QUESTIONS ABOUT CO-WRITING ETIQUETTE

Once in one of our sessions a songwriter asked me, “If I don’t like the way a song turns out with a co-writer, am I free to take the idea and write it with someone else?”. It was very easy to answer her question as it’s pretty obvious and I was kind of surprised seeing that she didn’t know the answer, but on the other had the answer to such question is not written anywhere as a rule or anything. Maybe because it’s just simply too obvious, and no one ever cared to actually make it clear for anyone who might not know. The answer to her is; No. Not really. Generally, once you write an idea with someone, you are in it for good with them. It’s considered as a very bad form to take your idea and write it one your own or with someone else. And it would probably destroy your relationship with writer #1. If you are in such situation and you really don’t like the result of what came out with that writer but you really like the topic, I would suggest that the better approach is to see if you can get your co-writer to agree to bring in someone else to help you fix it or make better, while the writer #1 is also involved in the process. If he / she agrees, then the three of you could sit down and hopefully get it where it needs to be. 

I have had one instance where a co-writer called and asked if I minded if he took the title and wrote it with someone else. I didn’t think we nailed the song, so I gave him the blessing from my side, and he agreed not to use any of my lines, so I told him I was fine with that and that I appreciated his approach. If I had not agreed, he wouldn’t have done it. You don’t want to be known as “that guy” who takes his or her idea to ten different people until they get a version, they like the best. That’s just a nasty and unprofessional thing to do. Plus, if that’s the best idea you are ever going to come up with, you are in deep trouble anyway!
 
Another one of my mentees once asked, “How much of a co-written song can I tweak without permission from the other writer(s)?” This question was pretty easy to answer. The answer would be zero. You shouldn’t change anything in a co-written song unless you contact all of the other writers to get their approval. That’s just a respect thing. Again, it’s not written anywhere – as far as I know – but it's just simply common sense. How would you like your name going out as a co-writer on a song that you thought was horrible? Your changes might strike your co-writer as really bad or even objectionable. You need to get everyone on board before you change any lyrics, melody, production – let’s just say anything. At all. Never forget that, if you and I write a song, it’s our song – not yours.

Author

Hangi Tavakoli is our in-house established and professional music producer with more than 18 years of experience in songwriting, music production, mix and mastering. He has produced more than 3,000 and written more than 4,800 published songs to-date, including some major hits in international scale.