writing lyrics for songs?

Question

My dad submitted lyrics to a company in Nashville. They want him to send about $400 to pay for the "music arrangement." Then they have musicians record it, put it on a compilation CD for artists to listen to and, if someone is interested in recording it, he gets a 50% writers commission. Is this the standard in country music writing and do you think he should send in the money? Thanks. He is retired and I do not want him to spend the money if this is not the way this works.

Answer 1

This is definitly not the way it works!
When a writer writes lyrics they are the 100% owner of the song.
If they collaborate with someone to write the music then two of them will split 100%.If you have more than 2 writers on a song then the 100% will be split evenly. In your father's case; he submitted to a company who wants him to pay them to write the music to his song. That not called arranging,it is considered co-writing. That means they are the co-writers.Why should he have to pay them to co-write if they are splitting the writer royalties? If your dad is paying them they should be doing "work for hire" otherwise you don't pay a co-writer & give them 50% unless they are a well established writer and charges a fee for their time.
This company is a joke! They have been around for along time preying on people who really love songwrting.I have heard about these company's many times before.

Here are some suggestions for your father:
Join a songwriter affiliation such as (Ascap.com, BMI.com, or Sesac.com)
they are all free and they can bridge the gap between lyricist, and musicians.
After joining they have an extensive classified list of producers/musicians looking for lyricist in the Country genre.
After doing so he can connect with them and start getting his music recorded in demo form.
Let him know there will be a investment on his part.But it is for his benefit not another company who only want's to steal his publishing.
The writer affiliation will give him tips to shop his music to artist looking for songs.
Don't pay the $400! Unless you just want to give money away.

Answer 2

This doesn't sound like it's on the up and up to me. But then again, I'm no lyricist. I have noted books on how the music industry works that are available on-line, or at Barnes or Borders. Hope you can convince Dad to hold off a little on sending away such a large sum of money before doing a little more investigating.

Answer 3

I assume this is how they make demos. The musicians get credit for the music and your Dad would get credit for his lyrics. Both sides have to trust that each other is what's best for his song.

Too bad your Dad isn't a musician too or this question would be a mute point.

Answer 4

Sounds like he should send the lyrics to a different company