Free split sheet template

What is a split sheet?

A split sheet is a short written agreement that lists everyone who wrote a song and the percentage of the song each of them owns. It covers the composition (melody, chords and lyrics), not the recording, and the shares add up to exactly 100%. Co-writers use it when they register the song with a PRO such as ASCAP or BMI and with The MLC. Without an agreement, US copyright law presumes co-writers own equal shares, according to the US Copyright Office. Scope: US songwriting splits, sources checked Sep 24, 2026. A template, not legal advice.

That equal-shares default is the reason to bother. The US Copyright Office’s letter on jointly owned works spells it out: when three songwriters collaborate on a song, each one gets an undivided one-third interest, unless they’ve agreed to something different. So if you wrote the verses, the chorus and the chords, and two friends chipped in a line each, nothing on paper means everyone owns a third.

The tool above is the paper. The three rows it starts with (You at 50%, Sam at 30%, Jo at 20%) are only examples, so replace them with the real people and numbers. The meter fills as you go and turns green at exactly 100.

The hard part isn’t the form. It’s saying “I think I wrote more of this” to a friend. That conversation is awkward for five minutes on the day. It’s a lot worse a year later, when the song has a few hundred thousand streams and everyone remembers the session differently.

Here’s what goes on the sheet, one field at a time.

What to include in a split sheet template

TheDebutRoom’s free split sheet template covers the core of any split sheet: the song title, the date agreed, each collaborator’s name, role and percentage, a total that has to reach exactly 100%, and a signature line for each person. It doesn’t have fields for each writer’s PRO, IPI number, publisher or contact email, which co-writers need when they register the song, so write those on the printed copy next to each signature. The template runs in your browser, saves nothing, and exports the same rows as a CSV.

Field by field:

• Song title. Use the title you’ll register and release under. If it’s still “idea 14 final v3”, put that and add the real title when it changes.
• Date agreed. The day everyone agreed, not the release date. If the split changes later, that’s a new sheet with a new date.
• Names. Legal names, not artist names. Registrations are tied to the person. Add the artist name on the printout if it helps.
• Role. Pick Songwriter, Producer, Topline, Featured artist or Performer. It’s a label for what someone did. It doesn’t change the math.
• Percentage. Whole numbers work best. For a three-way even split, type 33.34, 33.33 and 33.33. Three lots of 33.33 comes to 99.99, and the tool will tell you 0.01 points are unassigned. It’s being fussy on purpose.

The total line only says “Adds up. Get everyone to sign it.” at exactly 100. Over that, it tells you how many points to take off someone. Under it, it shows how many are unassigned.

PRO and IPI. Your IPI number is the ID your PRO uses to match you to your songs, and ASCAP’s IPI page says you get one when you join and should share it whenever you co-write. If a co-writer hasn’t joined a PRO yet, write “none yet” rather than leaving it blank.

Print or CSV. “Print to sign” opens your browser’s print dialog. The printout hides the page around the tool and adds a line under each person with their name, role and percentage, for a signature and date. Most browsers can save that as a PDF from the same dialog. “Download CSV” saves the song, date, names, roles, percentages and total as a spreadsheet file. It has no signatures, so it’s a record, not the agreement. Nothing is stored on the site either. Close or reload the page and the sheet is gone.

A good template does nothing if it sits in a downloads folder, so timing matters.

When to sign a split sheet

TheDebutRoom’s rule: sign the split sheet the day the song is finished, before anyone uploads a demo or registers the song. ASCAP gives the same advice in its guide for co-writers, which says to agree on splits at the point of creation, ideally in writing, and to make them add up to exactly 100%. Memories of who wrote the hook get less reliable as the song does better. And if nobody ever agrees, US copyright law presumes co-writers own equal shares, which may not match what happened in the room.

