collaborative works

[lyrica]

What is the name of your state? az

I am a singer/songwriter. I recently responded to an ad from a band that is
looking for a vocalist. They asked that potential singers go to thier website,
download thier music and write lyrics and record vocals to it. I did this
(after sending myself a certified copy in the mail) they liked it but dont want
a female vocalist. Now I have lyrics and a vocal arrangement to their music and
want to know if I can legally use the completed work as long as I give them
credit for the music as well as pay them any shares of any future proceeds.
What exactly are my rights in useing or performing this piece?

 

[divgradcurl]

"What exactly are my rights in useing or performing this piece?"

You probably DON'T have any rights to use or perform the work. When you added your lyrics and vocal talents to their underlying music, you created a "derivative work" -- one could argue that the works created as part of the audition were licensed, but a good argument could be made that the license was a "limited purpose" license only covering the audition. Short answer, while they gave you permission to use their music to create a song as part of your audition, they did not give you permission to continue to use the song for purposes other than the audition.

If you want to continue to use the song, you'll need their permission. For what it's worth, they will need YOUR permission to use the lyrics and vocal structure that YOU developed.

Of course, if there were contracts written and signed that state otherwise, forget what I just said!

 

[lyrica]

I have a book titled " All you need to know about the music business" by Author Donald S. Passman ( a lawyer specializing inthe music business for a couple of decades).
His book states that "the law says, to have a joint work, you only need an author who intends, at the time of creation, to merge his or her work w/ someone elses. So, to have a joint work, you dont need to be in the same room and you dont have to know each other-". He then refers to a case - The "meloncholy baby" case (Shapiro Bernstein vs. Vogel, 161 F2nd 406 [1947]. My only concern is I spent time and effort on this project and it showcases MY work as well, and as an artist a demo is essential for your carreer. Am I just suppose to have these lyrics and vocal arrangements w/ no other use for them except to collect dust?

 

[lyrica]

I'd also like to add that I am very, very proud of the work I did on this piece.

 

[divgradcurl]

Did you have any contractual agreement with the band, or did they have any agreements for you to read prior to developing your lyrics and vocal arrangements? If so, then those agreements would likely determine who had what rights.

I still think that this is an issue of a derivative work, but there MAY be an argument for a derivative work. The thing is, do you want to get lawyers involved?

If you don't have a contractual agreement, have you asked them if you could use the song as a demo?