Musical Conundrum

[Sky High Diamonds]

So, there's a musician and a singer.

They work together for 4 months and 2 songs come together well. The musician provided the music and mastered the songs. The singer writes the vocal melodies, the lyrics and provides the vocals.

The musical relationship comes to an end.

The musician gives his music to another singer and masters the same 2 songs. Singer 2 provides different melodies, vocals and lyrics.

The musician wants singer 1 to give up all rights to the use and ownership of both those songs to allow singer 2's versions to be released. Singer 1 likes the songs and keeps them for personal use and on a public music profile. The musician/producer gets arsey about this.

What should singer 1 do?

NB: this has nothing to do with Sky High Diamond's compositions

[GregH]

So, there's a musician and a singer.

They work together for 4 months and 2 songs come together well. The musician provided the music and mastered the songs. The singer writes the vocal melodies, the lyrics and provides the vocals.

The musical relationship comes to an end.

The musician gives his music to another singer and masters the same 2 songs. Singer 2 provides different melodies, vocals and lyrics.

The musician wants singer 1 to give up all rights to the use and ownership of both those songs to allow singer 2's versions to be released. Singer 1 likes the songs and keeps them for personal use and on a public music profile. The musician/producer gets arsey about this.

What should singer 1 do?

NB: this has nothing to do with Sky High Diamond's compositions

there are now 4 pieces of music _ i can't see why singer 1 should give up anything

[Sky High Diamonds]

There are some grey areas to consider too I guess, that there was never anything in writing, the musician never actually defined what they meant by 'personal use' when the project ended, the musician had said that they would write new music for a new project and not reuse anything that they had worked on with singer 1 and then did, and Singer 1 actually has no evidence that singer 2 isn't actually using singer 1's melodies and lyrics! Fun and games!

[GaryG]

I think singer 1 is in the clear; not sure how the musician would stand if he demanded the tracks taken down, maybe claiming his 'ownership' because he produced them? But if he wants to do that then singer 1 should claim a co-writing credit; sounds like they were probably created by bouncing ideas off each other to some extent.

But this is hardly a unique situation, sad but bands break up and then people squabble over 'rights' to WIPs (even though they've only ever played to a bloke and his dog down the local pub... )

[KrisM]

if I was singer 1, I'd like to be able to showcase my talent to others I'd like to sing with/for. If I was musician, I'd just write another song. After-all, I wrote it with that project in mind. If musician had written the songs months ago, and found a singer, then to me that's a different story.

Of course this is all "moral" opinion and grey area and stuff. Not sure there's a lot of "legal" recourse for musician in this case.

[Sky High Diamonds]

I think singer 1 is in the clear; not sure how the musician would stand if he demanded the tracks taken down, maybe claiming his 'ownership' because he produced them? But if he wants to do that then singer 1 should claim a co-writing credit; sounds like they were probably created by bouncing ideas off each other to some extent.

But this is hardly a unique situation, sad but bands break up and then people squabble over 'rights' to WIPs (even though they've only ever played to a bloke and his dog down the local pub... )

I agree with that. And there was lots of bouncing ideas off each other and although not totally amazing songs, they are good enough and the process was enjoyable too.

[Sky High Diamonds]

if I was singer 1, I'd like to be able to showcase my talent to others I'd like to sing with/for. If I was musician, I'd just write another song. After-all, I wrote it with that project in mind.

Absolutely. Thank you, and the public music profile is about being able to demonstrate examples of vocal work to others. The musician is adamant that they are his despite the collaborative nature of the work. I think singer 1 has a case for co ownership or to at least be able to play them to others as demos.

[seismic1]

I just moved this to the General Music Chat subforum. It seems to be a more logical home for this.

[Sky High Diamonds]

I just moved this to the General Music Chat subforum. It seems to be a more logical home for this.

Cheers :thumbsup:

[Sky High Diamonds]

If musician had written the songs months ago, and found a singer, then to me that's a different story.

Hi KrisM,

Can you explain a little more about what you mean by this please?

Thanks