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But if you're saying that the ownership of the song quickly becomes a legal mess because the co-writer is automatically part-owner of the song, that's a different story. I've heard plenty of stories where people have claimed "co-writer" credits on a song because of some minor suggestion, and I agree that's problematic.



This would not become a mess because the person who creates the song initially is the "First Copyright Holder" any suggestion or change is covered in Copyright Law under derivative works i.e. if I changed the lyrics to "Dancing Queen" to "Jelly Beans" popular ABBA song I cannot claim a new copyright and I would still have to pay dues to the writers.

Online collaboration seems like the way forward people are uploading songs on Soundcloud and remixing each others work, as long as you have the consent of the "First copyright holder" and you agree to a final collaborative new "second Copyright jointly with the other writer there is no issue.

When it comes to proving copyright most patent attorneys agree that it would be a body of evidence rather than one single piece of evidence that would determine a case and the while side with the deepest pockets could determine the outcome this would not necessarily be so.

Darren