PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Songwriting Collaborators

So, you decided to write a song and asked someone, or even several other people, to be a part of the project. Great idea, the whole "sum is greater than the parts" thing, and so everyone charges full speed ahead into the song project and in no time the song is written and ready to go. Everyone's happy and life is about to become wonderful........(insert sound of needle scratching across a record).......You might want to slow down and rethink a few things.

Did you cover all your bases? Did you get everything in writing? How about anything in writing? No...? You say it's just a song for fun, and nothing will ever come from it. How sure are you about that? What if the other person takes that song and places it into a commercial use and takes all the royalties? What if they claim they wrote it alone?

Once you write a song with someone, it's really very similar to a marriage with kids because you both have created something new that didn't exist before and you both have an ownership stake in it. Unlike a marriage in many respects, you don't get to reclaim the other party's share if they pass away. You can suddenly be faced with in-laws who have just become your partner in the song because they inherited it. So for this and so many other reasons, it is to your advantage to have the deal written down so that everything is understood before the writing begins.

You should have the following information in a unique writer's agreement for each song written in a collab, and after everyone finishes signing it, a copy should be given to each participant in the collaboration.

TITLE OF THE SONG (if you know it at that point)

1) Each writer’s name

2) Each writer's current physical and mailing address.

3) Each writer’s e-mail address

4) Each writer’s phone number

5) Each writer’s PRO (ASCAP,BMI,SESAC,SOCAN, etc) – even if they change e-mail addresses and phone numbers, you can track down almost any writer through their PRO. Because we all want to get paid, we make sure they have our correct info. Also get their PRO publishing name if they have a publishing company set up through their PRO or if they are already signed to a publisher. And this includes their CAE/IPI number.

6) The date on which the song was completed. The DOC or date of completion

7) The agreed-upon split for the song with each writer’s signature

8) The projected use or restrictions on use of the finished song, including who has the right to promote it and who pays the costs associated with such promotion/demo.

9) Copyright issues and costs.


Ideally, you should have a unique written agreement for each and every song you write together. I do have a unique agreement on many of the songs I have written in collabs, but I also have some basic writer's agreements in place. This is established after I have written a few songs with the same person and we know we're probably going to be writing together for a longer period of time. This is a broad sweeping agreement that covers the basics listed above but covers a period of time (can be limited or open ended) to save the tedium of signing agreements on every single collab. However, it you add one additional person in any of the projects, that project needs it's own agreement.

It's best to get the agreement up front BEFORE the song is even started. Nothing sux like finishing a song and then the writers have a dispute about percentages or projected use or demo costs, or one party doesn't want the song to be released at all and the other writer can land a publishing or library deal.

Having as many of the bases covered before you start the project can certainly alleviate problems down the road.

Obviously, this agreement can be fairly encompassing or it can be a simple agreement that covers just a few of the things I listed above. By no means does this document need to be complicated and resembling something a lawyer would dream up. Just be sure you cover the bases that need to be covered in YOUR given situation.

Now.... go and collaborate and write some music.


Edit to say: You can have the initial agreement and then updated copies after the song is completed. I have some agreements that have 2 copies.... first and then the final. This would be the case if you change or don't have a title to start with or you both agree to pull in a 3rd (or more) writer. The important thing is to document the facts and changes from the original agreement.