Band Permission - What Proof Is Needed?

[RockAuthors]

This is a very good question. I haven't heard anything about any actual "forms" being required. I'm sure Harmonix will be watching carefully, and will pull songs if they find out a song was posted without rights. And just because someone has a multi-track recording of a song definitely does not mean they possess the rights.

[BrewTLG]

I'm working with a band right now and when I submit their song, I'm sure there might be some questions since they are on a label and are somewhat known. So yeah, any guidance from HMX on what kind of paperwork their looking for (some sort of contract?) would be great.

We've come up with an initial agreement where I am going to do the first song for free. It's new to me and it's new to them as well. We both don't know how this will all work out and how well it will sell, and so we're both also trying to figure out is it better to have a flat fee per song, or a royalty based fee. (And what would the fee be for either one?)

Plus, some of their newer songs, their label will have to sign off on it (and probably want to take a cut), so their manager is working out all of those details as well.

Anyways, just trying to get everything in order as they're deciding what song they want to do first. I just didn't want to get hit with any delays on showing permission if I can already have the paperwork in place.

[davidshek]

I'm working with a band right now and when I submit their song, I'm sure there might be some questions since they are on a label and are somewhat known. So yeah, any guidance from HMX on what kind of paperwork their looking for (some sort of contract?) would be great.

I answered that above for ya already:

If you're serious about authoring a song (or songs) for a band and have questions about obtaining the proper rights, talk to an entertainment contracts lawyer.

[RockAuthors]

I'm working with a band right now and when I submit their song, I'm sure there might be some questions since they are on a label and are somewhat known. So yeah, any guidance from HMX on what kind of paperwork their looking for (some sort of contract?) would be great.

Yea you should definitely get with a lawyer to help ink out some sort of contract with the band if you don't know what your doing.

[ethicalpaul]

So the theory is that if there is a need to provide proof to hmx, that everyone is going to be sending their contracts in? Then hmx will have to put their lawyers on reading the contracts to ensure they are legit? And what about the case of an artist doing his/her own charting? There is no contract in that case.

I hope instead that in the interest of delay minimization, hmx will release a short form that can be filled out, signed by the artist's representative, and faxed to hmx. Since I assume that hmx knows what qualifies as proof, they can easily create a form with this information on it. Otherwise we each have to come up with our own guesses at what they might want to see?

Given that it is going to be very difficult to correct these issues once a song gets into the store, I think they are going to have to go proactive on this.

[HMXMister_Game]

We'll try to get a firm policy on this and keep ya'll informed.

[BrewTLG]

We'll try to get a firm policy on this and keep ya'll informed.

Thanks!

And thanks to everyone for their input. I'm sure that any red flags would probably be brought up in the peer review. But having either some guidelines on what would be needed if there was ever a question, or a form that I can hand to clients would be great.

[ethicalpaul]

Thanks!

And thanks to everyone for their input. I'm sure that any red flags would probably be brought up in the peer review.

I have read various people saying things like this and I always have the same thought which is "how is a peer reviewer going to have any clue whether an author has permission to post a song?"

I don't see peer review as a useful tool in this. There is no proof that can be presented to the reviewer and the reviewer has no information about any relationship between the author and the artist.

[davidshek]

I have read various people saying things like this and I always have the same thought which is "how is a peer reviewer going to have any clue whether an author has permission to post a song?"

I don't see peer review as a useful tool in this. There is no proof that can be presented to the reviewer and the reviewer has no information about any relationship between the author and the artist.

I'm pretty sure that's not what he meant. The proof doesn't need to be presented to the reviewer, it needs to be presented to Harmonix.

What he meant was that during the peer review process is probably when somebody might go, "Oh hey, I think this song belongs to X artist..."

[BrewTLG]

I have read various people saying things like this and I always have the same thought which is "how is a peer reviewer going to have any clue whether an author has permission to post a song?"

I don't see peer review as a useful tool in this. There is no proof that can be presented to the reviewer and the reviewer has no information about any relationship between the author and the artist.

True. I was just thinking in some blatant cases. Like, if someone doesn't know all of the rules and has access to some master tracks (like someone earlier mentioned that had master tracks for the Doobie Brothers) and they think "Hey, I'll get these up there, make a lot of money and get a check before anyone says anything."

But you're right, a lot of times it won't be obvious. Hopefully Harmonix will be keeping track of which RBN Authors have rights to what bands, so that we don't have to do they "I've got permission dance" all over again.