Songwriting credits on the new album

[Luke D]

With the inclusion of old material, does Mike get his name on those songs? Would EVH be upset about that?

[TJMKID]

With the inclusion of old material, does Mike get his name on those songs? Would EVH be upset about that?


Very interesting question!

Exactly when does a band member acquire publishing credit? When Mike left Snake in 1974 and joined Mammoth --- doesn't he get his share of publishing royalties effective at that date even though the band wasnt even signed to a label yet ??

My gut tells me that if Sobolewski has really good attorney(s) ---- he's gonna make a shitload of cash from this new VH album + tour


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[Vinnie Velvet]

Mike aint got nothing on any unpublished/unrecorded material.

The new tunes will be credited to just Dave, Ed and Al - Wolfie is doubtful.

[SilvioDante]

I posted on the Tattoo review thread, my iTunes downloaded version of the song has the writing credits for Tattoo as:

Van Halen & David Lee Roth

I am curious if the older tunes were technically published. They are only available on bootlegs, obviously. If Tattoo is the Down in Flames remake everyone is saying it is, Mikey should be in writing credits for that, right?

[1971Quarter]

Michael Anthony's gonna get as many royalties from the new album as I am ...

[Vinnie Velvet]

I posted on the Tattoo review thread, my iTunes downloaded version of the song has the writing credits for Tattoo as:

Van Halen & David Lee Roth

I am curious if the older tunes were technically published. They are only available on bootlegs, obviously. If Tattoo is the Down in Flames remake everyone is saying it is, Mikey should be in writing credits for that, right?

Incorrect.

Down in Flames was never recorded and published on an album.

Thus, Mike will not receive any credit towards it.

[vandeleur]

Didnt mike sign everything away in 2004 ?

[chi-town324]

yea don't think he would get shit...im sure the current band as discussed this with their attorneys

[SilvioDante]

Incorrect.

Down in Flames was never recorded and published on an album.

Thus, Mike will not receive any credit towards it.

That was my point, if he gets no writing credits on Tattoo because it was never recorded or published, Mikey wouldn't get a writing credit on Bullethead or She's the Woman, right?

[academic punk]

A song doesn't need to be formally released to be published. You can be bought out subsequently, but that's there own problem.

Both dave and eddie have said in the past that mike contributed nothing to the creative process, eddie even told mike exactly what to play. if that is true, mike shouldnt really get too upset if he doesnt see any money from this.

[chefcraig]

Both dave and eddie have said in the past that mike contributed nothing to the creative process, eddie even told mike exactly what to play. if that is true, mike shouldnt really get too upset if he doesnt see any money from this.

Hell, for the three tunes Mike is credited with having a hand in on those two Chickenfeed albums, he should be required to pay anyone unfortunate enough to hear them.

[Jagermeister]

Let me be the first to say. WHO GIVES A FUCK?

[TJMKID]

Incorrect.

Down in Flames was never recorded and published on an album.

Thus, Mike will not receive any credit towards it.


So I can record a song with my own band called "Down in Flames" and it sounds exactly note-for-note like Van Halen's unpublished song "Down in Flames" and then sell it on iTunes and make money from it ??

If that's true --- I got a lot of good song ideas for my band to record (just steal them off YouTube) --- we gonna be rich!


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[vandeleur]

So I can record a song with my own band called "Down in Flames" and it sounds exactly note-for-note like Van Halen's unpublished song "Down in Flames" and then sell it on iTunes and make money from it ??

If that's true --- I got a lot of good song ideas for my band to record (just steal them off YouTube) --- we gonna be rich!


http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4194/warf1.jpg
They will have publishing rights on all of those songs which means they are theirs . unless you wanna to pay them to record them.

[clarathecarrot]

Yes, you are correct because Down In Flames goes.. ..dit de deet de de deetly leet deet

and Tattoo goes .................................................. ..dit deeeeet deet de de deetly leet deet.

[Zing!]

Incorrect.

Down in Flames was never recorded and published on an album.

Thus, Mike will not receive any credit towards it.

That would be my interpretation as well. They could have had input on 'Down In Flames' from Jimbo the janitor, but if it was never published with a copyright on an official Van Halen release, Jimbo - and Michael Anthony - have no claim on it. Dave HAD to have used a few ideas from the classic 6-pack years that he mined during his solo career (just like Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison did after their tenure in The Beatles on their various solo efforts). After the break-up, who's to say who wrote what, and when. Besides, my feeling is that Anthony's claim to his Van Halen history is more ceremonial in nature after the '04 train wreck.

