Discussion:
What is the name of your state? NC
Ok, heres my question. im with a regular run of the mill rock band thats been around for a coupla years..we recently decided we wanted to work with a new singer for musical reasons, but were trying to decide who has rights to songs. its all informal, nothing written out for the band. heres the background info.
- Band forms in 2003 with just musicians, who write wongs.
- Band finds singer in 2004, writes extra music and records album in 2004 with singer.
- Band with singer plays various gigs, practices, but is not signed to any label.
- Late 2005 band decides it wants to work with a new singer and votes unanimously to remove singer for musical reasons.
- Singer wants to be able to use newer songs (songs written after first album was recorded) he feels he contributed on (the amount of contribution is in question)
The band feels that the all the singers lyrics and melody lines from these written songs are the singers to do with as they please, and the music belongs to the band, as it was the band actually writing and arranging the music, then on some songs the singer would have words or specific melody lines they brought in (sometimes the singer would use lyrics or melodies speficially written by the band or members therein). The band has also offered to let the singer have the rights to songs written by the band that the band is not inerested in using anymore, but still interest the singer.
The singer wants rights to record and perform any of the songs he was basically present for at the time of writing, despite amount of actual writing by the singer (as stated before, the band pretty much always wrote the music and the singer would then come up with lyrics and a melody if we, the band, didnt have a specific set of lyrics or melody line we wanted used. Regardless as to wether the singer was present at time of writing the music, the process was always the same, and the only songs in question are ones the singer was present for during at least par of the music writing.)
The most that could be argued is that the singer, when present for the writing of the music, may have made comment on the music in the fashion of "i like that, or i dont like that" but it was always the band that made the final musical decisions, and the singer never brought any specific musical parts in for the writing of a song, such as a guitar riff, or would reccomend a certain progression unless it was an idea we tried that they liked, but we, the band, had actually come up with and arranged.
thanks!
Answer:
What is the name of your state? NC
Ok, heres my question. im with a regular run of the mill rock band thats been around for a coupla years..we recently decided we wanted to work with a new singer for musical reasons, but were trying to decide who has rights to songs. its all informal, nothing written out for the band. heres the background info.
- Band forms in 2003 with just musicians, who write wongs.
- Band finds singer in 2004, writes extra music and records album in 2004 with singer.
- Band with singer plays various gigs, practices, but is not signed to any label.
- Late 2005 band decides it wants to work with a new singer and votes unanimously to remove singer for musical reasons.
- Singer wants to be able to use newer songs (songs written after first album was recorded) he feels he contributed on (the amount of contribution is in question)
The band feels that the all the singers lyrics and melody lines from these written songs are the singers to do with as they please, and the music belongs to the band, as it was the band actually writing and arranging the music, then on some songs the singer would have words or specific melody lines they brought in (sometimes the singer would use lyrics or melodies speficially written by the band or members therein). The band has also offered to let the singer have the rights to songs written by the band that the band is not inerested in using anymore, but still interest the singer.
The singer wants rights to record and perform any of the songs he was basically present for at the time of writing, despite amount of actual writing by the singer (as stated before, the band pretty much always wrote the music and the singer would then come up with lyrics and a melody if we, the band, didnt have a specific set of lyrics or melody line we wanted used. Regardless as to wether the singer was present at time of writing the music, the process was always the same, and the only songs in question are ones the singer was present for during at least par of the music writing.)
The most that could be argued is that the singer, when present for the writing of the music, may have made comment on the music in the fashion of "i like that, or i dont like that" but it was always the band that made the final musical decisions, and the singer never brought any specific musical parts in for the writing of a song, such as a guitar riff, or would reccomend a certain progression unless it was an idea we tried that they liked, but we, the band, had actually come up with and arranged.
thanks! Have you tried searching the archives on this site? These band questions have been answered on numerous occassions. It basically all comes down to what written contracts anyone has with anyone else -- and if nothing is written down, then it usually just just comes down to a shouting match, I'm afraid. From a legal perspective, it sounds like the singer DOES have the right to use materials that were developed and written AFTER he joined the band -- because at that point, it would be difficult to prove exactly who wrote what, and a court would probably find that the work is owned by the band as a whole, and therefore any work that was created while the singer was a part of the band would likely be co-owned by the singer.
But, in any event, without written contracts and registered copyrights, it's simply not worth taking any legal route with these type of situations -- your best bet is to try and work something out amicably with the former singer that protects both your rights as a band and his rights as a former member of the band. Maybe you could pay him to sign over any rights he has to the works created while he was in the band or something.