![]() ![]() ![]() Signing a co-writer agreement with your co-writer(s) is always recommended to clarify, among other things, co-authorship splits and avoid disagreements down the road as to what constitutes songwriting. Every case will be decided based on its unique facts, however, it’s fair to say that minor suggestions like, “hey you should put a capo on the first fret of the guitar”, probably won’t attract co-authorship status. Whether each co-writer also needs to intend the other to be a co-writer is, in Canada, an open legal question. Therefore, any significant original expression made to a song, such as lyrics, melody, memorable guitar riffs, cord progression in the chorus, etc., could constitute songwriting and attract co-authorship status if such contributions to the song are deemed to be ‘significant original expression’ and are carried out in furtherance of a common design to create the work. ![]() In that case, the court found that the Sarah McLachlan decision (Neudorf) followed American law, which imposes a requirement that collaborators also intend to regard each other as joint authors (this requirement is actually baked into American copyright legislation, but not into Canadian copyright legislation). The federal court of Canada rejected the common intention test that co-authors be joint authors (see Neugebauer v. However, not all Canadian courts have adopted the “common intention” test. One court case involving a dispute over Sarah McLachlan songs held that, in addition to the above, each songwriter needs to intend the other co-author to be a joint author. The conventional Canadian legal test for joint authorship also requires that there must be “joint labour in carrying out a common design.” As such, you and the beneficiaries of your estate could enjoy songwriting royalties for many years.Ī ‘joint author’ of a song needs to establish that they made some significant original expression to the song, keeping in mind that the contribution need not be equal to that of the other co-writer(s). Remember, copyright in a song lasts for the life of the author plus 50 years. The case law in Canada suggests that the shares of a co-written work/song are held by the co-writers as ‘tenants in common.’ This is a fancy way of saying that, if you co-write a song, provided you don’t assign your interest in the song to a third party (such as a music publisher), your interest in the song will pass to your estate upon death. For example, subject to an agreement to the contrary, the co-writers do not own the egg white and yoke separately – they each jointly own 50% of the entire pan of scrambled eggs. a song) “produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of one author is not distinct from the contribution of the other author or authors.” In other words, if you write a song with a co-author, unless you sign an agreement to the contrary, the co-writers will own the entire song jointly (for example: the lyrics and melody will not be distinct parts unless agreed otherwise).Ī frequently used analogy is that co-authoring a song is like cracking an egg and watching the egg white (lyrics) and yoke (melody) mix in an irreversible way. Under the Canadian Copyright Act, a ‘work of joint authorship’ means a work (i.e. As such, I wanted to take the opportunity to break down some key legal points when it comes to co-writing songs. This area of the law in Canada is often misunderstood and songwriter disputes are, in my experience, quite common. Whether you co-write with your co-writer(s) in your living room, spontaneously in the studio, during a song camp, or via Zoom, you need to consider all the ‘legal stuff’. What constitutes ‘songwriting’? What rights do songwriters have? Can a co-writer record the song or sign a synchronization license without the consent of the other co-writers? How do co-writers ‘split’ songs? What are the benefits of signing a written co-writer agreement? Does the legal stuff pertain to me? ![]()
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