WHAT IS JOINT AUTHORSHIP?

Each person who makes any significant contribution to the music or the lyrics of a song will be considered a “joint author” of the song for copyright purposes, provided the collaborators intend that their contributions be merged into an integrated work. The contributions can be separate but interdependent, as when one person writes the music and another the lyrics to a song, or inseparable, as when two or more members of a group contribute to the lyrics or the music to a song. Generally, in cases where the authors work together at the same time and the same place, the song will be considered a "joint work".

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WHO IS CONSIDERED A JOINT AUTHOR?

In order to be a joint author, the person’s contribution must be copyrightable. That is, it must amount to original expression, and not simply ideas, advice, direction or approval. But someone who contributes to the actual words or music will be considered a joint author, even if his contribution is less than that of the other authors. All joint authors do not have to contribute equally to the writing of the songs. Someone who performs a song, but does not contribute to the writing of the song will not be considered a joint author.

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WHAT PART OF A WORK DOES A JOINT AUTHOR OWN?

Joint authors are co-owners of the copyright in the joint work. Unless the joint authors have agreed otherwise, each author is entitled to exploit the copyright herself, and to license others to do so, as long as she pays her co-authors their share of any profits earned. Each joint author receives an equal share of the profits from the song, regardless of the quantity or quality of each author’s contribution.

So, an author who contributed ten percent of the lyrics and music and another author who contributed the other ninety percent of the lyrics and music would each receive fifty percent of the revenues generated by the song. Joint authors can always agree to change this division of revenues. It is best to do so by written agreement.

In order to save money on copyright registration fees, some bands register all their works on one application and then execute a copyright assignment agreement which spells out how each member can use the work during the term of the copyright and/or in the future if the band is no longer together. Basically – who owns what when. Click here for more information about our Copyright Assignment Agreement put together just for bands.

A joint author would also be a person you hired to play bass on your cd, for example. This person would be considered an author of the performance, but since you paid him, he would be considered a work-made-for-hire and thus not have any ownership claim in the copyrighted material. It is always best to execute a work-made-for-hire agreement. Click here for more information on the Click&Copyright Work Made For Hire Agreement.

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EXAMPLES OF JOINT AUTHORSHIP AND IT’S AFFECT ON COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION

Click here to learn about how joint authors can copyright all their song lyrics with just one copyright application

Click here to learn about how joint authors can copyright all their recorded songs or music with just one copyright application

JOINT AUTHORSHIP EXAMPLE #1

Three band members, Tom, Lydia and Eric, record a CD of ten songs.

Tom writes all the music, Lydia writes all the lyrics. All three produce and record the CD.

The written songs can be registered with a single registration identifying Tom and Lydia as joint authors and owners of the copyright, or the application could identify the group as the author of the songs (if Tom and Lydia want to include Eric).

The sound recording itself can be registered with a separate application identifying the three individual band members as the authors and copyright owners, or identifying the band as the author/owner.

Both the lyrics and performance of the songs can be registered with a single application so long as all the people claiming ownership in all elements (lyrics and recorded performance of the songs) are the same. If the group decided to register like this to save copyright filing expenses, they could execute a copyright assignment agreement which would spell out who owns the rights to what songs (and/or lyrics) in the event the group disbands.

JOINT AUTHORSHIP EXAMPLE #2

A group has five members, Karen, Jodie, Bryan, Nick and Christine. They record a CD containing ten songs.

Jodie and Bryan compose the music and lyrics to four songs. Karen and Christine compose the music and Nick writes the words for five songs.

One of the songs is a cover of a well-known song not written by anyone in the group.

They cannot register the songs on the CD as a collection with a single application because the owner of the copyrights in all the songs is not the same.

Jodi and Bryan could register their copyright in the four songs they wrote together as a collection with a single application, as could Karen, Christine and Nick for their songs, or they could identify the group as the author and owner of the nine songs the members of the group wrote as a collection using a single application (and making an appropriate transfer of ownership as necessary from the authors to the entire group).

They cannot register a collection that includes any songs owned by someone outside the group.

JOINT AUTHORSHIP EXAMPLE #3

There are four members in the group, Dave, Jake, Jon and Phil.

They have written ten songs -- five of which have been recorded on a CD, five others of which only the music has been recorded on tape, but not the words.

Dave, Phil and Jon wrote all of the lyrics. Jake and Jon wrote all the music. All ten songs can be registered with a single application because all four members contributed to and are joint authors of every song (at least one author is common to all of the individual pieces)

Either the individual authors or the group can be identified on the application as the author. But, in order to register all ten songs with a single application, the group will have to submit either a single recording containing all the songs, music and lyrics, or will have to submit the music and lyrics in written form.

JOINT AUTHORSHIP EXAMPLE #4

Al wrote the lyrics and music to three songs and co-wrote lyrics and music to four songs with Sue. So Al is the author and owner of three songs, and Al and Sue are co-owners of four songs. All seven songs can be registered with a single application only if Al transfers an ownership interest in the three songs he wrote to Sue, since all the copyright claimants must be the same if registering a collection of songs with just one application (in addition to the requirement that at least one of the authors be the same for each song).