Is a 50/50 split fair, 50/50 of what, and does a paid producer get writer credit?

A 50/50 split is fair if you each wrote about half the song, and it covers the composition, not the recording. The percentage is a negotiation. What it applies to isn’t.

A released song is two copyrights. The US Copyright Office’s page for musicians says a recording and the music in it “are separate copyright-protected works,” commonly owned and licensed separately. A songwriting split, the kind you write on our free split sheet template, divides the composition. That’s the money PROs and The MLC pay out.

The master is a separate pot: the store money your distributor collects for the recording. You can split that 50/50, 80/20 or not at all. DistroKid’s Splits page lets you send any percentage of a release’s earnings to producers and bandmates. The two numbers don’t have to match.

A paid producer doesn’t get writer credit automatically. ASCAP’s splits FAQ says producers often contribute to the composition, and when they do, they can be credited as a writer. A producer who only recorded or mixed gets paid on the master side instead: a flat fee, a share of master earnings, or both.

ASCAP calls percentages “completely up to you and your collaborators,” so fairness is your call. ASCAP does encourage you to put it in writing before you register. Leased beats have their own rules: see registering a song on a leased beat.