out of the equation completely, and things should run more smoothly. Lord knows there's enough issues out there that drive bands apart, if you can take the money factor out of it, you're already ahead of the game.

That is of course, if you recoup and get paid, which is hard to do. If you're comfortable with it, really have your label push stuff to TV and movies. You'll probably start making money faster.

Try to get tour support as a "non-recoupable cost." This can be tricky.

Try to get a per diem for when you're out. Save as much of that as you can.

Good luck, it's a jungle out there. Touring is fun as hell, but really, really hard.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be negative at all, just give a small dose of realities I've run into.

sensorarray · Post by **sensorarray** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 11:05 am

as a band we plan to split any money that may come our way (it's not about money anyway, right?), it's just that when it comes to the publishing there are certain rights one has as the author of a work that we want to retain...

anyway, thanks for the great advice and information!

derrick

Kelly · Post by **Kelly** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 2:06 pm

I would highly recommend checking out the book "Confessions of a Record Producer".

The dude totaly tears a new one for the music business and will open your eyes in terms of what to expect, how the majors and minors operate, legalities, scams, and how to maximize your band's chances.

You can find it on Amazon. Very good read.

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