Hi!
I want to hire a vocalist to sing on my song (we'll sign a work-for-hire contract). She only is to record the vocals for the song (music and lyrics are written by me).

1) She wants to be credited for the vocal - Usually, does it mean only a note in the CD sleeve or in youtube description stating: "Vocal performance: Miss XYZ" ?
And I don't have to name the song as: "My project FEAT. Miss XYZ" , right?

2) When a vocalist should be credited in the name of the song as Featuring? When she co-writes a song with me? (I mean, when a song should be named: "My project FEAT. Miss XYZ"?)


Thank you!
Cheers!

 

I think it all depends on the agreement you two make.
Speak clearly to her. If she's just giving you vocals, you have two options of course:
a) use "ft." or any other variations; ( = she appears in title)
b) put her name in notes, cd sleeves, descriptions, etc.
There's no real rule I think.

You can always be an arse and don't ask her anything and put her name in notes only lol

 

I don't think you are contractually obliged to give her a credit on the title if she's not the author or composer of the tune. I figure that the use of "feat.", "ft.", or "featuring" is all about tagging an artist to pull some publicity from their name. If you are working with a miss nobody, then featuring her might only benefit her own music carrer (leeching fom your own name) unless you see it as an investment (in case she breaks through one day and becomes famous).

 

Last edited: Jun 14, 2017

1) In Sweden we send in participation-lists to IFPI, stating who does what on a recording. The participants then get revenue from how much that material is being streamed/played/broadcast. It has nothing to do with rights and songwriting percentage.

2) "Featuring" can be just that - featuring (as in above). You can still have written everything, and she/he just comes in and sings the topline in the studio for half an hour.
But then there are times you both (or many more songwriters on one song) have contributed in the writing. This is a deal you all have to agree on, percentage-wise. In Sweden we send that information to STIM (equivalent of BMI, ASCAP, etc). There is one part (50%) music and one part (50%) lyrics. You have to agree on percentage of these.

There is a fairly new tool called Auddly (by Swedes) making alot of waves, that helps you in this process.
https://auddly.com/