AboutBill Pere Expertise Can answer questions on : Technical aspects of lyric and music compostion; How to give and receive objective critique; Arranging and production; Concrete vs abstract imagery; Use of metaphor; Rhyme techniques; Song Structure; Collaboration; Songwriter Associations; Promotion; Guitar technique;
Music Business;
Experience President of the Connecticut Songwriters Association and Director of the Connecticut Songwriting Academy; Named one of the Top 50 Innovators and Guiding Lights of the Music Industry in 2008 by Music Connection Magazine; Author of "Songcrafters' Coloring Book:The Essential Guide to Effective and Successful Songwriting."
Named Independent Artist of the Year,by the 2003 national Independent Music Conference; 30 years as a professional singer-songwriter; 16 original CD's released;
Have had songs placed on other artists' CD's. Twice named Connecticut Songwriter of the Year.
20 years as Executive Director of the LUNCH Ensemble. Have attended more than 200 presentations by top industry professionals and have critiqued thousands of songs. Have written and produced dozens of stage plays and hundreds of concert events; Have coached hundreds of aspiring songwriters, and collaborated with several award winning writers. Have written commissioned songs as an Official Connecticut State Troubadour. Music Director of youth choirs and music camps.
Organizations Connecticut Songwriters Association (President); LUNCH Ensemble (Local United Network to Combat Hunger -- Exec, Director); CMEA (Connecticut Music Educators Association); Folk Alliance; Association For Psychological Type; Songsalive;
Publications Songcrafters' Coloring Book: The Essential Guide to Effective and Succesful Songwriting
Songwriters Market (2001, 2002); Connecticut Songsmith; Contemporary Songwriter Magazine; Songwriters Musepaper;
Songcrafter's Coloring Book; Strategies for Teaching Guitar;
Education/Credentials Masters Degree Molecular Biology; Certified MBTI Practitioner (Myers Briggs Type Indcator); Connencticut Secondary Public School Teaching Cerftificate; Author: "Songcrafters Coloring Book: The Essential Guide to Effective and Successful Songwriting:
Awards and Honors Named one of the Top 50 Innovators and Guiding Lights of the Music Industry in 2008 by Music Connection Magazine; Independent Artist of the Year, (2003 national Indie Conference); Official Connecticut State Troubadour, appointed by CT Commission on the Arts, 1995 ; 1982 and 1992 CT Songwriter of the Year; 2000 Award for 20 years of Outstanding Service to Songwriters;
2002 CSA Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education through Music; Numerous awards for outstanding community outreach through music; 1997 Citation from Connecticut Legislature for exemplary dedication to community outreach through music. 1995 Renaissance Award for multiple music achievments in a single year. Invited Presenter and Mentor at various Music Conventions
Question Hi, I've written a few songs in the past few years (lyrics only) and have been asked by (a smaller-scale) artist if they could purchase one. They read and liked the lyrics, and wrote their own coordinating music to it.
Here are my questions:
1) do lyricists usually get any say in how their words are produced/recorded? ie: certain things in the musical composition, emphasis in the wrong places, and certain word pronunciations bother me and don't work with what/how i wrote the song... I don't want to seem too posessive but the song was written with meaning to me, not as a money-maker though of course I hoped to do something with it one day... But I'm a bit attached to it I guess in an artists sort of way and want to make sure it's at least not completely changed in the recording process....
2) if i sell my song, is it no longer mine? or if I one day want to allow a bigger artist to record it (possibly even to different music) would that be allowed? do i still have copywrite?
3) is there a general ballpark for how much a song sells - lyrics only?
thanks so much.
tc
Answer Zipi,
Thanks for your questions – this is a very common area where songwriters are not sure what to do. First, let me congratulate you on having someone interested enough in your lyric to want to pay you for it. Good lyrics are the most valuable thing in the music business.
You have two choices in how you make deals with your songs/lyrics –
(a) you can sell them outright, or
(b) you can share the ownership with someone else (i.e. you write the words, someone else writes the music, and you each own 50% of the song)
Depending on which you do, there are two completely different paths that follow.
