Re:Hit songwriters ask pop stars to stop taking credit for s...
by exactlysolved on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @12:09PM
(#26649018)
This seems like a reductive view which is based on ignorance of how songwriting royalties work.
Songwriting credit is copyright in the music and lyrics of the song. Artist credit is copyright in a specific recording of a song.
So if you write a song which is a great song, and Arianna Grande records a lackluster version which nobody likes that much, but then several other artists pick up on the fact that it's a great song and record their own highly successful versions, then the songwriter would do very well from this, but Arianna Grande wouldn't share in the later success of the cover versions.
If Arianna gets a 30% writers credit just for putting her own 'vibe' on the original recording, then she participates in the upside of the cover versions, even though they might have been successful despite her rather than because of her.
Songwriting credit is copyright in the music and lyrics of the song. Artist credit is copyright in a specific recording of a song.
So if you write a song which is a great song, and Arianna Grande records a lackluster version which nobody likes that much, but then several other artists pick up on the fact that it's a great song and record their own highly successful versions, then the songwriter would do very well from this, but Arianna Grande wouldn't share in the later success of the cover versions.
If Arianna gets a 30% writers credit just for putting her own 'vibe' on the original recording, then she participates in the upside of the cover versions, even though they might have been successful despite her rather than because of her.