[david henman]

...my understanding is that the musicians don't get credit for simply coming up with their respective parts.

however, i also understand that if the bassist or drummer invents a "signature" part that is deemed integral to the song, they should receive credit.

where it gets cloudy is, for example, if the bassist suggests that the chorus should come after the bridge, or if he suggests an F#m in lieu of an A major.

how do other songwriters deal with similar issues?

-dh

 

[Guest]

...my understanding is that the musicians don't get credit for simply coming up with their respective parts.

This really depends on the band. And the genre. It's more common in pop and R&B for producers to get writing credits because the bass lines and drum programming are such signatures on the song and it's less about raw chord changes.

however, i also understand that if the bassist or drummer invents a "signature" part that is deemed integral to the song, they should eceive credit.

If you write a/the hook you should definitely get credit for it. Especially in pop and R&B type stuff.

where it gets cloudy is, for example, if the bassist suggests that the chorus should come after the bridge, or if he suggests an F#m in lieu of an A major.

In any band I've been in that counts as collaborative writing. Even really intense re-arrangements counted for co-authorship.

how do other songwriters deal with similar issues?

Diplomatically. I've been lucky enough to co-write with reasonable people I suppose. And I myself am pretty generous with authorship credits. My co-writers are first and foremost my friends, I'm not out to screw them over. I've always split the song in half: lyrics and music. If only one person wrote lyrics they get 50% and then we divvy up the remaining 50% for the musical contributions. If the lyricist also contributed 50% of the music they get a total of 75% of the song. ASCAP lets you slice it as thin as you like.