Hello! The waters of Copyright are choppy and dangerous, so I thought I would ask some third parties if I'm doing this right.

Scenario: A Singer/Songwriter has his own Publishing Company. His publishing Company has the exclusive right to grant licenses on all the songs he writes. He wants to perform/record his songs with my Record Company.

I'm thinking I need two agreements.

The first agreement is with his Publishing Company. In it the agreement states I can record his self published selections WITH the singer/songwriter and additional artists of mutual choice (drummer, bass player, etc). His publishing company waives the Mechanical License Fee. I get 20% of publishing royalties as a Co-Publisher.

The second agreement is with him (the singer). In it I state that my Record Company owns ALL rights to ALL recordings I do with him. I split NET profit with the singer down the middle.

Is this bizarre? Is it normal? Am I missing anything? As I understand it, I'd get 20% of Mechanical and Performance royalties (which his publishing company collects), and he'd get half my record company's net profit from sales of the recordings.

I'd be glad to post draft contracts if anyone is truly interested.

Thanks,