| Title: | * * Computer Music, MIDI, and Related Topics * * |
| Notice: | Conference has been write-locked. Use new version. |
| Moderator: | DYPSS1::SCHAFER |
| Created: | Thu Feb 20 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Aug 29 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 2852 |
| Total number of notes: | 33157 |
I know a song writer who writes and performs her own stuff (mostly
folk music) and makes and sells tapes of same. She has released three
cassettes so far.
Recently she told me that someone else had recorded one of her songs,
so I said, "Great. So you are getting royalties?" She said no,
she wasn't. See, this guy helped write the song. That is, he wrote
the words to two of the verses.
I told her that I thought she was still entitled to royalties of some
cents per copy sold, unless she had signed away all rights. She had
not done that.
I thought I had seen this issue discussed here, but I can't find it.
Maybe it was in one of those "How to Sell your Songs" books. Anybody
have any information I can pass on to the song writer?
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2667.1 | anyone want to practice law in here? | PIANST::JANZEN | A Refugee From Performance Art | Wed Jun 19 1991 10:48 | 5 |
Well, I'm not a lawyer, so I may be wrong, but my advice is: she should get a lawyer. Yeah, one of those books will help her see that she has rights to her own work, you'd better believe it. Tom | |||||
| 2667.2 | I'm not a lawyer, but I play one in COMMUSIC... | DELNI::SMCCONNELL | Next year, in JERUSALEM! | Wed Jun 19 1991 13:41 | 14 |
I'm no lawyer either, but if I remember correctly, the "catch" in the
new (197-something) copyright law is that in spite of the fact that you
own a song when you create it, the first person to formally register it
is the official owner.
I can't imagine a co-writer producing a project that included a song I
co-wrote without my knowing that song would be on the album...it sounds
like the problem is deeper than legal...
If you are going to seek a lawyer, seek a copyright lawyer.
Free advice, worth every penny ;-)
Steve
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