Hi, Debbie.  You ask important questions, but I'm afraid you don't give quite enough information for useful answers.  When you say you "wrote" 6 of the songs, but then employed someone to "transcribe" them, does that mean that you made the songs up and recorded them but don't have the musical knowledge to put them down on paper?  And exactly what was on the recordings, just your voice with no accompaniment, or some kind of harmonic accompaniment (piano, guitar, whatever)?

 

Without knowing the answers to those questions, I have to say that it looks as if his writing "a few harmonies in 4 of the songs" definitely makes him a co-writer of the songs, and not just a transcriber OR an arranger.  That's if you choose to keep his harmonizations as part of the songs, of course, and it's true (in my non-legal opinion) even if it wasn't required in whatever contract or letter of agreement you both signed.

 

Example (although not necessarily the same exact situation):  I co-wrote a rather nice song with one of my students, "In Virginia," and the way we did it was that I started by writing a harmonic structure for the complete song, which she then took and invented both the words and melody.  It was definitely a collaboration, and we both recognized it as such.  And then I subsequently wrote an "arrangement" for 4 voices in harmony plus an accompanying backup band, which we recorded.  (My wife sang alto and I sang tenor, with a good lead voice and a good bass.)

 

But I might very well misunderstand the situation, which is why I'm asking.  Do you understand what an "arranger" actually does?  (And I ask as someone who has been arranging for about 60 years!)  An arranger takes pre-existing music and puts it into a form that is performable.  Period!  It can involve harmonization (every one of Bach's over 200 chorale settings was an arrangement!), it can involve orchestration (usually handled by a specialist in musical theater or films), it can involve producing a song in leadsheet form from which specifically-talented individuals can perform it (much jazz is presented in that form rather than in written arrangements), or it can involve creatively changing or augmenting the original song in a wide variety of ways.

 

I'm fascinated by your situation and would just like to understand it a little better.

All the best,

John

If the contract called for transcription, and he signed it, and did not ask to negotiate any further for another contract regarding arrangement, even though (I assume) he understood he was arranging.  "I also told this person exactly what I wanted as far as the arrangements".  You evidently told the person your arrangement needs, and he did it, under the contract you negotiated.  So, legally, you probably do not owe him any more.  However, crediting him as the "arranger", would probably not be prudent under the contract terms.

John,

 

To answer your questions,

Five of the songs were already scored on paper in my handwriting, and I asked him to put them through a softward program.  Nothing changed except he copied the melodies.  He did add the chords to be used and included an intro on e of the songs, using my melodies.  On 4 of the songs, he added the harmony a third apart from the melody, as I had instructed him for about 1/4 of the song.  I had already laid out the information as to the arrangement ahead of time.  We walked through each piece, and I gave him specific instructions as to what I wanted.  Other than the chords, the melodies, most of the harmonies, and the arrangements (the tempo, style, instrumental breaks, etc) were all mine.

 

One of the songs was recorded by me years ago on a tape.  It had a harmony being sung; I asked him to transcribe the song as it was from the tape to the paper.  I believe he even used the same chords that were played on the tape.

 

Two of the songs were written by other people.  I had transcribed one of the pieces myself, but told him he would need to "clean the song up a bit" as there was a lot of syncoptation in it.  He wrote the chords to this song, as well as an intro.  I was very specific about the harmony in this one, a third apart.  I also wrote some of the musical interludes between verses.

 

One of the songs was on a tape by another person.  This one he simply transcribed as it was sung, and he added chords.

 

I am not trying to rip him off or anything.  However, I do feel that I have done most of the work on this play.  I have written the entire script, as well as 6 of the songs.  I do want to give credit where credit is due.  I just don't want to be taken advantage of.  I hope you understand.  It has been my understanding that an arranger lays out the way the song will be performed.  I feel that is what I did, as I walked through the specifics of each and every song with him before he began to transcribe.  I was under the impression this was being done as a "work for hire" as I am paying him a pretty good amount of money.

 

If this helps you understand my position, perhaps you could give me some insight.

 

Thank you for your time,

Debbie