<<1) do lyricists usually get any say in how their words are produced/recorded? >>
If you sell the song outright, then for all intents and purposes, it is no longer yours, as though you never wrote it. It belongs totally to the person who pays you for it. It's just as though you sell a car to someone else – you sign over the title to the car, and what they do with it after that is completely up to them.
<< certain things in the musical composition, emphasis in the wrong places, and certain word pronunciations bother me and don't work with what/how i wrote the song... I don't want to seem too possessive but the song was written with meaning to me, not as a money-maker though of course I hoped to do something with it one day... But I'm a bit attached to it I guess in an artists sort of way and want to make sure it's at least not completely changed in the recording process....>>
As a songwriter myself, I completely understand this feeling. What you're describing about misplaced emphasis happens often when a composer focuses on the music rather than the words, and winds up putting syllables and accents in places that don’t make sense. It is among the top 3 songwriting flaws. I write about this extensively in my book "Songcrafters Coloring Book: The Essential Guide to Effective and Successful Songwriting" (visit http://www.songcrafterscoloringbook.com)
If you sell the lyrics, you would have no say about this.
The key question here is very specific: "How much money would be 'enough' to make you feel 'okay' with walking away from your song?" If someone offered $1,000,000, you'd probably take the offer without a second thought, and you'd be wise to do so. If someone offered you $10, you'd probably refuse without a second thought and you'd be wise to do so. So the real question is "where is the tipping point ?'" Only you can answer that for yourself, but that's what you have to decide.
If the offer being made is not enough to make you want to sell the song, then perhaps you might want to work as a collaboration, where you each own 50% of the final copyright. This sounds all well and good, but it has lots of complexities.
When you each own exactly half of something, no one is in control – you have to agree on everything, or nothing gets done. The person you collaborate with has to be someone you can work with professionally and personally. Also, since relationships change, you have to have a plan for what happens to the song if you no longer want to work together. A shared copyright is much like a marriage, in that you have joint property.
Also it gets more complex in that after the song is fully written (words and music), you have to decide who will control the publishing rights (there can only be one person administering the copyright) – Any song has 2 parts, the writers' share and the publisher's share, each 50%. So if you are the publisher, and you split the writer's share with someone else, then for every $1 the song makes, you get 50% (publisher share) plus 25% (half the writers share) and your co-writer gets 25%).
This also makes a difference in who has to cover what percent of expenses for recording/pitching the song. The more of it you own, the more control you have but the more of the expenses you have to pay. You have to think through all the possibilities.
Thus, even though selling the song outright gives up all your control, it also saves you potential headaches and expenses later on – but it is never again 'your' song. It's a tough choice.
Another scenario is that you could sell the lyrics outright, but offer to be the publisher of the song. If the other person agrees (and it is totally up to them to agree, unless you make it a condition of the sale) in that case, you would control the copyright, determine how the song can be used, and get half of all the royalties. The only thing you could not control in that case is who and how the song is recorded/released the FIRST time (so the other person could still have all their misplaced emphases in their version of the song). However, you (and the person who now owns the song) would have to understand all about complex business of music publishing, you'd need to issue a publishing contract, and your name would not be listed as a writer of the song (it's still not YOUR song).
<< 2) if i sell my song, is it no longer mine? >>
Correct, it's no longer yours, and will not even have your name listed as the lyricist.
<< if I one day want to allow a bigger artist to record it (possibly even to different music) would that be allowed? do i still have copywrite? >>
No - you would have no say in anything forever. That is all controlled by the publisher.
<< 3) is there a general ballpark for how much a song sells - lyrics only? >>
As stated above, what really matters is how much it is worth to YOU. To get an idea of potential market value, you could submit your lyrics to a qualified song analyst for review and you'd get some professional feedback about it. If you want to do that, contact me separately (info@ctsongwriting.com) to discuss further.
Good luck in whatever path you choose, and make sure you get all agreements in writing. No lawyer needed, but just write it all down in clear detailed language.
Above all, keep writing.
Sincerely,
Bill Pere
Founder and Executive Director, LUNCH
President and Executive Director, CT Songwriters Association
IMC Indie Artist of the Year
An Official Connecticut State Troubadour since '95
Director, CT Songwriting Academy
Author, "Songcrafters' Coloring Book: The Essential Guide to Effective and Successful Songwriting"
