Session players/Ownership of recordings/Band politics and break up

skopje · 27th July 2009

Hi there Gearslutz board...

I'm posting this to get some help for a friend. I'm also interested becasue i often hire Violin and cellists on my own work.....

The lady in question started out as a solo artist. Paid a producer a one of fee, and went into the studio.

The producer said her playing wasn't up to it, so she got in a violin player, and then a cellist...

This morphed into a band. The violin player and cellist played on the album embelishing her parts, but not contributing to songwriting or writing major parts or riffs. No baker street sax parts.

The band then broke up. My friend is offering to pay them a fixed fee for the sessions, but one of them is trying to claim mechanical royalities on all future cd sales, and song writing royalties.

As far as i'm concerned, she wrote the songs, she paid for the recordings, and owns the tapes, so thats that, And is also doing the ethical thing of offering to pay for their session rates.

Are there any hidden pitfalls for her? Have i given her the right advice not to worry to much about it

stephen

chrisso · 27th July 2009

Session players will typically 'embellish' parts, toss in new ideas and new ways of playing something. That's one of the reasons they get hired.
If these session players are asking for writing credits they are inexperienced, or something else went on during the making of the album you don't know or haven't passed on in your post.
One major thing though..... the business arrangement regarding hiring session players should have been hammered out before they played a note. Should have been understood by all and plainly agreed upon. Then there would be no argument after the fact.

narcoman · 28th July 2009

as mentioned on the other forums - tell them to put in an invoice and that's that. If they didn't write anything then it'll go no further. Tell her to stop worrying - proving you wrote something, especially when you didn't, is very very hard.

Session players through and through.

27th July 2009	#1
skopje Gear nut Joined: Apr 2006 Location: Watford/London Posts: 99 Thread Starter	Session players/Ownership of recordings/Band politics and break up Hi there Gearslutz board... I'm posting this to get some help for a friend. I'm also interested becasue i often hire Violin and cellists on my own work..... The lady in question started out as a solo artist. Paid a producer a one of fee, and went into the studio. The producer said her playing wasn't up to it, so she got in a violin player, and then a cellist... This morphed into a band. The violin player and cellist played on the album embelishing her parts, but not contributing to songwriting or writing major parts or riffs. No baker street sax parts. The band then broke up. My friend is offering to pay them a fixed fee for the sessions, but one of them is trying to claim mechanical royalities on all future cd sales, and song writing royalties. As far as i'm concerned, she wrote the songs, she paid for the recordings, and owns the tapes, so thats that, And is also doing the ethical thing of offering to pay for their session rates. Are there any hidden pitfalls for her? Have i given her the right advice not to worry to much about it stephen __________________ Dark acoustic music, that haunts and destroys the soul www.skopje.co.uk http://www.myspace.com/skopjemusic

27th July 2009	#2
chrisso Gear Guru Joined: Oct 2002 Location: Oz Posts: 16,868	Session players will typically 'embellish' parts, toss in new ideas and new ways of playing something. That's one of the reasons they get hired. If these session players are asking for writing credits they are inexperienced, or something else went on during the making of the album you don't know or haven't passed on in your post. One major thing though..... the business arrangement regarding hiring session players should have been hammered out before they played a note. Should have been understood by all and plainly agreed upon. Then there would be no argument after the fact. __________________ Chris Whitten

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
heads up..mac users...new version of band in a box with real session players.	manning1	Music computers	2	22nd May 2009 05:47 PM
More remote session players!	longview	Jobs Offered	0	22nd April 2009 06:09 PM
Session Players	Synthy08	Rap + Hip Hop engineering & production	23	11th March 2009 08:04 PM
High End Session Players	meagsy	High end	26	7th February 2007 07:30 AM
How to find and hire session players in L.A.	SK1	High end	29	20th June 2006 07:00 PM

28th July 2009	#3
narcoman Lives for gear Joined: May 2007 Location: UK Posts: 9,574	as mentioned on the other forums - tell them to put in an invoice and that's that. If they didn't write anything then it'll go no further. Tell her to stop worrying - proving you wrote something, especially when you didn't, is very very hard. Session players through and through.