The statutory provisions of U.S. copyright law (i.e., what happens to your co-written compositions if you don't have a separate agreement) are kind of like intestacy statutes (what happens to your stuff if you die without a will.)

In both cases, the short answer is: a lot of things you wouldn't have imagined, or wanted.

So, just as everyone who is alive and owns stuff should have a will, everyone who is alive and has written a song with someone else should have a co-administration agreement.

Here are just a couple examples of what you might expect versus what would happen without an agreement.

1. You write a song with Joe, who is not in your band. You wrote most of it, but Joe touched up a word here and a middle eight there. You plan to record and release the song with your band. Meanwhile, Joe decides that the song is so great that he's going to record it with his band right away. His version is out before you got into the studio. Is that what you expected? Is that what you wanted? That's what you have under statutory copyright law.
   
   
2. You write a song with Joe, who is not in your band. You wrote most of it, but Joe touched up a word here and a middle eight there. It's a song from your heart, the summation of 20 years worth of thought and emotion. Joe doesn't tell you, but he licenses it out to a Viagra® commercial. You're getting money, but you're getting sick every time you hear the song. You call Joe. He tells you that you probably don't want to hear the adaptation they did for the laxative ad. Is that what you expected? Is that what you wanted? That's what you have under statutory copyright law.
   
   

If you're OK with the outcome in these two examples, you probably won't mind the other things that could happen. Otherwise, maybe give us a call...