Author: Jackson Abbeduto

A costly infringement case may be pushing songwriters to consider legal options, adding credits and sharing royalties rather than litigating. Is it stifling creativity, too? Have legal concerns grown so Thicke that songwriters find it’s easier now to just get Happy and + colleagues who seek credit because their works sound sort of similar? Ed Sheeran—the singer, songwriter, actor, guitarist, and record producer—may have sent the music industry a strong message with his recent settlement of a copyright infringement suit over his hit song Photograph. In answer to 2016 claims by songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard that they should be awarded $20 million from him because they say his song infringed on their composition Amazing (as recorded by Matt Cardle, the 2010 winner of The X Factor reality series), Sheeran, legendary for his mathematically signed albums, effectively replied: —  . He then apparently decided not to be ÷, and to just × the number of folks credited on his tune. What’s going on—and was this part of a potentially −legal trend? Let’s get to the √ of this music industry development. Sharing credit Songwriting credits are industry gold, determined in differing fashion but determinate in vital concerns ranging from royalties’ divisions to tax payments. They’re key, of course, in copyrights, so musicians and their representatives, especially their agents and attorneys, typically try to ensure everything’s straight with the credits early on. Sheeran’s Photograph, which he first said he wrote with...