Songwriting collaborations: Grammys' new rules, understanding credit split in Brazil, and more
From 2017 until May 26th 2021, the Grammy Awards' songwriter eligibility rule for Album of the Year nomination was that they should be credited with at least 33% playing time of the album. This rule changed recently: now, any songwriter or producer working on the album can be nominated. (Source: AP News)
This is one of the many ways in which the participation quota of a songwriter or producer can impact their career, for better or for worse.
Naturally, the Grammy rule is not related to copyright law and doesn't make that much difference for Brazilian songwriters.
But if you are making or investing in music in Brazil, you may want to understand how our system works when it comes to the distribution of royalties for songwriters. It’s a little different from other countries such as the United States.
Understanding songwriting collaborations in the music industry
Songwriting collaborations are frequent in the music industry, it has always been like this. But, especially from the 2010s until now, there has been an increase in the number of songwriters credited per song.
This is symptomatic of many factors:
- a rise in collaborations as a tool for better songwriting;
- a rise in collaborations as a way to boost songwriter's careers;
- less expressive collaborations being credited as a way to prevent copyright claims;
- "formalization" of the participation of sampled songs' songwriters;
- and more.
But how do these collaborations are reflected in the maths of composition credits?
Does it matter if a songwriter wrote an entire section of the song, or if they contributed with one word only?
Understanding songwriting split in Brazil
Songwriting split rules are very flexible, which can be both a good and a bad thing.
“How much” of a song must you write to be considered a composer or lyricist? Theoretically, any effective contribution (that is: one that ends up being part of the song), be it minimal or a big one, can be considered. Songwriters are free to agree on the participation quota of each one in a song (beware that we are talking about lyrics and melody — not the full record yet).
One thing you must know about copyright law in Brazil is that, actually, we don't use the "copyright" system. Like France, Brazilian law adopts the droit d’auteur. This means, among other things, Brazil acknowledges moral rights, including the right for an author to be recognized as such.
Many songwriters use song split sheets to document the split percentages, and some just do verbal agreements and later inform them to the record producers.
Songwriting split percentages inform the registration of a composition with the publisher, and, once the song is recorded, they inform the creation of the record’s ISRC (International Standard Recording Code).
Different from the ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code), ISRC must be manually created by the producer of the master recording (known in Brazil as "phonogram").
Understanding songwriting split in Brazil
Once an artist/label buys the rights over the composition to record it (in Brazil, we usually call this “liberação” or “autorização” — literally an authorization to record a composition), the payment is split between publisher and songwriters — as for songwriters, the split follows what they agreed upon and what they informed.
As for performance rights royalties (for public broadcast of music), in Brazil, payment is split in the following way:
- 10% goes to ECAD, Brazil’s Central Bureau for Collection and Distribution (Escritório Central de Arrecadação e Distribuição);
- 5% goes to performance rights organizations;
- 85% goes to copyright holders as registered in the ISRC (songwriters, publishers, performing singers, and musicians, record producers).
- 2/3 of these 85% goes to publishers and songwriters (lyricists and composers); 1/3 goes to performing singers, and musicians, record producers.
- These 2/3 are split accordingly to the percentages registered in the ISRC.
As you can see, being correctly credited in a song and master is fundamental to be paid and have your artistry rightfully acknowledged.
If you make, distribute, or invest in music in Brazil, make sure you seek Intellectual Property advising.
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This blog post is published for informational purposes only, and is not intended to promote any of the brands or services here mentioned. The information on this blog post is based on the laws in force at the time it was written, and its use does not create an attorney-client relationship, as this blog post does not consist of or replace legal advice neither business consultancy services.
3Três Consultoria e Criação (Consulting & Creative) specializes in the intersection of creative, Intellectual Property Law, and communication services.
Contact us at: contato@3trescc.com
