JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Mentor Questions Forum What do I owe my helpers?

This comes up now and then. I contend that if some songwriter who posts on a peer critique website has a serious hit with a song that has been posted, the lawsuits will pile up like two NFL teams on a loose football.

Here's a question:

If a songwriter used one or two of your suggestions that you and, perhaps, others believe just "makes" the song, then that song becomes a #1 hit, making a LOT of money. What would you think? Now, don't answer that here, just think about it

That's why I always recommend that when critiquing someone's songs, people don't change the song without offering that change free and clear and say so in the post. Instead of doing rewrites and changing words, just say what the problem is and describe ways to make changes.

But either way, even if a songwriter writes a hit song all by theirself and never makes a change of even a comma placement, I would bet that if it was ever on a peer critique songwriting site, such as ours, that there would be a lot of "sour grapes" posts, claims, boasts, and probably even a lawsuit or two.

Every few months you'll read posts here by new members that claim their uncle actually wrote all of the Rolling Stones hits but had them stolen, somehow, and would like help to find out how to sue them. Or, there are posts by people who wrote a song called, "I Love You Baby" and heard a hit called "Baby, I Love You." and are positive that it was stolen from them. Now, just imagine people who actually had some internet interaction (now there's a song hook) with a songwriter who has a hit on a song that was posted while it was in the rewrite stage?

This is why you don't find hit writers on sites like these.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think our song crit sites are a great service to folks as a development tool. But, if I were posting songs here and was going to make even the slightest change based on someone's recommendation, I would ask, in public, if they wanted a cowrite, and then print out and keep a hard copy of the answer.