Production arrangement and performance

[steve cam]

Hello everyone I have a question,17 years ago I produced a very young artist who had written a song and wanted to have a go at recording it so they came to me through a mutual acquaintance, we got a good vocal take but for reasons I cannot remember we never finished producing the track , today this person is a successful recording artist world wide, a couple of weeks ago I came across the recordings we did 17 years ago and as a result have now finished arranging and producing the song, I also know the song has never been used there is no trace of it and it is a good song, so my questions, do I have any legal right to release this track as it's producer and arranger ? do I need permission from the artist ? at the moment I have been lead to believe as long as the artist is correctly credited for writing the song there is no problem because the artist would receive any royalties due ?.

Any advice would be good and appreciated

Steve Cam  

[steve cam]

To be honest I finished the song just to see where it went and was pleased with the result, my first thought was just sending it to the artist as a blast from the past but then it was suggested there might be an opportunity to make some money so I am just trying to look into any kind of possibility that may or may not exist.

Thanks for your response,  

[steve cam]

It is not my intent to take anyone's material, plagiarism is the last thing on my mind, as a musician and writer myself I have had a number of my pieces reworked and produced by other musicians which I am only too happy to allow,I also recognize the contribution those other musicians have made to my original work, in my experience most writers are more than happy to hear a different take on their original idea.

  

[steve cam]

Hi Tom one final note, having read my original post I can see why it might seem as though I am trying to make money out of material I did not write perhaps I worded it wrong, I felt by your last post you took some kind of offence ? however it does feel to me like you have misunderstood a fundamental premise, As the producer and arranger for the song, with the artists permission and agreement be it 17 years ago, I earn the credit for producer and arranger that's why 99% of recorded songs have a producer or producer and arranger credited, the value of a song starts with the lyrics followed by the music followed by performance and finally production so if there were money involved I would be way down the list, personally I have always questioned the fact a lyricist can earn more money than the person who wrote the music ? but then I am a musician who hates writing lyrics, the fact I didn't write the song does not diminish the fact I arranged and produced it and if there is a legal way for me to get my work heard by a large number of people whether it involves money or not I would be a fool not to look into it, the important thing is the credit and the recognition for the work,as a musician yourself I am sure you can appreciate that.

Take care

Steve 

[steve cam]

Thanks David for the response, firstly, there is no original arrangement of the song, the song was created from a vocal line we created in the studio as an experiment based on a set of lyrics all ready written, as far as my breakdown to the value of a song based on units sold and the money earned by those involved I can only go on my own experience when looking at the breakdown on money gained from my own work and my lyricist most definitely earned more than me ! finally I have contacted the artist and have been told he is surprised and delighted to hear something he had completely forgotten about, I have no idea what will happen but we have a meeting in September who knows ?

Steve     

[MonoStone]

Just spotted this post and it interests me... I have no expert knowledge on copyright etc.

 

Surely it depends on what you personally invented? A vocal line alone doesn't make a song (does it?). Who wrote the music? How was the song developed? Did you suggest or make changes to the original melody idea or develop it?  I'd be really interested to hear a detailed breakdown of what happened and who did what... I'm guessing all that must matter in law too.

 

If you contributed significantly musically, or more so if you took a simple vocal line and made it into a great song...then I hope you're rewarded. If you recorded, arranged and mixed a song mainly invented by the artist then I suppose you'd have to hope they'd want to use your personally produced version of it in order for you to gain anything at all. But... what do I know... 

 

I'm interested because I like working with new artists and who knows where they might be one day.... (I'd love to know who this is!  )

 

Hope you'll share the results with us when you get there.

 

(I don't get why Tom sounds so angry   ).

[cosignsessions]

I found this intriguing. I have an old hard drive that contains songs from an unknown band I was recording/producing around 2007-2008. They subsequently did not finish the project (the led songwriter and I had a mild disagreement). Eventually the band broke up and the songwriter and drummer from the band moved to Seattle. Next thing I know I am watching a Corona commercial and hear a voice I distinctly recognize. Good ole Google proved my ears right! I must admit that the music on the hard drive is nowhere nearly as marketable as what they produce now on the SubPop label. But to the point. I pushed buttons and gave suggestions (some taken and most ignored). The only thing I own is the hard-drive (I own it because a contract I had with the members of the band was not fulfilled). But a lot of time has gone by and I would gladly give it to the guys if they ever wanted it (though I don't see why the 2 members that now tour the world would be interested. But the guys that didn't reach that level of success would probably like the evidence.....).