A studio musician who contributed to your song and recorded their part could claim to be a coauthor of your song composition and sound recording.

A studio musician who contributed to your song and recorded their part could claim to be a coauthor of your song composition and sound recording.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Only for the composition
• D. Only for the sound recording

Answer: (A)

The concept being tested is that authorship in music can be shared when there’s original creative input from more than one person. If a studio musician helps create the song’s parts—writing or shaping a melody, harmony, or arrangement that reflects original expression—they contribute to the musical work itself and can be a coauthor of the song composition. Since they also record their part, their creative input is fixed in the sound recording as well, which can make them a coauthor of the sound recording too, assuming their contribution is original and intended as part of the joint work. In contrast, simply performing someone else’s existing part without adding original input wouldn’t make them a coauthor of the composition, though they would typically be credited as a performer on the recording. So, a studio musician who contributes to both the creation of the song and the actual recording can be a coauthor of both the composition and the sound recording.

The concept being tested is that authorship in music can be shared when there’s original creative input from more than one person. If a studio musician helps create the song’s parts—writing or shaping a melody, harmony, or arrangement that reflects original expression—they contribute to the musical work itself and can be a coauthor of the song composition. Since they also record their part, their creative input is fixed in the sound recording as well, which can make them a coauthor of the sound recording too, assuming their contribution is original and intended as part of the joint work. In contrast, simply performing someone else’s existing part without adding original input wouldn’t make them a coauthor of the composition, though they would typically be credited as a performer on the recording. So, a studio musician who contributes to both the creation of the song and the actual recording can be a coauthor of both the composition and the sound recording.