Thanks Gordon!

Yes Florida. That is what I said. There are only 2 copyrights in most recordings - the underlying performance on the record - or the mp3 which is the "Sound Recording" copyright and the copyright in the underlying musical composition. Steve

Thanks for the comment Tobias. This is a difficult question. It is almost like "you had to be there". In my experience as a musician the bands I was a member of never had any doubt about this. A member or two would come in with a new song and the whole band would "work it up" for performance. Unless you happened to be the person who brought in the song you never claimed to be a writer. It is like working up a cover song - just because you add your own licks and interpretations for performance purposes doesn't mean you can now claim ownership in that song.

Good to hear from you Josh. Glad to help. Best of luck! Steve

Thanks for the example Brent. I always appreciate your observations.

And I know that you, as a manager, have dealt with this first hand, Jeff.

Ditto the question about the telephone. I am a transactional attorney constantly engaged in negotiations. Both me and the opposing attorneys in my specialty tend to send marked-up and revised agreements (and comments) back and forth via email. That at least is the initial method of negotiation. Rarely are we in the same State, let alone the same city. The last round is usually via telephone. Thanks for the post. Steve http://musicrowlawyer.com