Murphy’s Law in Song writing….. The Realities of Co-Writing

If You are going to co-write with someone you have never worked with before, do your homework.  Ask them to give you a tape of two or three of their songs that they are excited about. This applies even to a hit writer, because past hits may not necessarily reflect his or her current attitude toward writing. If the co-writer is an artist, get a copy of his or her latest recorded work. Ask them if they loved or hated it, because either way, you will have a sense of direction when you sit down to write with them.

Be prepared.  Now, most important of all, bring at least two covered dishes to the picnic: if they don’t like your potato salad, they may love your fried chicken. In other words, your co-writer may not be into a big ballad that day, but may really get off on a foot-stomper. If you both bring a couple of ideas to the session, odds are that out of the four ideas, one will appeal to both of you. Don’t force it….If none of the ideas work out, go have lunch or dinner. Talk about the weather or golf or knitting or fishing (not religion or politics) and then book another time a few days down the road to try to write again. If you repeat the process, and it still doesn’t work, you may be better off as good friends than frustrated co-writers.

Source: ASCAP

Publishing

Whereas…songs have legal and intrinsic value and music publishers are the guardians of the rights of the songs we publish on behalf of ourselves and our partners.

Under law, music publishers have the right to license songs and control the ways in which they are used. We have the legal right to authorize or withhold permission for the use of our works, for any reason including artistic, economic or moral concerns of the publisher or songwriter(s) moral right to an appropriate and fair share of the revenues generated from the unauthorized use of our music when use cannot be controlled.
We support the creation of new business models for the digital era, on the condition that we share fairly in the revenues, and that we are accounted to properly.

There is no such thing as free music. Even when it “feels” free to the consumer, music is subsidized somewhere in the value chain. Music adds value to any business model that uses it and we†are entitled to†our fair share. When a business chooses music as a “loss leader” or promotional tool to drive other revenue, publishers and songwriters still need to be directly compensated for the use of their music for more info go to

Source: Canadian Music Publishers Association

www.musicpublishercanada.ca