ASCAP’s page on songwriting splits frames it as a conversation to have before you register anything. A few ways that conversation goes:

• Even split. Everyone who was in the room gets the same share. Quick, friendly, and it avoids arguing over who suggested the bridge.
• By contribution. You go part by part: lyrics, melody, chords, the beat. Slower, but fairer when one person clearly did most of it.
• Something in between. A smaller share for the person who added one line. Fine, as long as everyone signs the same number.

None of these is the right one. The right split is whichever one all of you sign.

Remote sessions. Fill in the sheet, save the print dialog as a PDF and send it round. Each person signs and sends back a photo or scan. Keep every copy in one folder with the song’s stems and lyrics.

When things change. A feature writes a new verse, or a producer’s melody gets swapped out. Do a new sheet with a new date and have everyone sign again. Don’t cross out numbers on the old one.

Once it’s signed, those numbers go straight into your registrations.

How a split sheet connects to PRO and MLC registration

A split sheet gives you the percentages you enter when you register a song with a PRO and with The MLC, and every co-writer should register the same numbers. PROs such as ASCAP and BMI collect performance royalties, and The MLC collects streaming mechanical royalties in the US. Each uses its own scale: ASCAP counts writer shares out of 50% and publisher shares out of 50%, while BMI uses a 200% scale, 100% for writers and 100% for publishers. At The MLC, claims on one song that add up to more than 100% are an overclaim, and royalties can be held until it’s fixed.

Here’s how the scales play out. Say the sheet reads 50/30/20. At ASCAP, per its splits guide, the writer side totals 50%, so the same deal works out to 25/15/10 of the whole. At BMI, per its royalty split FAQ, the writers’ shares total 100% on a 200% scale. The ratios never change. Check each form’s instructions for exactly how it wants the numbers entered. If your co-writers belong to different PROs, send everyone the same signed sheet so every registration matches.

The MLC is where mismatches cost money fast. The MLC’s overclaims page defines an overclaim as claims on a work totaling over 100%, and says it’s up to the claimants to fix it: agree on new shares, drop a claim, or upload documentation. Its 2023 royalty recap lists overclaim holds among the reasons royalties are held back. A signed split sheet is exactly the documentation you’d want to upload. The MLC’s own overview says self-administered songwriters can be members, so you don’t need a publisher to register.

That’s the fear worth naming: the song does well, and your share of the publishing money sits frozen because two registrations disagree.

Some distributors ask for songwriter splits too. CD Baby’s songwriter splits page collects them per release for registering who wrote the song. Copy the numbers from your signed sheet. For which PRO to join, see ASCAP vs BMI, and for the mechanical side, the guide to mechanical royalties.

All of that is money for the song. The recording’s money runs through your distributor.

Split sheet vs distributor splits

A split sheet and a distributor’s splits feature divide two different pots of money. The split sheet sets who owns the song, which drives publishing royalties through PROs and The MLC. A distributor’s splits feature, such as DistroKid Splits or TuneCore Splits, divides the store royalties the distributor collects for the recording and pays each collaborator’s share automatically. The two percentages don’t have to match. Setting up distributor splits doesn’t register anyone’s songwriting share, and signing a split sheet doesn’t pay anyone store money.

A common setup: your producer co-wrote the beat and gets 30% on the split sheet, plus a share of the master that you set up as a distributor split. Two agreements, two numbers, and neither replaces the other. The master side is its own deal, which is why the template above sticks to songwriting shares.

How the distributor side works:

• DistroKid Splits. DistroKid’s Splits page has you add each collaborator by email with a percentage, and it rebalances the others so the total always equals 100%. A share waits for a collaborator until they accept the invite. Each collaborator needs a DistroKid account to collect, on their own subscription or with a yearly fee you pay for them.
• TuneCore Splits. A collaborator needs a paid TuneCore plan or the $7.99/yr Splits Collaborator option to collect.
• CD Baby. CD Baby doesn’t split payments across accounts. The money lands with the account holder, who pays everyone else by hand.

If automatic payouts matter for your band or your producer, the DistroKid vs CD Baby comparison covers splits side by side, and the free tools hub has the royalty calculator for a rough idea of what a share might earn.