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Songwriter's Guide
by Gary Schuster
Introduction
Songwriters, like other artists, are not generally renowned for their
business acumen. There are, of course, some very shrewd songwriters. Most are
simply competent. All would probably prefer to forget about paperwork and
concentrate on writing songs. Unfortunately, wishing does not make it so. All
songwriters must eventually face copyright forms, contracts, royalty statements,
tax returns and other species of paperwork. It should be obvious that the
songwriter who understands this paperwork will make better deals, keep more
money, and live a better life.
This book is really about
the
thinking you must do
as a songwriter in the music business.
This book is designed to introduce songwriters to their paperwork and
show how to do it. In some cases, it will allow you to do for yourself things
that you would otherwise pay someone else to do for you. In other cases, it will
allow you to make sure that other people are doing their jobs properly. And in
very complex matters involving the services of attorneys or accountants, it will
at least enable you to speak intelligently and furnish these professionals with
the information and assistance they require.
Paperwork is boring, complicated and potentially harmful if done incorrectly.
But the real problem is not the chore of writing words or numbers in little
boxes on a page. The real problem is the thinking you must do before you write.
This book is not about penmanship (as if I could teach that!). It is about the
thinking you must do as a songwriter in the music business. And in learning how
to manage this paperwork, you will be learning about the laws and structure and
procedures of your chosen industry.
One of the first things to learn is the distinction between songwriters and
other participants in the music business. Once up on a time, songwriters wrote
songs and singers sang them and never the twain did meet. Since the late 1950s
or early 1960s, however, more and more writers have been performing their own
works. This has occurred to such an extent that many of us who grew up during or
after the 60s think of this as the "natural" way. But it is not the way things
began. Recording artists should not be confused with songwriters. At times they
may happen to be the same person, but from a legal or business viewpoint they
are very different. They own different pieces of property, they have different
rights, they are paid in different ways and by different companies. Even the
copyrights taken out by songwriters (the ©) and record companies (the P) are
somewhat different. For these and other reasons, the distinction between writers
and performers must be kept firmly in mind, even when one person is wearing both
hats. This distinction is also important because this book deals only with
songwriting. It does not deal with recording. Nor does it deal with personal
management, personal appearances, film, video, TV or other topics which can be
closely related to songwriting.
Before investigating the various types of Songwriter's Guide, it will be
useful to present an overview of the music industry as seen from the perspective
of the songwriter. There are many actors whose names and functions must become
familiar, and many terms whose meanings must become clear. Consider, then, this
chart, which illustrates
the text in the following chapter.
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