If you didn’t know, go back and work to amicably come up with a mutually beneficial arrangement between all parties. Avoid this by handling your business properly. When no agreement was made, no one discussed anything, and a songwriter wrote a song, and worked with a musician usually, it ends in a lot of arguing.
The percentage should split 50% each, but, can be different according to the agreement. They bring in a songwriter who listens to the pre-existing music, and the songwriter writes the melody and lyric, then the producer, musician and/or beat makers do own a percentage of the copyright because the songwriter wrote based off of it. The chords, progressions, beats and arrangements are already made. Producers, musicians and/or beat makers who compose music. Adding progressions and chords to a preexisting melody and lyrics does not automatically give a musician part ownership of a pre-existing song. The percentage depends on what was discussed and agreed to. Number two, if the songwriter spoke to a musician concerning adding accompaniment to the pre-existing song, and agreed to give a percentage of ownership of the intellectual property (the copyright), then, in that case, the musician becomes part owner of the song. If in fact, a musician was hired as an arranger to add accompaniment or musical arrangement to an existing song (Melody and Lyric) as “Work for Hire”, the musician is then paid for their work, but the ownership of the intellectual property (the copyright) belongs to the songwriter who wrote the song. It depends on what was discussed before the session began. Number one, it depends on how the musician was hired. Do you own a percentage of the copyright because you are an arranger? Well, it depends. Arrangers are added all the time such as string arrangers, horn arrangers or arrangers for bands. Musicians who are hired to add accompaniment to a song already written is called arranging. If the songwriter decides to negotiate a percentage of ownership in the song with the musician, they can do that. The songwriter can do a “Work for Hire Agreement”. Make sure the musician understands that he or she is being hired as a studio musician to record music to an existing song. Please prepare the proper paper work before the session begins. When preparing to make a demonstration record or demo of your song, (I’ve stressed this many times before).
You are both the Author (lyrics) and the composer (melody). The song is 100% yours! A song is made up of 50% lyric and 50% melody. This scenario is for songwriters who do not play an instrument, but you wrote the lyrics and the melody. Have you ever questioned who actually owns what percentage of a song when involving more than one person? How are the songwriting credits determined? What percentages are owned? Well, stay tuned for today’s Music Business Tip, as we look to simplify the process.