From the course: Music Law: Copyrighting a Song
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The co-writer agreement
- Co-writers of a song are initially the co-owners of copyright. Each co-owner has a percentage interest in the copyright and the total percentage of a song equals 100 percent. The default position of the copyright office is that two co-writers share in ownership equally. That is, the law presumes it is 50-50, but co-writers can share in any percentage that they wish, provided they agree upon the amounts. By the way, a co-owner shares in revenue from the entire work, not just from a specific contribution. In other words, even if a co-writer only wrote the music, she would share in the revenue if someone licensed the lyrics for reproduction in a book. Alternatively, if only the music is used, the lyric writer would share in the income. A co-writer can sell his or her share, but can't sell the entire copyright. A co-writer can enter into non-exclusive deals for the song, provided that all co-writers are fairly compensated. What if the song owners want to make their own rules? For…
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