Serious question here...

Who should take credit for the ''writing'' of a song? i ask because i always think of the writer of the lyrics. But people also forgot those who write the actual ''music'' of the song.

This came up after i watched a thing about Don Felder. He wrote the riff for Hotel California and then Henley made lyrics around it. But only Henley got credit... and Don didn't.

Some artists like Rage Against The Machine all 4 took credit on writing. I think people mainly just think of ''lyrics'' when it comes to writing... and not writing the music.

Should the people who make the music get credit as well? even if there just a studio musician? or should it be the actual writer of the lyrics?

Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey are all credited for writing "Hotel California". Where do you get your information?

Bernie Taupin = lyrics

Elton John = music

Both get credit. If a writer is only the person who writes lyrics, then how would that work for intrumental acts? But really credit is given to whoever gets registered at the copyright office. They don't have to contribute anything. Elvis Presley didn't write words, nor music, but he's credited on many of his songs as Colonel Parker set it up this way. The Cadillacs' manager Esther Navarro took credit for songs written by the members, and they didn't get registered at all, so she got all the royalties. Some bands give credit to all the members, even if an individual had nothing to do with it. A lot of Lennon/McCartney songs were written separately. Sometimes the arranger is given credit. On the original pressings of Rapper's Delight, only the 3 members of the Sugarhill Gang and Sylvia Robinson are credited. Later pressings, they're not and Bernard Edwards & Nile Rogers are. Grandmaster Caz wrote most of Big Bank Hank's lyrics and he's not credited on either version. The beginning of the song comes from Here Comes That Sound Again, and the writers of that are not credited either. Some writers give credit to family members or friends to help them out. It's been said that James Brown & George Clinton have sometimes taken credit for ideas their band members came up with, and this has happened with other groups too.

[Edited 7/17/14 13:03pm]

It might be because when a person writes the lyrics they usually write the melody as well, and I think only the melody counts. But I do remember the song "Every Breath You Take" in which Sting wrote the song with the exception of its most memorable part; Andy Summers guitar lick. Summers recieved no writing credit.

Traditionally, studio musicians/singers/session players (persons not officially a member of the band), are paid employees and work for a flat fee for their services. They know this going into the gig and are happy to just have a gig. Most times they are just there to play/sing what is given to them. So if a player or singer contributes something beyond that during the creative process and doesn't have some sort of agreement beforehand concerning their potential input, or their employer isn't gracious with sharing credit or publishing, they are usually shit out of luck. It may not be fair but that's how the game is played.

Gunsnhalen said:

Serious question here...

Who should take credit for the ''writing'' of a song? i ask because i always think of the writer of the lyrics. But people also forgot those who write the actual ''music'' of the song.

This came up after i watched a thing about Don Felder. He wrote the riff for Hotel California and then Henley made lyrics around it. But only Henley got credit... and Don didn't.

Some artists like Rage Against The Machine all 4 took credit on writing. I think people mainly just think of ''lyrics'' when it comes to writing... and not writing the music.

Should the people who make the music get credit as well? even if there just a studio musician? or should it be the actual writer of the lyrics?

The Nergopean, of course...

She even wrote your post. You BETTER give her credit!! Or she'll TAKETH IT!

David Byrne's positon on this is "lyrics and melody"--goes back to it several times in his How Music Works book... probably at least in part because that's what he brought to the Talking Heads, and he's often talking in the context of claiming things as his that grew sometimes out of jams and the like. But it's true. If the person responsible for those wants to share with others who've contributed riffs or parts, they certainly can (and maybe morally should)... but they don't have to.

And this is why a lot of the "blank stole this song" stuff that goes on annoys me. Not as much as completely stupid things like the "Bitter Sweet Symphony" case (yeah, it's got the sample, but...) but the mundane complaints. Similar chords? Pretty much standard bass lines?

In my band, we allocate 50% of the writers credits to the musical composers and 50% to the lyricists/melody writers. That's fair.

50/50 publishing split between lyric writer & music writer(s) is standard.

More important than credit though is the money split. In the one band I was in that had the potential to make money, our publishing deal allowed the three non-writers a small percentage of the music portion. The main songwriter got I think 75% and the rest of us got 8% each.

That seemed fair. Even though the three of us probably couldn't write our way out a paper bag, we did make suggestions for how to turn his riffs and melodies into a finished piece. We'd jam on the riffs and I would say "we should have a middle section between those two, something like this." And the bass player would suggest a chord change for the bridge, and we would collectively hammer out the parts until we had an arrangement. So I think we did deserve, maybe not the biggest part of the credit, but something. We were there, the main writer would have had a different result working with different people. We all made decisions that shaped the song.

And financially, while the writer still gets the biggest chunk, we at least get a little piece. If we got famous and he was able to live in a mansion, we would have been able to at least keep up an apartment.

And it also keeps the drummer and the bass player from thinking "Well I'd better write a song and get it on the album if I ever want to see publishing money."