Need actual advice or thoughts or something....

julibee


Herb, I am writing it.  The lyrics, anyway (and singing). And I'm glad you said what you did about BMI and overseas... Because the info I found said that only ASCAP collaborated like that.  Of course, I think that was at the ASCAP site.

So... the mechanic royalties will be partly mine as the artist/singer (beats y Taj and his crew) but I think I'll also need to do the songwriter half with a PRO as well as copyright some stuff.... 

Make sense?  

Yep.....OK.. so as a co-writer of the song, you DO want to join the PRO.  ASCAP and BMI are the 2 biggies for US writers.  Either one is fine. Both do the same thing. Joining either is totally free and can be done on line at their web site.  You want to write your CAE/IPI number down and your co-writer will need this if he is registering the song with the PRO. That's kinda like your SSN in the PRO world. It's how they track where the money goes. 

You would decide between the two of you, which one of you will register the song with the PRO and copyright office. I'm thinking he will do that as the record company. (Indy label) Copies of the paperwork should be sent to the other (non-registering) writers so they have records of those registrations. The song gets registered with the PRO one time by one of the writers, and the same thing applies on the copyright. No duplicate registrations. The person who registers it puts your name on the copyright as a writer and puts your name on the PRO registration as a writer and designates the percentages you will get paid on that PRO form. Keep each song's records in a unique file folder or manila folder. Keep all papers relating to the project in one place. 

Now... the cool thing is... if this is a self published project.... Indy label.... and he feels generous or you are involved with the publishing end of the biz.......in other words, where there is really no outside/third party "publishing company" involved..... the percentage that would normally go to the publisher from the PRO gets to be distributed to the writers.... self published.....so essentially, and under ideal conditions, each writer ends up with 50% of gross royalties...... not 25% like in a normal publishing deal. 


The mechanical royalties that would be paid to you based on sales would be a matter of the agreement you have (in writing) with the record company (your relative) 


The PRO split for most co-writers should be 50/50 or even shares for 3 or more writers.  Remember that a publishing company will get 50% (usually) of the gross performance royalties.  The other 50% is paid to the writers and if there are 2 writers ... you get half of the writers share or 25% of gross. Remember that you will generally get the GROSS amount paid to you and YOU are 100% responsible to pay the proper and timely taxes due to the governmental agencies on your share of the money. 


Other percentages are possible. Some publishers and music libraries demand 60% or more, leaving the balance to the writers. And some writers insist on percentages that reflect actual contribution to the song. I have always believed that when anyone  contributes to a song as a writer, they should get equal shares with the other writers.