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Exzilibus
Labrador
Joined: 01 May 2004
Posts: 301
Location: Suffern, New York
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 Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:46 am Post subject: |
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Follow-up:
Okay I did HOURS of research today on this issue - Reading articles from music business lawyers, musicians who hate splitting evenly, musicians who hate dividing everything up, copyright law websites, etc.
When it comes to writing credit, these sources consider the writers to be the people who wrote the chord progressions, the structure, and the melody. Band members may create wild drum solos, guitar solos, or swinging bass lines but it does not qualify them as a writer.
Seems like this is the general concensus from all of those sources:
--It is not fair for the writers to take most of the benefits
--It is also not fair for the writers to share equally with the other band members since the work involved was not shared equally.
--Best solution is to meet somewhere in the middle: The band would come up with some kind of formula, agree, and then put it in writing before the album is officially released (which is what we're attempting to do with the percentage formula).
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Rasta
Fierce Wolf
Joined: 11 Jul 2007
Posts: 579
Location: Minnesota
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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Here I thought that musicians created/played music because we enjoyed doing it.
He's only missing out on that if he doesn't put as much energy into it right?
Split things evenly.
It's fair. Less problems in the long run. You can focus on the music rather than right %.
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Rasta
Fierce Wolf
Joined: 11 Jul 2007
Posts: 579
Location: Minnesota
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Exzilibus wrote: | Follow-up:
Okay I did HOURS of research today on this issue - Reading articles from music business lawyers, musicians who hate splitting evenly, musicians who hate dividing everything up, copyright law websites, etc.
When it comes to writing credit, these sources consider the writers to be the people who wrote the chord progressions, the structure, and the melody. Band members may create wild drum solos, guitar solos, or swinging bass lines but it does not qualify them as a writer.
Seems like this is the general concensus from all of those sources:
--It is not fair for the writers to take most of the benefits
--It is also not fair for the writers to share equally with the other band members since the work involved was not shared equally.
--Best solution is to meet somewhere in the middle: The band would come up with some kind of formula, agree, and then put it in writing before the album is officially released (which is what we're attempting to do with the percentage formula). |
You play drums yes?
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random white person
Emperor of the World
Joined: 19 Jul 2004
Posts: 3608
Location: New York
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:55 pm Post subject: |
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i feel like you should just split things evenly this time around. if you want to come up with a formula for how to divide future revenues, then do it before any new songs get written and recorded. i would personally be very offended if i just spent months writing and recording, then you told me i would be getting paid even a cent less than someone else simply cause i didn't write as many chord progressions.
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Exzilibus
Labrador
Joined: 01 May 2004
Posts: 301
Location: Suffern, New York
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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Yes I do play drums. I do not think making decisions based solely on fun is a smart idea. If there is absolutely NO business format in a band then the progress of the band will be very slow and the band is constantly limiting themselves on where they can take their music.
None of us are in it for the money however I see nothing wrong with getting paid to do something you love. We would continue to put a lot of time and money into this band even if we didn't make anything back but why not do something with our music? Besides...the most fun we've ever had on stage was during shows that we never would've been a part of if we didn't have that business aspect.
As for your other question...yes, he's only missing out on that he doesn't put as much energy into it. He puts a lot of energy into everything now but this problem came up because he barely did anything for the songs we were writing for the EP we're about to release.
btw I voted against the % idea at last night's practice.
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Exzilibus
Labrador
Joined: 01 May 2004
Posts: 301
Location: Suffern, New York
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styles2281
Moderator
Joined: 23 Feb 2004
Posts: 6677
Location: Manchester, CT
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:44 am Post subject: |
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Ex, what was the end result?
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Exzilibus
Labrador
Joined: 01 May 2004
Posts: 301
Location: Suffern, New York
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:50 am Post subject: |
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| random white person wrote: | | i feel like you should just split things evenly this time around. if you want to come up with a formula for how to divide future revenues, then do it before any new songs get written and recorded. i would personally be very offended if i just spent months writing and recording, then you told me i would be getting paid even a cent less than someone else simply cause i didn't write as many chord progressions. |
That's a very good point...although my guitarists would prefer the reverse. They think that he's here and putting in 100% now...so any song from this point on should be even whether he writes chord progressions or not. Both of my guitarists have said that they do not feel right about giving full credit to someone who wasn't there at all when we were writing. They believe it cheapens all of the work the rest of us did.
The bassist also didn't work on anything for months. He was pretty much gone the entire time...then his other band broke up...then he came back and wrote/recorded in about 2-3 weeks. Since recording he has been to every practice. That's where the trouble is...my guitarists think that its unfair for him to come in at the last second and get just as much credit as the people who worked 3 times a week for an entire year.
We also never agreed to anything BEFORE recording...I understand that these things should be taken care of before recording but technically at the time we weren't even sure if we were even going to have our bassist at all when we started recording. The ONLY thing we agreed on before-hand was to get it taken care of afterwards (bassist agreed to that too) so the bassist was aware of this possibility before setting foot in that studio. Its not like we threw this at him at the last second.
Regardless of what we decide...at least the album sales, merch money, and show money will be split evenly. The only things we're questioning here are copyrights, royalties, and publishing rights.
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Exzilibus
Labrador
Joined: 01 May 2004
Posts: 301
Location: Suffern, New York
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:59 am Post subject: |
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| styles2281 wrote: | | Ex, what was the end result? |
No final decision yet and it seems like its up to my singer.
So far the vote is:
Bassist & I voted for splitting everything evenly
Both guitarists voted for the credit system
Singer is undecided
Credit system means 1 person gets credit for performing on the CD and then the writers get 1 more credit. Divide the money received by the total amount of credits. Essentially the writers would make double the money of the rest of the band...which is at least way more fair than the % plan which would essentially give the writers seven times more money. I refused to agree with the % thing at all but I'm willing to accept the credit system as a compromise if that's what my singer wants. I just think the band would function better if it were even.
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Exzilibus
Labrador
Joined: 01 May 2004
Posts: 301
Location: Suffern, New York
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:01 am Post subject: |
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For anyone who is curious...
Final Decision: 10% guaranteed to everyone...the writers split everything else evenly. Again this is ONLY for royalties...all show/merch/album sales money WILL be split evenly.
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