Splits sheets define ownership in a song. They’re extremely important because ownership comes with a large set of rights.
Let’s throw out a scenario: Alvin and Simon are songwriters. They collaborate on a hip-hop song, and it’s almost there. Alvin is on the subway one day, softly singing it out trying to find a chorus, and Theo, sitting across from him, chimes in with something fresh. Alvin digs it, they fist bump, and go on their individual ways. Alvin and Theo then bring in Dave to help produce.
If you’ve gone to law school, this is where you’ll start asking the important questions: Who owns what? Who can license what? Who gets paid what?
Without a split sheet, they all own the song. Alvin, Simon, Theo, and (probably) Dave each own 25% of the song, and every constituent part of it. Under US copyright law, when two+ authors materially contribute to an original work of authorship without a written agreement defining ownership, the law presumes all authors are equal owners of the work. As importantly, owners of a copyrighted work get default exploitation rights that come into play absent an agreement limiting them.
Let’s go back to the scenario above. Alvin and Simon published the song (because as a songwriter, publishing is how you get paid). They didn’t include Theo in the publishing, because why would they right? Theo hears the song on the radio and gets pissed, because he knows he put the fire in that flow. His attorney contacts the publisher, the publisher sees a conflict in copyright ownership, and decides to hold back the money until the parties resolve. Now no one is getting paid. Theo, still upset, decides he deserves something and licenses the song out, on a non-exclusive basis, to Ford. Alvin & Simon are about that #bicyclelife, and lose their minds. Theo gets paid by Ford, and sends Alvin and Simon checks for 1/3 of what Ford paid, not knowing that Dave is a copyright owner too. Meanwhile, Dave assigned his ownership rights to a third-party with deep pockets, and now everyone is going to court.
Split sheets are a way to avoid these problems from the setup. Overall, they’re a pretty simple concept: you break down who owns each percentage of a song, on paper or electronically, and have everyone sign.
I know most musicians hate doing this because it’s not part of the collaborative vibe they’re going for. Absent a split sheet though, someone who contributed 90% of the song may get stuck with minimal ownership. There are loads of templates online, but as an absolute minimum, if you’ve got contributor names, the song name, and ownership percentages on a sheet of paper, signed by everyone, your ownership is solid.
Despite the touchy conversation you’ll need to have, split sheets are vital, because if you don’t sign one the law will create the following system:
Each author will have an equal ownership share
Each author will own an “undivided” interest in the work, meaning they’ll own an equal share of all components (meaning a drummer would own rights to lyrics even though he didn’t contribute).
Any co-author can grant non-exclusive licensing rights to a third party without any other creators’ permission.
Each co-author needs to share any money they earned from the piece equally with all authors.
Each co-author gets equal authorship credit on publication.
Each co-author can assign his or her ownership share to a third-party.
How does a split sheet keep someone from granting rights to a third party, like a tobacco company? The split sheet would need an extra passage, carefully drafted, defining who owns these rights, or better yet, the authors would sign a Collaboration Agreement that breaks down all usage, exploitation, and derivative works rights. Yes, you can draft this on your own. No, you shouldn’t, because without a legal background you may not understand what you’re actually signing up for or what you’re signing away. Split sheets are easy and most artists can tackle them without legal help, but anything beyond that requires some deep legal knowledge.
As always, when in doubt, hire a lawyer.
What’s the TL;DR?
Split sheets are vital for songwriters; without them you may be giving away most of the ownership in your song, and you lose control of how the song can be used.