CarrieHiggsSinger

Hi everyone! Obviously I know I should seek legal advice and I will, I'm just wondering what you guys think about this situation. I've just recorded with a production team. I know it's silly but we didn't draw a contract before we went up, as we hadn't completely finished all the tracks at the time and we had to 'show them'. Initially they agreed to a 50/50 split and i feel annoyed I didn't draw something up (crap) They are saying that they want a 70/30 deal (leaving my band with 30%)…and I'm thinking that's dreadful? My and my band are doing a 50/50 of that so called "30%" and since we are a pop duo, there are just 2 of us, so sure it could be worse, but i'm smelling a rat. Have a little look at the situation of the 5 track EP below: 1) Written by prod team and my band is just playing it [fair enough] 2) Written by prod team and my band is just playing it [fair enough] 3) Backing by them and I wrote melody and lyrics (which existed before the backing track). Because the lyrics existed before the backing track, I am fair in saying they get no songwriting royalties. I have proof of this, so I will show them. 4) Backing by them and I wrote melody and lyrics. They asked me to 'ad lib' over the middle 8 and I composed that MYSELF after the prodded me, so are they really entitled to co writing credit? After all, I was just 'prodded', so doesn't that just come under arrangement and production, rather than songwriting? I was going to do that anyway once I got into the studio but they asked this of me in the car before I even got there (we all took a cab to the studio) 5) Backing by them and I wrote melody and lyrics. They added one lyric to the chorus So i'm first of all thinking all songs should be under separate royalty/collection rates. What are your experiences in working with teams like this and any opinions? I'm wondering what the average deal is? 20% of each track gets taken from online services so that leaves my band with 10%…leaving me with 5%… (this means with this EP I could NOT get management or a label and we have already been offered management that I might take as I'm going to need someone more experienced to deal with these things) Bearing in mind they are doing no promotion for the tracks and just provided the backing music for most of them this is pretty steep, or am I being stupid? If I need to provide more details I will. Sorry if I'm not clear, I'm young and still learning and because i'm still in education I can't afford to keep asking for music law advice on things, so I'm asking about a bit first with some of you more experienced guys and girls on here ahha xxx

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