Song Credits

inlet13

I've got a question for the pit, I've been mulling over in my head.

Basically it's this... are song credits important? I know PJ lists who wrote the song... but do most bands? Let me provide an example, I've been thinking through...

Let's say this guy Joe is in a band and he's done most of the writing. He doesn't know the guys too well in the band, but they certainly have helped him along even in the writing process and the songs are pretty good. Actually, a few of our tunes were written by other band members, outside of Joe. In their debut cover sleeve, they have originally said "all songs written and produced by (their band name)". They didn't say which songs and who wrote what. The produced part is correct, the written part is not entirely true... but, some could argue it is since each person wrote their instruments part.

If Joe and his band ever decided to go their separate ways, could not speaking up about song credits harm him later?

evenflow

Whenever the song is legally copywrighted the songs writers are named as part of the copywrighting process. The name listed in the copywright is the owner of the 5 inherent rights to the song (performance, recording, sale, distribution, & print). If more than one person is listed as the author then the credit is split into percentages. They can also choose instead to divide up the 5 rights instead of going the percentage route. Like one person could take the performance and recording right and the other could take the sale, distribution, and print. For a band to take the credit (ex. if they wanted to list PJ as the author instead of the individual members) then the band would have to be a legal entity with inheritance rights. If the band was to split up then they would have to legally give the rights to someone else (usually just using their individual names this time, so why not do it in the beginning and avoid this headache, which is more often than not a long drawn out nasty legal battle, because bands rarely split on good terms) or then the songs rights would go up for auction and someone would have to buy the rights.

Standard practices now (well really for the last couple of decades) is whenever you sign a contract with a label, what you're giving them is the rights to your songs. What rights you give is dependent on which kind of contract you sign (ex. distribution contract, recording contract). That's why a lot of bands back catalogs belong to the record company instead of the band, because they signed those rights away. Usually the record company will get 3 of the rights and you get to keep two. That's also why most bands can still sell tickets to a concert where they preform the songs, even though the record company owns their back catalog, because they kept the performance rights.

Sorry for the long answer (and I'm sure an entertainment lawyer would write 200 more pages worth) but as with everything in the legal world, the answer is never simple and clear cut. Thats why laywers can always find a way around things, even when there's a contract.

Wolf At Bay

This is a good topic.
evenflow provided some excellent information, but I think inlet13 is also interested in knowing what parameters actually give an individual the right to claim a songwriting credit. My understanding is that whoever wrote the chords and primary melody is considered the songwriter - think of the way you might see a jazz standard written out in a fake book: just chord symbols and the basic melody. So individual instrument parts, fills, augmenting the form of the song are all part of the arrangement, but not writing. I've also read that an arrangement can be copyrighted, but I have no idea how that works or how that would benefit anyone.

I welcome corrections to what I've said, as I'm sure someone else knows better than I.

So anyway, as evenflow said, you can break up a songwriting credit into percentages which can be used as a way to compensate people for their contribution even if they're not actually the songwriter. What I don't know, and what I would like to know, is how the percentage breakdown works when it comes to actually giving permission for use of the song. So if a movie wants a song for their soundtrack, and A has 50%, B has 25% and C has 25%, is A the one who gets to say yes or no?

mccreadyisgod

See the case of John Fogarty, lead singer and main songwriter for Creedence Clearwater Revival. Songs were credited to the entire band, even though John wrote all the big hits (indeed, everything prior to the last album, or something like that). But when John got sick of the band, and went solo, the band retained the rights to the back catalog. So, he didn't get any of the royalties from any of the recordings, and was even blocked by a court from performing his own songs live on-stage for decades. Pretty shitty deal. Meanwhile, the poseur CCR continues to tour and cash in on the sham to this day. Hell, Fogarty was sued by the CCR record label claiming plagiarism between a song he'd written for CCR and a song he'd written during his solo career (they said he'd copied his own song). BTW, he won that lawsuit.

This is pretty important stuff, and if you want to protect rights to songs and recordings, it's worth consulting a lawyer. Then again, it's expensive to do it right, so make sure the songs are worth the effort. Getting registered with ASCAP or BMI would be a big step toward protecting your work. Also, it's a good idea to credit band members individually, rather than the band's name, when collaborative songwriting takes place. That way, each individual has rights to their portion of the composition, rather than whoever holds the band name. Pearl Jam does this; each member has their own songwriting alias, and songs are credited to whomever contributed to the major construction of the song. So, Stone might bring in the music and have Ed write lyrics, and that's a Stone/Ed song. Matt will compose his drum parts, Jeff will compose the bass parts, and Mike will do other guitar and a lead, but if it doesn't change the structure of the song, it stays a Stone/Ed song. But if Jeff works out a really awesome change or bridge or something, it might become a Stone/Ed/Jeff song, and so forth.