[sweetp15]

I have a friend who writes music and makes incredible beats but can't always write lyrics for his R&B/Pop vocalist. He asked for my help to write lyrics to music he comes up with for his artist. Should I charge a fee to provide lyrics for songs that I didn't write the music for? He has also offered to let me use his studio free of charge if I ever want to record my own songs for my own use. I want to talk about the agreement up front if I should charge a fee or royalties for the service of providing lyrics so there is no confusion later. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[lateleigh]

Really you can only receive royalties once a recording has been made and licenced. If your friend is going to release the music you write lyrics on you need to make a contract with him and agree on an amount that you'll be entitled to for publishing. If his songs are used on radio or TV or any media, then you both will need to register the recordings with a publisher. In Australia it's called APRA and they gather radio playlists etc.. Paying a certain amount of money to each of the artists played.

Hope this helps

[Fr_Chuck]

You can always ask to be paid for any music you write. That pay may be traded for time in a studio.

If you want to own the songs in the US you have to copyright anything you write