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By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer Mon Jul 23, 4:35 PM ET

NEW YORK - Of all the names in music, Chantal Kreviazuk may be the least likely to appear in a headline. Though she recently released her own album, the songwriter usually stays behind the scenes to pen hits with artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne.

But earlier this month, Kreviazuk rocked the pop music world by suggesting that Lavigne was a collaborator in name only. Although she quickly retracted her comments and others defended Lavigne, the flap illuminated a long-standing fraud that has become more prevalent than ever: “singer-songwriters” who do much less songwriting than their publicists would have you believe. (more…)

by Bobby Borg

You’ve all heard the expression, “Don’t give up your publishing.” Stories of Paul McCartney getting out-bid to the rights of his own songs by Michael Jackson serve as reinforcement. And now that you or your band is faced with the decision whether to relinquish some of your rights and large share of income to a music library, you’re in a state of panic.

What are your legal rights? What are music libraries anyway? And what are the deals they typically offer—and why? Read on.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

When an original song idea is transformed into a “fixed” form (this can be your music and lyric recorded on a small hand-held recorder) a copyright is formed. In essence, as soon as you create a song, you create a copyright. It’s that easy.

A copyright grants the author/owner an exclusive bundle of rights: the rights to re-produce, perform, distribute with the intent to sell, and create a “derivative” (i.e., a work based on the original song). If so desired, you could sit around creating copyrights for days only to lock them up in a drawer, never to be used. This would hardly be the most efficient way to spend your time, but it’s your right!
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By Danny Miles

Desmond Child is a hit machine. He’s written or co-written successfully with a diverse array of artists, including Kiss, Ricky Martin, Joan Jett, Aerosmith, Hall and Oates, Iggy Pop, the Baha Men, Clay Aiken and many others. According to the Miami native, making it to the writing elite is as much about industry as it is inspiration.

Start with the title

Child says his early writing style was relatively haphazard. “I’d sit at the piano, play chords, and mumble along until some melody or word sequence would come to me,” he recalls. And while he had a few early hits using that method, he changed his creative process in his mid 20s. “I met [songwriter] Bob Crew, who taught me the complete opposite approach — which is actually the most professional way,” he says. “Come up with a title first, and then write the rest of the lyrics geared to setting up your title — which is the usually subject of the song.”

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ASCAP receives payment for public performances of songs and compositions by negotiating license fees with the users of music (radio, TV, cable, bars, clubs, restaurants, shopping malls, concert halls and promoters, web sites, airlines, orchestras, etc.) and distributing these monies to members whose works were performed.

ASCAP pays directly and fairly. ASCAP is guided by a “follow the dollar” principle in the design of its payment system. In other words, the money collected from television stations is paid out to members for performances of their works on television; the money collected from radio stations is paid out for radio performances, and so on. ASCAP tracks music use on these and other media and live venues to determine which music has been performed, and the appropriate writers and publishers to be paid.
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Unless you have entered into a publishing agreement, thereby assigning your publishing rights to someone else (i.e. a publishing company), you own the publishing rights and the corresponding publishing income, to any song you have written or co-written. When you write a song by yourself, you own 100% of the writer’s share as well as 100% of the corresponding publisher’s share of any income that song may generate. If you have one collaborator, you each own 50% of the writer’s share and 50% of the publisher’s share. Therefore, if you have written a song and haven’t published it, you are a song publisher. Maintaining your publishing rights has two big advantages: You earn double the money and you have leverage in the event your song is recorded. Once you have a song to represent (either one of your own compositions or another writer’s song whose publishing rights have been assigned to you), it’s easy to become a publisher. All you need to do is:
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I once heard someone say that pursuing a career in the music business is no different than learning to cook. You can follow a specific recipe to the very last ingredient and still end up with unsatisfactory results.

Although there are no rules or guidelines that can ensure a prosperous and long lasting career in the music business, there are number of proven tips passed down from seasoned professionals that will at least point you in the right direction. This month’s topics include: “Analyze your career motivations and goals,” “Develop a realistic outlook by ignoring the media hype,” and “Make realistic career decisions by educating yourself first.”
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