FROM THE DESK OF

FROM THE DESK OF... SHELLY HARRIS

UNRAVELING THE RED TAPE

by Shelly Harris / Attorney

QUESTION:

I helped someone I know write a song –– I gave him the idea for the song, which came up in a discussion we had just before he began composing it.

Now, he has an offer from a publishing company for the publishing rights to the song, but he refuses to give me any credit on the copyright of the song!?

ANSWER:

From your description, it does not sound like you contributed anything to the song that could actually be copyrighted, and you would definitely need to have a valid copyright claim if you wanted to pursue financial or royalty interest in the song in the first place. (Once you have a copyright interest in a song, you can join one of the performance rights organizations and register the song as a songwriter or co-songwriter, and as a publishing company in order to collect royalties for the airplay of the song, but there are other potential songwriting royalties or licensing rights as well.)

The major copyrightable elements of a song are the lyrics (not the title) and the distinctive melody line, or any other unusual or unique elements of the song which are deeply ingrained into the core “identity” of the song. Usually, drum parts, and even lead guitar breaks, etc., are not part of what is actually copyrighted. In essence, it's just the basic “tune” and words to the song, period. (There have been a few exceptions to this rule, like a highly distinctive and dominant bass line, for instance.)

Along those lines, a mere suggestion of the subject matter of the song to the songwriter would probably not rise to the level of anything that would trigger a copyright claim, unless you can prove you also wrote some of the actual lyrics.

Songwriters, like other writers, often get inspirations from conversations with friends, etc., and may actually use words that were said as a line in the song, but if the lyrics overall were the artist’s interpretation and vision as a whole, then no one else can really lay claim to rights in the song, unless the person was somehow involved in the actual songwriting process in a provable way. (Songwriters can also get complete “story lines” for their songs from books and movies, etc., but the copyright to the lyrics is their interpretation of the existing story, and thus they do not have to “credit’ the author of their original inspiration, even if another work of art, unless they so choose or unless they directly purloin “too much” of the original dialogue and/or hope to profit by the strong association with the inspiring work.)

That said, sometimes songwriters will choose to give a songwriter's copyright credit to another person who only had minimal input into the actual composition of the tune or lyrics. Absent that, you would need to be prepared to prove with some evidence other than your word against his, that you actually contributed to the lyrical composition of the song itself.

Proof might be in the form of witnesses or tapes of the songwriting session (including what your verbal contributions), or something such as written words you contributed to the songwriter in advance or contemporaneous with the songwritng process.

In conclusion, it would be costly to defend this in court action, but if you choose to do so on principle, or in anticipation that the song will actually generate enough income to make the copyright battle worth your while financially, just make sure that you can prove you actually did contribute more to the song than just an “idea” that triggered the songwriter to create all the lyrics and the musical elements of the song on his own.

Email your entertainment business questions and comments to Shelly at: shellyharrislaw@aol.com

[Note: Names are always changed in these Q & A’s; in addition, it is always in your best interest to consult an attorney of your choice directly regarding any particular legal issue or problem you might have.]

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