What is a split sheet and why is it so important?

Arguably one of the most important documents in the music industry is also one of the most ignored.

The split sheet is an integral part of the music industry yet it might also be one of the most overlooked parts of it. During my time getting my bachelors of science in music industry at the University of Southern California, we were taught how important the split sheet is and how messy things can get without one. Despite all of this however, it is also probably the biggest buzz kill/ creativity blocker when it comes to songwriting.

What is a split sheet? A split sheet is essentially a contract of sorts. It is a document that you take with you when you are going to write a song with someone. The document has the song title, intention of use for the song (ie: I want to release this song on all streaming platforms as well as in CD/Vinyl form) and then everyone’s names who wrote the song with you and how much percentage ownership of the song everyone gets. The document needs to be signed by all parties and kept safely for future use. Are you beginning to see why it can be a bit of a buzz kill to a creative writing session?

In my experience as a songwriter, absolutely no one wants to discuss percentage ownership splits of a song that you just wrote. It completely kills the excitement and high that comes from coming up with a song that you love. And from my experience let me tell you that no one cares to discuss songwriting percentages during these sessions. Everyone’s happy and excited and couldn’t care less about how much of the song they own. But what happens if/when this song blows up?

What if it goes viral on social media and suddenly this one song is generating thousands of dollar? Suddenly everyone who helped to write and create the track feels that not only is the percentage split an important discussion, but that they deserve more than someone else. Is this the situation you want to be in? I for one would much prefer killing the mood with the discussion of ownership percentages before the song ever sees the light of day so that there is no question or argument as to who gets what if and when the song gets mega successful.

So many beginner artists and musicians think it’s enough to just credit or acknowledge everyone who helped write the song. So many artists think “well my music hardly makes any money so we’re really splitting pennies when it comes to splitting ownership of the song. So who cares?” But you have to care. You have to treat every song you write as if it is going to become the biggest hit in the whole wold. And guess what? If it doesn’t then there’s no harm done in hammering out who gets how much ownership of the song. And if it does then you’ve just saved yourself from letting excitement and greed ruin your relationship with these writers.

My personal perspective on songwriting splits as of right now as an artist with very little streams and income from his music: I prefer to split everything evenly. And this approach is one that I acknowledge to be unrealistic in the long run, especially as more money and more parties get involved. However for now, splitting the songwriting percentages evenly across the board is something that is not hurting me and something that I am happy to do to show the people who I am writing with how much I deeply respect and appreciate them lending their talents to my vision.

As more success comes, songwriting percentages get lower and upfront payments get higher. Why? Because many labels/publishers would rather take the higher percentage for themselves for the chance of a life long income from the song even if it means less money right away. And if the song does in fact become a viral hit, then whatever “large” amount of money that was paid to the songwriters in exchange for taking a lower ownership percentage is less money than the label/publisher would lose in the long run. BUT if you are at the level where I am then offering an even split of the songwriting credit amongst all songwriters is also great motivation to have the song do well. If everyone has more “skin in the game” then it benefits everyone if the song does well. And this could help motivate everyone to push the song once it’s out. This kind of push isn’t necessary when you have a multimillion dollar record label or publisher supporting your work, however it is very helpful when you don’t have that level of support.

You may be asking “But what if the song takes multiple songwriting sessions with different writers before it is completed? I can’t just promise the first person more than the following writers will get before the song is finished”. And to this I would say you are absolutely correct. Writing the song over the course of multiple sessions with different people does make things a little more difficult. There are some methods to straighten everything out. Firstly the power of the paper trail is very important. Text all your writers what your intention to do with the song percentage split is before you even meet to write. For me this text looked like “I’m planning on splitting the songwriting percentages equally to everyone who is writing on the track”. This way even though an official document is not signed yet, you have written proof that you told this person what you intention is with the song splits and if they agreed to what you told them then you have confirmation that they were on board with this plan. Can this replace having the split sheet signed by them? I would say no because the split sheet gives the full run down of everyone’s names involved and the intention for the track. However if there is any discourse down the line over someone claiming to not know how much of the song ownership they were promised, then this text log serves as solid evidence that they were told what the percentage split would be. Once all songwriting sessions have been conducted and the song is written in its entirety, you can go ahead and fill our the split sheet appropriately and send it to everyone to be signed and sent back to you.

There you have it! That is a crash course on why you need to have a split sheet for every song you create as well as how to go about doing it. You can find a variety of templates for this kind of document online, or you could make your own if you want. There is no right or wrong way to do it as long as it clearly states the song name, intention for use, writer credits with their percentage splits, and signatures! The more songs you work on and the more people you write with the harder it will be to remember who wrote on what and who gets how much so collecting these split sheets will allow you to have an efficient way to reference this information whenever you need it (which will hopefully be very often and for many good things!).