[chefcraig]

Yes, you are correct because Down In Flames goes.. ..dit de deet de de deetly leet deet

and Tattoo goes .................................................. ..dit deeeeet deet de de deetly leet deet.

Isn't that pretty much what that dim-bulb Vanilla Ice tried to say when he ripped off the bass line of "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie for "Ice Ice Baby?"

[ZahZoo]

There's a video interview of Mike over at links and he was asked the question if he got credit for old tunes being reworked by the current VH. He say "Nah. I'm not the kind of guy who's gonna go asking either or say hey I played on that originally"... He happy where he's at and not interested in stirring things up... High road prevails...

[VOODOO_King]

The licensing is to The Three Twins, LLC and Diamond Dave Enterprises, Inc., under exclusive license to Interscope Records and Mikey ain't a twin.

[academic punk]

That would be my interpretation as well. They could have had input on 'Down In Flames' from Jimbo the janitor, but if it was never published with a copyright on an official Van Halen release, Jimbo - and Michael Anthony - have no claim on it. Dave HAD to have used a few ideas from the classic 6-pack years that he mined during his solo career (just like Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison did after their tenure in The Beatles on their various solo efforts). After the break-up, who's to say who wrote what, and when. Besides, my feeling is that Anthony's claim to his Van Halen history is more ceremonial in nature after the '04 train wreck.

A song doesn't need to have an official album release to have publishing rights and copyrights assigned. How many professional songwriters (or screenplay writers/novelists/patent holders, etc) would get screwed out of their just royalties if that were how it worked? So long as a copyright has been established, you have your rights on that product. Even in terms of domain names. You could buy the rights to "www.hagarsucksballs.net" and never ever use it. But if someone wants the domain name, it's yours, they have to buy if from you.

If VH's management back in the day (or Warner Brothers) had the good sense to make sure EVERYTHING was documented and established (and they'd be idiots if they hadn't), then it's established. And, yes, a janitor who took part in the creative process would have a legal claim if they so chose to pursue it. (look at mick jagger's "Just Another Night" from 1984 as an example)

[academic punk]

Isn't that pretty much what that dim-bulb Vanilla Ice tried to say when he ripped off the bass line of "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie for "Ice Ice Baby?"

EXCELLENT EXAMPLE! Yes, and in fact, that is EXACTLY what the schmuck claimed in court. Even the judge - who'd never even heard of Freddie Mercury in his entire life - rolled his eyes.

[TJMKID]

EXCELLENT EXAMPLE! Yes, and in fact, that is EXACTLY what the schmuck claimed in court. Even the judge - who'd never even heard of Freddie Mercury in his entire life - rolled his eyes.


Just another reason why judges and lawyers are useless parasites on society ---- never heard of Freddie Mercury ???


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[mohican]

One of the oddest song royalty cases I've heard involved Men at Work's Down Under. The Aussie court decided the flute solo of Down Under was ripped off from a popular children's song and ordered Men to pay 5% of their royalties to the publishing company that owns the rights to "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree." Here's the story.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtfNMPaM0Mg&feature=related

[clarathecarrot]

Isn't that pretty much what that dim-bulb Vanilla Ice tried to say when he ripped off the bass line of "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie for "Ice Ice Baby?"

WINNER!!! That is almost word for word his distiction of how his tune was completely different.

Sorry about screwing the thread up with that refference. I almost posted the video of Ice Baby talking about it, from when the sampling controversy really became mainstream news... thinking noone would get it.

There is a mash-up with video overlay on ytube that really is kinda cool ..

[Jetstream]

what is even more interesting is that if one looks at the copyright, you have Roth and then you have the three Van Halens going under a new name which is the three twins on copyright

[chefcraig]

One of the oddest song royalty cases I've heard involved Men at Work's Down Under. The Aussie court decided the flute solo of Down Under was ripped off from a popular children's song and ordered Men to pay 5% of their royalties to the publishing company that owns the rights to "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree."

While that was disturbing, for levels of absurdity, it has nothing on the case brought against former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer John Fogerty by the band's former manager, who accused Fogerty of stealing...from himself.

Read on: John Fogerty Sued for Plagiarizing ... Himself (http://www.spinner.com/2010/05/14/john-fogerty-creedence-clearwater-revival/)

[mohican]

I always thought it was a generous decision of Dave and EVH to split the royalties equally in the past. Most bands like Led Zep, Fleetwood, the Stones are very specific about who gets the credit.

