Publishing Rights

[dixiesista]

I am a producer who wrote and produced a song with myself as the artist only. A local rapper heard the song and wanted to appear as the second artist on the song (he wrote two verses, I remained on the hook and one verse) The local rapper took that version to his people and they wanted to move forward by releasing it. Of course a publishing issue came up and after long debate we settled on 50% 50% publishing for both my publishing company and his. Today the rappers people called to request I give up more the 50% agreed upon due to the fact that they say they will walk the song in to a major record label. If I give them more ownership than me with my own song I will not have any space for negotiating with said record label. What should be advised in this case?

By the way nothing is on paper yet, they have not even paid for the production price I gave them.

Sorry for your circumstances. You have much at stake here, and by no means would I suggest just rolling over and giving up additional publishing rights -- especially since they have yet to pay you. This is an area of intellectual property law, and you definitely need to speak with a qualified attorney. I would suggest going to the WLD main page and contacting them for a referral. Spending a few dollars on a good lawyer now could be the best money you will ever spend. Hope things work out properly for you in this matter. AJJ