Songwriter Credits

[Ken Dryden]

I wonder how much effort some labels and artists put into researching who actually wrote the music and lyrics to the songs recorded for a release.

Whenever I've had an opportunity to write liner notes, I check all the information provided to me. But who holds the responsibity to do that for a new release and when there are errors, does that mean that the correct writers, their estates or current owners of the publishing rights don't get paid?

I've lost track of how many times I have added "incorrectly attributed" to credits on Discogs, while adding the missing writers as "uncredited."

The second question is when an instrumental has a lyric added after it is initially published, does the lyricist have to be credited, especially if it's an instrumental and the music has not been altered to fit the lyric? Marian McPartland generously retitled her piece "Afterglow" when Peggy Lee wrote a lyric for it, renaming it "In The Days Of Our Love." She continued to announce it with its new title even when playing it in a purely instrumental setting. But it would seem logical that many composers would not want to share royalties with a later lyricist for instrumental recordings.

[Teasing the Korean]

49 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:

The second question is when an instrumental has a lyric added after it is initially published, does the lyricist have to be credited, especially if it's an instrumental and the music has not been altered to fit the lyric? 

Gene Roddenberry infamously added a terrible lyric to Alexander Courage's original series Star Trek theme.  It is my understanding that the Roddenberry estate routinely collects half of the earnings from the tune, just because Roddenberry scribbled sub-standard lyrics on a bar napkin to go with the tune.  Courage was furious.  He said he would have been fine with the idea if competent lyrics had been added, but he was not at all OK with Roddenberry's lyrics.  

I would imagine that the specifics may vary from one situation to another, depending on the agreement.  Thinking of Duke Ellington in particular, most of whose "songs" started life as instrumentals.

[Ken Dryden]

18 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Gene Roddenberry infamously added a terrible lyric to Alexander Courage's original series Star Trek theme.  It is my understanding that the Roddenberry estate routinely collects half of the earnings from the tune, just because Roddenberry scribbled sub-standard lyrics on a bar napkin to go with the tune.  Courage was furious.  He said he would have been fine with the idea if competent lyrics had been added, but he was not at all OK with Roddenberry's lyrics.  

I would imagine that the specifics may vary from one situation to another, depending on the agreement.  Thinking of Duke Ellington in particular, most of whose "songs" started life as instrumentals.

I’ve never heard the Gene Roddenberry lyric, he must have threatened Courage with using another composer for the show’s theme. I always though composers had the power to reject would-be lyrics.

I contacted Dave Brubeck when one of his songs that already had an excellent lyric by his wife Iola had a mediocre lyric by a singer in its place on a new CD. It turns out that Brubeck’s attorney had approved ut without checking with him. Brubeck sent me a note about it and that he instructed his attorney to rejecy any new lyrics for his songs that already had some by Iola.

Ellington seemed to be consistent with introducing retitled tunes with an added lyric and crediting them that way, even when played as instrumentals.