When writing , collaborating with others can be a rich experience that brings many creative talents together to produce a truly unique work. But when two or more collaborate to create a , there are more things to consider when it comes to ownership, , and than when working solo.
Making sure every collaborator is correctly identified with their correctly spelled full names and is essential for Getting Credited and Paid. See our page on Registering Musical Works for more.
Copyright ownership when collaborating
When multiple songwriters, such as , , , , etc., make an contribution to a musical work, they might be considered under . Therefore, they can each own a share of the rights in the musical work. These ownership shares are typically called .
When there is more than one songwriter working in collaboration, agreeing on songwriter splits as early as possible is vital.
You can learn more about this on the Songwriter Splits page.
In some cases, the collaboration is financed and organized by a , and either by contract or by law, all songwriters’ rights are then owned or transferred to the record producer, usually in exchange for a flat fee.
A similar situation arises whenever songwriters create a song under an employment contract, which provides that all rights belong to the employer. Visit our topic Rights Transfer and Licensing to learn more about this.
Video credit: Tiffany Orvet, Daniel Sundström, Eric Ivar Persson, Christine Miller, Nikki Skelly, Jeff Noble, Tony Bollas, Kelly Wright, Tobias Leo Nordquist, Ponny Höijer, William Engström, Parapix