Help! with a very complex song royalty situation

[novakain1]

Hi guys. Here's the situation. Our record label is about to release a new single on Itunes (and other digital vendors) by our new artist (let's call him Singing Guy). He wrote and recorded the song about 5 years ago with his former band and it was never formally released, physically nor digitally. He wrote the lyrics and the other 4 musicians wrote and performed the music . The band registered the copyright and the split was: Lyrics by Singer Guy (50%) and music by the other 4 guys (50%). The band broke up and Singer Guy is signed to our label. We can't find some of the ex band members. Do we release the song as recorded (it sounds great) and wait for them to hear the song and come to us or do we bring in new musicians to replay the music (interpolation), have Singing Guy redo the vocals and fill out an SR form? And, if we do redo the music, are the original writers due any mechanicals from us, the record label. Do we need their permission and written agreement to release the song as is? Do we need their permission and written agreement to release the interpolation? There is no publishing company involved except for ours (and maybe their own personal companies set up with Ascap and BMI). What's your take?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

This isn't an easy question to answer. Regardless of whether you use new musicians to record the song, if the group created the song there is a copyright on the composition. Issues like this are what makes it difficult for band members to make deals without having an agreement on the table from the outset between the members. You really need to hire an entertainment law attorney to best manage all the issues.