11.0 Group Provisions

In the case of a group the publisher will require all of the members of the group to sign the publishing contract notwithstanding the fact that it may be anticipated that one member only of the group will be writing the songs. This is simply a security measure on the part of the publisher. Obviously, this will not be possible if one of the group members is already a party to a publishing contract of some kind but, in that event, this is bound to impact upon the financial terms of the deal. In the case of a group, the publishing contract will contain complex leaving members provisions. The important point for the writers to bear in mind is that if one of them should leave the group and if the publisher should elect to continue with that leaving member then he or she should have a separate contract which stands on its own so far as the minimum commitment is concerned (so that the duration of his contract is not governed by the fulfilment of the group commitment). Also, the leaving member provisions need to deal sensibly with the issue of cross recoupment (the same principles apply here as with any recording contract; see (Chapter II Part II paragraph 7.0).