Wendy Day of Rap Coalition explains why artists need split sheets and producer contracts. A split sheet records each person's ownership percentage in a song and must be completed the same night or next day. Producer agreements should cover exclusive usage rights, payment terms, publishing details, and PRO affiliation, and should be written by an entertainment attorney, not pulled from free internet templates.
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Hi guys, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition here. Thank you for tuning into my Instagram TV series, and these get posted tomorrow on my YouTube channel, which is youtube.com/thisiswendyday. Did you see my video yesterday where I talked about production? 'Cause this is kind of a continuation of that. You need to have split sheets and producer agreements. Ideally, you can get these from an attorney, or you can find them for free on the internet. I'm not a big fan of free paperwork because I always fear that there might be something missing in it that could screw you down the road, and your money is coming from this song, so you want to make sure that the paperwork on this song is correct. Split sheets not so bad. You can, you can absolutely find a split sheet online. What a split sheet does is it divides the ownership of the publishing and says who did what when you're in the studio making the song. So for example, if you and I go into the studio together and you've made the beat and I'm rapping, which is a really scary thought, um, you own 50% of the song and I own 50% of the song. I own 100% of my publishing, which is 50% of the song, which is the lyrics, and you own 100% of your publishing, which is 50% of the song, which is the beat. So we're going to fill out a split sheet together and it's going to say Wendy Day, the name of the song, the date, um, my rap name, which is MC I Don't Know What My Name Is, and I'm gonna sign it and it's gonna say that I own 50% of that song. You're gonna fill it out and it's gonna be, um, you're the producer and you're, you're MC Play It Loud, and you're gonna put your government name, you're gonna put MC Play It Loud, and put the date, and you're gonna sign off on the fact that you own half the song, which is 50%— 100% of your publishing, which is 50% of the song. This is very helpful because as we go to contract, it makes all the bullshit go away. So if I'm working this song and it's starting to blow up You can't come back to me and say that you own 75% of the song and I own 25%, and I can't come back to you and say, "Oh, I own 75% of the song and you own 25%." It just keeps everybody honest, and it's especially great because when songs start to blow up, people get selective memory, and that's when the claws come out. That's when people remember contributing a lot more than they did. This is especially important if you've got other people in the studio with you, like you have a feature with somebody, you need to know exactly what percentage they get the second they are done rapping on your song. If you have somebody helping you with the beat, or if there's a sample in the beat, you're going to lose a percentage to that other person or that entity, um, for the sample. So it's really, really, really important to have this conversation, no matter how high you are. It's really important to have this conversation right away. If you're an artist that doesn't talk business and you've got a manager that handles that for you, let your manager do it. Let your manager do it right as it's being created, or right after you finish the song. Text your manager and say, yo, we're wrapping up in the studio. Let your manager reach out to whoever else was in the studio and find out what was their contribution and take notes on it, and then immediately send the paperwork either that night or the next day of the splits. Let everybody agree to what was done while it's fresh in their minds so they don't get selective memory. That's a split sheet. A producer agreement is the paperwork that you need as an artist with the person that made the track. They own it, and they— you don't have the right to use their music however you want, even if you're paying for the studio session, even if you paid them for the beat. It doesn't matter. You need a— you need a contractual agreement. It's called a producer deck. You need a contractual agreement with the producer that says that you've got the rights to use it exclusively. You've got the rights to use it as a single. You have the rights to shoot a video to it. You have the rights to make money with it. You have the right to use their name and their likeness, meaning a photograph or their, or their logo, their brand. You need something that specifically outlines how long you get to use that for, what the cost is to, to use that beat, when they got paid, how they got paid, how they they want their credit to read, what their publishing company is, are they affiliated with ASCAP or BMI, and their SoundExchange information. All of that goes into the contract. Um, like I said, you can find them online for free. I am not a fan of getting free contracts because, again, your business is built on this paperwork. Your company is built, your livelihood, your dream, your Music is built on this contract. So if there's something fucked up in the agreement, or if there's something missing in the agreement, and down the road this person has the opportunity to either file suit or say you can't use my song, or, you know, um, what if you get signed to a record label and this is the song that blew you up and now you've got to go back and renegotiate with them to use this song?— or the label has to renegotiate to use this song, how do you think that's gonna go? You're getting money and they're not. They might feel some kind of way about that. So absolutely get the paperwork signed. Have it done by an attorney, an entertainment attorney, and somebody that actually has done producer agreements before, and somebody that's well respected in the industry. So that's it. That's my spiel on split sheets and producer agreements. And the last thing I'm going to say— I'm going to go back to split sheets for a minute— I know it's uncomfortable for you as an artist to have this conversation with somebody. You're in the studio, you're, you're, you're blowing smoke, you're happy, you're drinking Hennessy, the world is a beautiful place. There might even be some chicks in there that you want to hit on. It's just a really great vibe. And then you have to pull out this paperwork, and it changes the vibe a little bit. You're not there to be comfortable. You're there to make hit records. You're there to make music. You're there to handle the business. If you're not comfortable pulling out the split sheet, make sure you've got somebody right there with you that is. This is extremely important. I know it's uncomfortable. Get over it. Bye, guys.
