A friend of mine has written many songs in his native tongue (not English) which had been 'tucked away' and untouched for many years ... he is now looking to have them published and has asked me to become his 'partner' to do the actual manuscript work - putting the notes to paper - so they can be filed ... in his native country he is a standing member of what would be the equivalent to ASCAP here in the US ... He has just over 100 songs, so the writing is going to be a fairly formidable task ... we will also be recording mp3s using my kb ...
He wants to make this a formal partnership - legal papers and all ...
My question, especially to the 'songwriters' here, is "what is a reasonable percentage to ask for?" ... As I said, he has composed all the lyrics and melodies, but I need to put them on paper ...
Your advice would be welcome ...
thnx in advance,
t.
PS ... I realize that the 'cleanest' way for me to do this would be to charge a flat rate per song and be done with it, but I like the idea of being involved going forward ...
t.

Tony, I do lots of production and recording on commercial music.

Part of the work is per hour or project. That would be for someone I don't know, who has no shot at volume sales.

Part is an hourly rate for the work, plus points. For example, 10 points is a dime a unit to me.

About 1/2 of the work is points only, because I only played on one or two cuts.

Still, some of the participation checks are healthy.

Sounds like you are a good friend, so if it were me, I'd negotiate a points mechanism if there is any chance there would be resulting sales.

Sadly, that's probably not going to happen in a major way, because of the business related issues a break-out writer/artist has to overcome.

Email me privately, and I can tell you what I know and connect you with people in the industry who do this all the time.

The original members of Exile are all friends and are involved in nearly every aspect of music production (think huge writing and production fees) in Nashville.

I have regular contact and work with others everyone would know, who would be glad to not only help with your situation, but with intros and promotion, if the material is strong.


Russ

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 12-16-2010).]

Russ ... thank you... you will be getting mail ...
t.