What would you do?

unix-guy

unix-guy

Master of RTFM
Last Friday, a former singer in my band sent me a text in which she said she had met a "producer" who was trying to re-brand her in a pop style.

She asked me if I would send her the vocal tracks from the album we wrote and recorded together about 10 years ago.

We are not a pop band and our philosophy since inception in 1993 has always been that the music should be able to stand on its own without any vocals. We are not just "accompaniment" to a singer.

Also, keep in mind that we were working with her again a couple years ago for a gig we ended up not doing (because I got COVID) and she declined an offer to rejoin the band at that time...

What would you do in this scenario?
 
Tell her you don't have them/can't find them (if they're not visibly online).
Or tell her she can record her own vocals.
Is it Tossa?
 
The Declined the offer bit would still be ringing in my ears when the text came in.

I might though ... offer to give the vocal tracks for free in a low rez mp3 format, or charge a nominal fee for Wav files. Especially is she doesn't have some $kin in the game during the original tracking.
 
unix-guy said:
Yes.

And she's a credited co-writer... I wrote almost all the music.

I can't stop her if she wants to record her own versions, but she would need to obviously provide writing credits and deal with sales-related royalties if there were sales.
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If that's the case, you could just send it to her if you were feeling charitable today....and remind her that it's copywrited.
 
USMC_Trev said:
give this delusional fool whatever stems she wants to be scammed by whatever fraud that dude is peddling.
Write “Told you so”, put it in an envelope, tell her to open it a year from now. Don’t give her any money.
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I don't think she's paying him, but I'm not sure on that...
 
Maybe I'm taking it too personally?

To my mind, it's like I created this really cool landscape painting and she asked me to send her the canvas with everything removed but one tree so someone else can repaint the whole thing around the tree...
 
unix-guy said:
Maybe I'm taking it too personally?

To my mind, it's like I created this really cool landscape painting and she asked me to send her the canvas with everything removed but one tree so someone else can repaint the whole thing around the tree...
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I can understand your point.
Tell her exactly what you just said and tell her that she's a painter too and to paint a new picture for Mr. Producer.
 
Mr producer is likely stroking her ego to paint something besides a canvas.

You own the masters though. The tracking and mixing and mastering has value.

But it is also an opportunity to lead with a spirit of kindness and gratitude. Mr producer should make an offer, you can then counter with a fair price. Or he's not a producer, but a player.
 
I think the question is, how do you feel about the situation?

If having her work with that material is ok w you, and you're good with your ownership of the songs or don't care if they get repurposed, sure, give them to her. Why not?

If there's some hang about it in your heart, just say no. She may have some rights as cowriter, you can't help that, but you can walk away if you don't want to be involved.
 
unix-guy said:
Yes.

And she's a credited co-writer... I wrote almost all the music.

I can't stop her if she wants to record her own versions, but she would need to obviously provide writing credits and deal with sales-related royalties if there were sales.
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Pro: Both you and the singer wrote copywrited material
Con: Singer doesn't own any copies of said material
Pro: 3rd party producer would like you to provide copywriter material so singer can produce her own take on material
Con: If producer is nicknamed Chuck the Magic Man, don't walk away, run.

Next steps: 1) Ask singer how she plans on providing credits and co-writing royalties from sales. 2) Secure any copies of material for future reference if necessary. 3) Ask singer if she's done a background check on Chuck, then wait for her to text you with her findings.

TBH, I see this all in your favor. Nothing to lose by providing her with copies of material (your choice tape, cassette, or low resolution mp3.). The singer is the one who is considered entering into contract with producer. Only issue you may experience is if a legit producer asks singer to put original band together when more likely he'll have studio musicians cover the gap.
 
Have these songs been published? If not, do you plan to release this music in the future?

It is just the vocal tracks, correct?
 
Habuman said:
Have these songs been published? If not, do you plan to release this music in the future?

It is just the vocal tracks, correct?
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They haven't been published. The album ended up not getting released although the songs in there final (non-mastered) form have been publicly accessible to stream through our website for a long time...

She's asking for the vocal tracks of the songs only.
 
unix-guy said:
They haven't been published. The album ended up not getting released although the songs in there final (non-mastered) form have been publicly accessible to stream through our website for a long time...

She's asking for the vocal tracks of the songs only.
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If it were me, I'd do the kind thing. Provide her with the vocal tracks, wish her luck, and tell her don't forget where she came from and the people she'll meet on the way up. You'll be doing her a favor if the future release is successful and will remind her of her early years, which she may still yearn for. Not only will she remember you kindly, she may open a door or two for you as well...
 
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