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Well let’s say you’re listening to a song and singing along. This song goes something like Twenty one pilots song stressed out. You know the words you hit the timing you enjoy the song. Now another song comes on and you try to sing along. It’s Molly Percocet. How do these songs compare? One has meaning and is enjoyable while the other may be enjoyable to some it has no real point and its lyrics don’t make you feel proud to know them in the same way. When you sing it you sound like an idiot. This is why lyrical content matters. If your lyrics are trash then your song is trash.
Recording Hit Songs with Changed Lyrics
Occasionally, a music publisher will receive a request from a recording artist or producer to alter the lyrics of a well-known song for the purposes of a re-recording and release under a new or similar title. Weird Al Yankovic’s “Eat It” is a good example of this phenomenon. Another good example is Frank Sinatra’s version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” The original line is: “From now on, we all will be together if the fates allow / Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow,” but Frank refused to sing the word “muddle” and changed the lyrics to “hang a shining star upon the highest bough." The licensing of this type of lyric use can be conducted in a number of ways between two parties.
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Given that any success the new recording receives would be inherently reliant upon the success of the old version, most music publishers request the ownership of the copyright and subsequent publishing rights to the new song and new lyrics. If this is the case, the new lyricist will receive no publishing royalties for their work. In other scenarios, publishers may allow the lyricist for the new song to receive writer’s credit and therefore a share of the mechanical and performance royalties.
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Many publishers will refuse outright to allow a recording artist to change the lyrics to a popular song for risk this will alter sales and royalties from it. In addition, many songwriters have the right as part of their publishing agreement to grant final approval to any lyric changes.
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