[mohican]

While that was disturbing, for levels of absurdity, it has nothing on the case brought against former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer John Fogerty by the band's former manager, who accused Fogerty of stealing...from himself.

Read on: John Fogerty Sued for Plagiarizing ... Himself (http://www.spinner.com/2010/05/14/john-fogerty-creedence-clearwater-revival/)

That one takes the cake.

[yankeegigolo]

Mike Anthony said he wasn't getting any royalty's and didn't want any

[SunisinuS]

Mike Anthony said he wasn't getting any royalty's and didn't want any

Lawyers still like to get paid.

I am a member of ASCAP if that gives a point of reference. I used to write articles on recording for the local chapter newsletter.

Been just a bit around the block before I fell off the turnip truck.

"Little Kids take care of the music biz, (sic) all rights reserved@TM, they take good care of me"

Lol Wolfie Rocks.

[Luke D]

Thanks everyone! I thought maybe there was the possibility of a nasty legal battle in the future.

[VHscraps]

I think song publishing is based on top line melody and lyrics, along with the chord structure of the tune .

My thinking is that Mike was only ever given songwriting credit as part of a 'one-for-all, all-for-one' scenario that young bands often have to maintain a sense of unity and togetherness.

I'm not denigrating MA's contribution to CVH, but how many songs did Mike write outside of Van Halen?? Why no solo album? He's obviously not a songwriter, but works with a band as part of a team. I'm sure he made some contribution to all those albums (I don't think EVH told him what to play - if you listen to Ed's bass playing on Hagar's pukey solo album from 86, it is obvious the man cannot play bass).

There's a certain unfairness in all this, in general - people who've contributed substantial instrumental parts to songs, don't necessarily get a credit (if it's a studio player, they may get a fee).

Have you heard the song 'Peg' by Steely Dan? Bass on that played by Chuck Rainey, a famous session dude. You could argue that the bass line is a BIG part of that song, but all he got was his fee as a studio musician - those have just been the rules since way back when.

Another one that sticks out for that relates to this idea of the melody being the determining factor is a song recorded by a UK band, The Verve, titled 'Bittersweet Symphony' - a damn great song in my view - but it took a musical motif from an orchestral version of a Rolling Stones song. They had agreed to use a sample from this orchestral version of 'The Last Time', and the band wrote their own lyrics - I mean, it sounds ZERO like 'The Last Time' - but Jagger / Richards get the sole writing credit!!

The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony


The Stones - The Last Time


Now, somebody explain to me how the Stones can get 100% credit for 'Bittersweet Symphony' - because that melody on the string refrain was written by them? Surely it has more to do with the arranger / conductor who scored the orchestral version that the sample is lifted from on the Verve song?!

The Last Time - Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra

[academic punk]

I think song publishing is based on top line melody and lyrics, along with the chord structure of the tune .

My thinking is that Mike was only ever given songwriting credit as part of a 'one-for-all, all-for-one' scenario that young bands often have to maintain a sense of unity and togetherness.

I'm not denigrating MA's contribution to CVH, but how many songs did Mike write outside of Van Halen?? Why no solo album? He's obviously not a songwriter, but works with a band as part of a team. I'm sure he made some contribution to all those albums (I don't think EVH told him what to play - if you listen to Ed's bass playing on Hagar's pukey solo album from 86, it is obvious the man cannot play bass).

There's a certain unfairness in all this, in general - people who've contributed substantial instrumental parts to songs, don't necessarily get a credit (if it's a studio player, they may get a fee).

Have you heard the song 'Peg' by Steely Dan? Bass on that played by Chuck Rainey, a famous session dude. You could argue that the bass line is a BIG part of that song, but all he got was his fee as a studio musician - those have just been the rules since way back when.

Another one that sticks out for that relates to this idea of the melody being the determining factor is a song recorded by a UK band, The Verve, titled 'Bittersweet Symphony' - a damn great song in my view - but it took a musical motif from an orchestral version of a Rolling Stones song. They had agreed to use a sample from this orchestral version of 'The Last Time', and the band wrote their own lyrics - I mean, it sounds ZERO like 'The Last Time' - but Jagger / Richards get the sole writing credit!!



Well, there are plenty of examples of people writing parts for their instruments that turned out to be...uhm...instrumental to the songs and not seeing the (to my mind, deserved) songwriting credit. That's a different kind of dispute (the most egregious being The Verve example that you cited). The lyricist (Richard Ashcroft) didn't even get royalties! Not only does the music sound completely different, he wrote the damn song! But, nope, not a dime.

