I know you want to live in a world where its not what WILL happen, but should and could happen.

Your value judgements are admirable FD...truly.... they were not lost on me.

But your exercise on fairness is arbitrary. Expose your thesis on what would be fore fair and equitable to a wide audience of those economically attached and participating in the music business....meaning drawing revenues or wages from the music industry....and you will get a wide range of fairness opinions ...and opinions on should and coulds

In the end, you get where we are, to what is actually happening, where what is Fair and Right and Just can be debated in abstract and against reality where all you rail against is happening...as it has down through time

In the early days of print publishers could simply publish whatever without compensation to authors. From then to now copyright and the businesses that financially benefit from the intellectual property bring us what gets published in all media from music to film to books to computer software code

All through time those close and important to the success of a venture shared in its spoils. In the music business, as in every business, norms developed in how things got done and how the pot was shared. The mob was apparently quite involved in the music business and reportedly made music careers, and through unions controlled a lot of the economy. Not right or fair or just but still was and to some extent probably still is so.

Other business practices and arrangements became norms as well and copyright spawned mechanical licensing agencies such as Harry Fox and Performing Rights Organizations such as BMI, ASCAP and various national PROs around the world. Copyright became foundational to the film and software industries

I guess what I'm saying is you come into an established way of doing things. There is a history you come into when you want to be part of making your song a hit. The one you wrote the lyric to and the melody you crafted with that moody hook that drives the song

Except that while you have a knack for crafting good tunes you are not really a professional singer and only a reasonably good guitarist. And you've never arranged or produced a professional recording though you've been around a studio and have one at home that recorded the music for the youtube video that got some attention and an enquiry

The artist and the CD producer both want songwriter credit for their participation and contribution, and serious publishing points

Both are established and known and your song will definitely get airplay and has a good chance of becoming a hit

Now what should and could FD do?

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If writing ever becomes work I think I'm going to have to stop