How to split it?

Z

zerrat

Zerrat
Background: I work with a singer, and 3 songwriters. I make the beats, and creates the vocal melodies from one of the songwriters' set of lyrics. The singer then practice the melody, and then we record the vocals.

Recently we are planning on selling our music, and playing live. My question is this: What would be a fair split between singer, producer and songwriter in regards of 1) income from sold songs, 2) income from gigs?

Does anyone know the answer, and If there is no "Industri standard", what would you consider fair?
 
there is no standard way. it how you feel. i know groups who split equally and i know groups who break up percentages based on who did what. has long as everyone agrees that the right way.
 
Split is based on who does what. Producers (making the song) are different than Beatmakers. If the singer wrote lyrics, they are entitled to more. Usually I do it like:

Music = 50% - Beatmakers, musicians, producers
Lyrics = 50% - Songwriters, performers, producers (if they wrote the hook for example)

So if you sell a $1.00 download and had 3 writers who wrote all the lyrics and you made all the music and production it would be something like this:

$.50 to you for music ownership
$.50 cut 3 ways for lyrics ownership or like $.16 1/2 per writer.

In some cases you want something a bit more even so a simple 25% each could be ok but I dont like paying people for work they dont do.

Hope this helps.
 
or you can split equally through all the writers. producers are considered writers, so if there are 3 writers it is also common to split equally. no matter who did what.

But on the other hand going off of who did what is also common . yes music/lyrics are 50-50. usually. as for the break down for lyris. 15-20% hook. 10% verse, 5% bridge. usually

But it also comes down to negotiation. if someone has more pull, they can get more.

And sampling will fvck up the split. the writers of the sample are now also writers of the new composition. I have a friend who did a track for 50 on his album, and didn't get a split. the original writers got 66% and 50 got the rest. my dude got upfront money and 3 points on the mechanical. but no pub.

Splits are really simple, it's all negotiable. has long as everyone is happy, great. but this industry is not always fair
 
I work with 3 songwriters, but they never work together. So on each song, there's the singer (who only sings, no lyrics), 1 songwriter (who only writes, no melodies) and then me (who makes the beat and the vocal melody). In that case the split would be:

50% to the lyricist
50% to who?

Or what? And what about live performances?
 
You could just go with an equal share after overhead and try to keep it equal. Its really whatever is best for the arrangements. Some want cash upfront while other want more of a draw.

If more than $5k is involved, Id try to find a good lawyer and draw real contract agreements. This saves alot of headaches but is costly and if you arent selling alot of records and may just not work at first.

You guys have some good music and need proper support.
 
^I agree, you should get an entertainment lawyer. but keep in mind, it's not about trying to get more, it's about putting down on paper what you and the other writers agree on. There is no set way, do what you and your 'teammates' think is fair.
 
I think we need to earn some money before hirering a lawyer becomes an option.
What I don't get is this: If normally 50 percent of sales goes to the lyricist, and 50 percent goes to the composer. Then what about the singer? And what about musicians (if we had any), or the person mixing? As I see it, creating a song includes 3 different groups of people/functions
1) Someone to write the lyrics (our lyricist)
2) Someone to come up with the music (myself)
3) Someone to play the music (our singer and my keyboard)

From this I get the following:

Lyrics: 33%
music: 33%
singing: 33%

If you look at how much time spend, the sheet should be more like this:

Music: 70%
lyrics: 20%
singing 10%

Thats why I can't figure out what's fair. Please help.
 
If the other people agree to the 2nd one than thats fine. Sometimes you do equal share and others you can cut on work input.
If Im not mistaken, most label artists only make like 4%, unless they are a big name or have a Sanctuary-type deal. Either way, its about what is agreeable between everyone.

Then you can 'Blanket' this share over anytime money is made like shows and sales.
 
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It's all not about how much time is spent, it's more about results and what was done to lead to those results.
 
I agree. I could make killer beats, and still end up with a crappy song if the lyrics or the singer sucked. I guess it's a mix of time and talent.
 
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