TORONTO -- A group of hit songwriters calling themselves “The Pact” is calling on artists to stop demanding a share of the publishing royalties when they aren’t involved in the writing of a song.
In a recently published open letter, the group explained that a “growing number of artists” have demanded publishing royalties for songs they didn’t write.
“These artists will go on to collect revenue from touring, merchandise, brand partnerships, and many other revenue streams, while the songwriters have only their publishing revenue as a means of income,” the letter stated.
“This demand for publishing is often able to happen because the artist and/or their representation abuse leverage, use bully tactics and threats, and prey upon writers who may choose to give up some of their assets rather than lose the opportunity completely.”
The group said the practice has become “normalized” and songwriters haven’t joined together to fight back. That is, until now.
“This body of songwriters will not give publishing or songwriting credit to anyone who did not create or change the lyric or melody or otherwise contribute to the composition without a reasonably equivalent/meaningful exchange for all the writers on the song,” the group wrote.
While the identities of the founding members of the group have not been revealed, signatories to the letter included Emily Warren, Justin Tranter, Ross Golan, Victoria Monet, Amy Allen, Savan Kotecha, and Joel Little.
It’s an impressive list of writers who are behind some of pop music’s biggest hits from artists including Dua Lipa, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Ariana Grande, Michael Buble, Selena Gomez, Maroon 5, and Harry Styles, among many others.
However, the letter didn’t call out any artists by name.
In an Instagram post, Tranter, who has written songs for pop stars including Halsey, Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa, said he hopes the group’s letter doesn’t turn into a guessing game, in which people try to identify the artists who have taken credit for songs they didn’t write.
“I have worked with and written with some UNREAL artists who let me into their lives to create with them who deserved their credit and publishing, so please leave the bs out of this,” he wrote. Tranter went on to say that this call for unity in the music industry is about making things better for the next generation of songwriters.
It’s a sentiment echoed in the group’s letter: “We hope that this action will protect the future “us”, the next generation of songwriters - those who believe they have no leverage and no choice but to give up something that is rightly theirs.”
The songwriter Plested, who has worked with artists such as Little Mix, Lewis Capaldi, and Kygo, posted a simple message on his Instagram in support of The Pact: “We are simply asking that we give credit where credit is due and only take credit where credit is earned.”
