What constitutes a co-written song?

[snail]

So the way my band writes songs, is that the guitarist will usually come to jam with the whole song written. We will all give suggestions here and there and write our own parts. I work really hard on my parts and my contribution to the development of the song but the guitarist still calls it 'his' song. That's fine with me, but I'm just afraid that when we get around to recording all this stuff and that I won't be credited on the songwriting. But I also wonder if I even should be.

[artvanderbilt]

If the guitarist wrote the entire song out, all of the lyrics, all of the chords, depending how exactly how much you guys change it, it's still his song, since the bare core of a song is comprised of its chords, main melody, and lyrics.

[sevenorchids]

Yep. A song consists of a melody and lyrics. Not a drum line, or a bass line, or a rhythm guitar line (unless it is melodic). So, if the guitarist comes to the table with the melody and lyrics, it's his/her song, in the eyes of copyright law. Some bands get around that by making all songs "Written by <band name>".

[Implosion]

Originally Posted by sevenorchids

Yep. A song consists of a melody and lyrics.

Damn, our songs don't have any melodies, just riffs

To the OP, start writing songs yourself. It's fun as hell and on the bonus side you can get the credits

[denhou1974]

Marq Jefferson was cowriter for the TLC song 'waterfalls'. The chord progression and lyrics were already there he just laid down the bass. Before he starts a session he asks the producer if he should "write something" or is the producer going to tell him what to play.

My point is - I think it's all in the negotiation. If I were in an original band I would insist on being co-writer of any songs that the bands plays. If the guitarist wants all the credit then he should start a solo project [then pay me to play bass ]

[snail]

I'm trying to write songs by myself, that's why I bought a guitar and am attempting (with some difficulty) to learn how to play it. But the thing is, I add a lot of melody to our songs on bass. Many of our verses are very open and I take advantage of that by coming up with a melodic groove. I am always trying to play outside of the root. I'd truly hate it when our first album is recorded and it says 'all songs written by [guitarist]'.

[newparade]

The post above about it being "melody and lyrics" is correct. As far as I know, that is the default of what constitutes the song. It's a throw-back to the first days of song publishing. Anything else above and beyond that is a negotiated thing. There were lots of Lennon and McCartney songs they wrote together and there were lots of them that only one wrote with no input from the other.

Now that all being said...

I was in a fantastic originals band once. And we wasted a lot of time and had to deal with a lot of bad blood wading through these issues one summer. If I had it to do over again, I would rather have put that energy into making the band the best it could have been. It's best to hash out these details when the band forms.

[Calebmundy]

U2 credits everything as "(writer) and U2". That way the writer gets half the credit and money, plus their share of the band credit and money. Seems like a good arrangement, and one that I would be unusually lucky to get in my current band, where I am more than happy to let the main guy take the credit. He is incredible, and he's allowing me to contribute some and come along for the ride. I had some fits about taking too much ownership in what's going on, and in general it was a big waste of time and energy. When you consider the likelyhood of a record becoming even locally popular-not to menion ever becoming a source of income, it's pretty stupid to get into that kind of thinking. I was deifinitely in a band in highschool that had a lot of potential to do cool stuff if it weren't for the members caring about what might happen later.