Record Company/ Who do I pay.

Subject: Record Company/ Who do I pay.
From: GUEST,Jaan. Finland.
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 08:13 PM

I am the owner of a record company here in Finland, and eal mainly
with Irish and Scottish compilation C.D.s.
I try to make sure that all my returns to collection agencies are
correct, but on several of these recordings one song appears
regularly, I know the writer of this song and my dilemma is, do I pay
the publisher, knowing that the writer will receive nothing, or pay
direct to the writer, a substanstial sum, and risk the wrath of a
publishing company I know to be corrupt.
The law tells me what is the correct way, my heart tells me
otherwise, I like your site, which seems to have people who know
about these things.
Greetings from Helsinki,

Jaan.

Subject: RE: Record Company/ Who do I pay.
From: DonMeixner
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 08:53 PM

Sooner or later someone who knows the real law will let you know what to do. But righ now I think my heart tells me the same thing yours does.
Pay the author and sleep well.

Don

Subject: RE: Record Company/ Who do I pay.
From: Peace
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 10:27 PM

I agree with Don; however, you'll need someone who knows the law to advise you. If the publisher owns the rights to the song, then the writer is screwed, and s/he will remain at the mercy of that publishing company.

I have been there and done that. Some material I wrote way back when--I receive zip for having written it, and about four songs have been recorded and released a number of times. That's life I guess.

Bruce Murdoch

Subject: RE: Record Company/ Who do I pay.
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 01:13 PM

I don't think any of the the above is strictly correct, or in perspective.

If a publishing company owns the rights to a song, its because the author has signed a publishing deal with them. Publishers are like a bank - they give you an advance against future earnings. If a songwriter has signed a publishing deal and assigned the rights in their song to a publisher, then they have already been paid their money when they signed the deal.

I don't think having a publisher means you are "screwed" and it doesn't mean you are at their mercy. If you signed a bad contract that gives all your money to someone else then I'm not very sympathetic (maybe a bit, but not that much).

Subject: RE: Record Company/ Who do I pay.
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 01:31 PM

No matter what "the right thing" is in this context, doing the right thing is NOT supposed to be easy. If doing the right thing were prudent and legal and easy and rewarding and riskless, who would care when anybody did it?