To hang with the Stones as examples, Bill Wyman created the main riff for Jumpin' Jack Flash, never saw a dime. He also wrote a great bassline for Miss You, and Billy Preston apparently wrote the main riff, but no songwriting credit for either of them: Richards - who wasn't even at the session when the song was written, gets the credit. And Billy Preston apparently said "Thank you and fuck you". Nothing from nothing, etc. Mick Taylor even left the band for the same reason: no songwriting credit.

Yes, Eddie and Roth have both said that in an act of band unity they included the entire band for songwriting credits. And if you remember Roth's lawsuit years back, he made very clear that Mike saw ten times the record royalties that he did, even though Roth created all the melodies, lyrics, chose what part goes where, etc.

And Eddie and Mike have both said that Eddie told Mike what to play.

[academic punk]

Oh! The best example is Queen - and not for Ice, Ice Baby.

When Bohemian Rhapsody was released as a single, you know who made the most money? The drummer! Why? Because his song "I Love My Car" was randomly chosen as the B-Side. After that, the band spent so much time arguing about songwriting credits, that they eventually realized it would be more productive and they'd spend less time arguing if they all just took equal credit for all songs.

Kurt Cobain after Nirvana hit retroactively stripped the three-way credit from his compositions. Like Mikey, he told his bandmates, "Either agree to this, or there will be no tour for In Utero."

It ain't called the music BIX for nothing, kids...

[VHscraps]

Yeah, the Mick Taylor / Stones case is one that stands out. 'Moonlight Mile' on Sticky Fingers - supposedly another one where Keith wasn't even at the session. Taylor was on the verge of being made homeless recently 'cos he couldn't earn enough money from gigging to pay his bills, and getting zero from the Stones.

Ry Coooder also claimed that the riff on 'Honky Tonk Women' was his - he played on the sessions for the movie 'Performance'.

It's a dirty business ...

[Droomer5150]

That's what I was wondering, but then again they've often said Michael Anthony didn't contribute anything to the song writing , and I think he even admited something along the lines of "letting Ed do his thing while he held the band together in the subsonic frequencies". However I could be wrong? And I think back in 2004 when the trainwreck tour ended Eddie got Mike to sign away any future rights he had to the bands music from that point. Don't take my word for it though. Either way hopefully one day the band we do a reunion show or something with Mike but for now I'm 99% happy with the current lineup and couldn't be more excited even with Mike out of the band, to me Van Halen is Eddie and Alex!

[VHscraps]

Even before 2004, as well - at the time of the '96 Best Of Van Halen, Mike's credits were already changed on some tunes. On Jump, for one, his name wasn't on the credits anymore. Just looking at ASCAP, he's no longer credited as a writer on any of the 1984 album.

[RUDE SADDLE]

Very good question. I dont see a chance at all. I'm sure that's all they want is Mikes name on the album in anyway. The music has always been Dave and Ed at heart.

[Seshmeister]

One of the oddest song royalty cases I've heard involved Men at Work's Down Under. The Aussie court decided the flute solo of Down Under was ripped off from a popular children's song and ordered Men to pay 5% of their royalties to the publishing company that owns the rights to "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree." Here's the story.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtfNMPaM0Mg&feature=related

Talking of Aussies there was the even more unlikely Rolf Harris Adam Ant thing.

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[Seshmeister]

Even before 2004, as well - at the time of the '96 Best Of Van Halen, Mike's credits were already changed on some tunes. On Jump, for one, his name wasn't on the credits anymore. Just looking at ASCAP, he's no longer credited as a writer on any of the 1984 album.

Do you think Alex Van Halen would get writing credits if he wasn't Eddie's brother? My guess is that most of the time he got a writing credit just for being there when Eddie was writing riffs.

[VHscraps]

Indeed. That's something that comes up in Hagar's book - once Van Hagar started to fall out with each other, he wanted to know why Al was getting songwriting royalties. He even says somewhere in the book 'when Dave was in the band, it was Dave and Eddie who wrote all the songs'.

[DLR Bridge]

I always felt that Mike played his ass off with his own personal style from his '74 audition in the Van Halen's garage through WACF. I think if he ever writes a book, we'll find out that he played little or no bass in the studio from Fair Warning on.

[VHscraps]

Haha - Rolf Harris, the secret source of rock'n'roll.

