No one will force you to work with written agreements for your songwriting efforts. If you wish to collab without that safety net, be my guest. This is nothing more than a suggestion that is, from my understanding, very common in the business.

Everyone who works with me knows that I will insist that one be signed by all parties generally before the project is finished. Most of the things I write will end up in libraries or with publishers so it's a given that I want the details in writing.

Would you venture into any other type of business relationship with out a written agreement? Heck I don't install a security system in my customer's home or business without a written agreement (contract) and while you might want to say you're writing for fun and it's not a business, it is none the less, still a possible business venture. No one can predict what might come from that session. When I first started recording I used to do a number of collabs with no paperwork. When I started putting my music into libraries, I went back to the writers and asked them if they would sign an agreement and they all did. Those songs are now in libraries and have the potential to be used and make money, something that neither of us foresaw when we wrote the song.


By the way: This post was inspired, not from the deep recesses of my own thoughts, but from the minds of TWO Nashville hit songwriters. Marty Dodson and Clay Mills from something they wrote on their web site about this very topic.

No matter what anyone says, that "no one is going to whip out a collaborator's agreement at a song writing session".... I can guarantee and it is just plain business common sense, that at some point before, during or after a song writing session that produces a song, there will be an agreement signed by all the writers involved.

And.... pretty much the goal, while unstated in many cases, for a songwriting session in Nashville, is to get a commercial cut of that song. So when you are writing in a collab, it's understood that the song is very likely a business venture in the making.


But hey, I get it. If you say that's not why you write songs and you trust fully the people you write with and you aren't going to sign any sort of agreement because it's not necessary, it inhibits the creative process, and reduces it to a business deal, then feel free to do what you will. Work without one and have fun. I'm not going to complain about how you do things.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.