Alice Cooper did one of Rolf's songs, 'Sun Arise' on the 1971 album, Love it to Death.



I once passed Rolf walking up Hope Street in Glasgow on a dead Sunday morning, about 10 years ago. Some cars went past and sounded their horn - Rolf waved, of course.

He's a BIG guy.

[Vinnie Velvet]

What happened to Mike's credits on 1984?

In the liner notes in BOV1, Mike does not get any writing credit for Panama and Jump - whereas originally of course he did.

I remember when Panama was featured in the movie 'Superbad' (2007) and at the end of the movie's credits it again states under Panama, "written by David Lee Roth, Edward Van Halen and Alex Van Halen."

????

[academic punk]

The same thing that happened to Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic's songwriting credits on Nevermind.

IN each case, the VH brothers and Kurt Cobain told their bandmate(s) that either they cede songwriting royalties or there would be no tour.

Over time, the royalties might make more money. But the tour generates MILLIONS in the span of months.

What would you do? (Plus, it must be said: it's the honest thing to do. If you didn't write it, you shouldn't get it)

[VHscraps]

Think they changed songwriting publishers as well - it might have been in the aftermath of the lawsuit Dave had against them (don't know if that was before '96 and BOV1, or after - or if there was more than one lawsuit ...)

On the '1984' vinyl album, the music publisher is simply 'Warner Bros. Music'; on the 2000 Remaster CD, it is 'Diamond Dave Music / Van Halen Music' and now, according to the listings at ASCAP, it is 'Diamond Dave Music / Mugambi Publishing', both c/o Warner Bros Music / Warner Chappell.

Curiously Mike is still on the credits of the 2000 remaster of the 1984 album ...

but that might just be because (in typical Warner's no-frills VH reissue style) they never bothered to add a single damn thing to the original packaging, no additional notes or anything - so all the names and stuff maybe just remained as they were in the CD booklet when it first came out.

Don't have an original copy of the '1984' CD to check, but '1984' originally only came out on Vinyl and Cassette - the CD might have appeared a year or two later, in 85, 86?? I dunno ...

[VHscraps]

The same thing that happened to Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic's songwriting credits on Nevermind.

IN each case, the VH brothers and Kurt Cobain told their bandmate(s) that either they cede songwriting royalties or there would be no tour.

Over time, the royalties might make more money. But the tour generates MILLIONS in the span of months.

What would you do? (Plus, it must be said: it's the honest thing to do. If you didn't write it, you shouldn't get it)

There was an article in a newspaper over here about royalties from Christmas songs:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/23/christmas-hits?newsfeed=true (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/23/christmas-hits?newsfeed=true)

it never really gets to the nitty-gritty with figures, but it seems like writers whose hits are guaranteed to get airplay can make tidy sums each year.

Another one I pulled up on Google, from 1996 that claims that Gerry Rafferty's song 'Baker Street' (http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/imagine-writing-one-hit-song-and-living-off-the-lucrative-royalties-for-the-rest-of-your-life-its-not-as-farfetched-as-it-might-seem-rock-critic-john-meagher-reports-72142.html) (a hit in the late 70s) still earns him £100k plus per year in airplay revenues alone.

That's the key thing, probably - airplay.

[DLR Bridge]

Lennon & McCartney had it right. Ringo most definitely didn't get the % of the pie Mike A got. He made OK though.

[Seshmeister]

There was an article in a newspaper over here about royalties from Christmas songs:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/23/christmas-hits?newsfeed=true (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/23/christmas-hits?newsfeed=true)

it never really gets to the nitty-gritty with figures, but it seems like writers whose hits are guaranteed to get airplay can make tidy sums each year.

Another one I pulled up on Google, from 1996 that claims that Gerry Rafferty's song 'Baker Street' (http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/imagine-writing-one-hit-song-and-living-off-the-lucrative-royalties-for-the-rest-of-your-life-its-not-as-farfetched-as-it-might-seem-rock-critic-john-meagher-reports-72142.html) (a hit in the late 70s) still earns him £100k plus per year in airplay revenues alone.

That's the key thing, probably - airplay.

I think it varies wildly, I've heard stories of musicians you will have heard of getting annual checks for amounts like £1.46 or so.

I don't know much about the airplay figures, I do know the guy that wrote the 30 second theme tune to the 'Have I got News for you' TV show gets £30 every time it's shown.

[VHscraps]

Back in Elvis's heydey, he used to get a co-songwriting credit on some of the tunes he recorded.

He never had anything to do with writing the songs, but the argument was - "if Elvis records it, it is gonna sell way more than it ever would otherwise", hence the writers were only too happy to give up a share of the writing credit to Elvis.

You listen to a song like 'Hound Dog' - Elvis never wrote it, and it was also recorded before by others, so his version is not even the first one - but he just owns it. What he brings to it, just makes it so much better than it was.

[So this is love]

BAH!!!!!!!! MA has probably earned about 30-40 mil in career with VH.
I mean WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!

[VHscraps]

I think it varies wildly, I've heard stories of musicians you will have heard of getting annual checks for amounts like £1.46 or so.

I don't know much about the airplay figures, I do know the guy that wrote the 30 second theme tune to the 'Have I got News for you' TV show gets £30 every time it's shown.

Same with literary writers - you hear all about the huge amounts some writers make, but a recent newspaper story said that the average royalties received by UK writers (i.e., including all the big hitters in that average) is about four grand.

[Seshmeister]

The funny stat I heard recently was that there is ONE artist in Ireland that makes enough to live on without having to rely on social security or a second job.

I mean painter type artist.

One.

[chefcraig]

Do you think Alex Van Halen would get writing credits if he wasn't Eddie's brother? My guess is that most of the time he got a writing credit just for being there when Eddie was writing riffs.

Perhaps. Then again, who is to say that Al didn't start some drum pattern that suggested the riff in the first place?

[ZahZoo]

Funny some think the drums are not an integral part of a composition. Alex plays some of the most complex rhythms and fills on every song... in some cases no less innovative than Ed's guitar work.

There's a reason there's 4 guys on stage... it's way more than singin and guitar shredding...

[Vinnie Velvet]

Funny some think the drums are not an integral part of a composition. Alex plays some of the most complex rhythms and fills on every song... in some cases no less innovative than Ed's guitar work.

There's a reason there's 4 guys on stage... it's way more than singin and guitar shredding...

I agree.

I would suggest that Dave and Eddie do the bulk of the writing, but that Alex has a significant contribution as well.

[chefcraig]

There's a reason there's 4 guys on stage... it's way more than singin and guitar shredding...

Exactly. Being one myself, I happen to know that the reason nearly all bass players are employed is usually because they are the only member of the band that actually owns a car.

[mohican]

Even before 2004, as well - at the time of the '96 Best Of Van Halen, Mike's credits were already changed on some tunes. On Jump, for one, his name wasn't on the credits anymore. Just looking at ASCAP, he's no longer credited as a writer on any of the 1984 album.

Good observation. I just checked on lyricsfreak and noticed they now have band member names listed whereas it used to be van halen. And MA wasn't on 1984 but remained on the Hagar songs. They must have made the change recently because it used to be vh for all the cvh songs.

[binnie]

This I do know: Wolife will be creditted with 'Coffee & muffins'.

[stringfelowhawk]

Isn't that pretty much what that dim-bulb Vanilla Ice tried to say when he ripped off the bass line of "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie for "Ice Ice Baby?"


OMFG!! That is the first thing that popped in my mind when I read that.... Watching his dumbass on MTV trying and failing to convince everyone that bass line wasn't the same is comedy gold.....

[redfire]

Didnt mike sign everything away in 2004 ?

I thought I remembered hearing this back in 04-05 after the tour fell apart. Mike said he has to sign away his writing rights.

Also, just because a song was never recorded doesn't mean Van Halen didn't copyright it. In fact I would assume they would copyright all the songs they write and record (as demos).

[academic punk]

Back in Elvis's heydey, he used to get a co-songwriting credit on some of the tunes he recorded.

He never had anything to do with writing the songs, but the argument was - "if Elvis records it, it is gonna sell way more than it ever would otherwise", hence the writers were only too happy to give up a share of the writing credit to Elvis.

You listen to a song like 'Hound Dog' - Elvis never wrote it, and it was also recorded before by others, so his version is not even the first one - but he just owns it. What he brings to it, just makes it so much better than it was.

Yup - and of course the example of payola - radio DJs like Alan Freed getting songwriting credits for songs that they had NOTHING to do with writing, but there they are with 50% of the credit.

Why? Because if Chuck Berry wanted Maybelline to get any airplay - read, to find an audience - then you're going to have to pay for the dance. Mr. Freed is happy to promote your song - so long as it was his song too.

[Bill Lumbergh]

Let me be the first to say. WHO GIVES A FUCK? Yep!!