Glossary · Contracts
Split sheet
A split sheet is a signed document recording each contributor's ownership percentage of a musical composition, along with their legal names, PRO affiliations and IPI numbers. It is the evidence used to register the work correctly with The MLC and with ASCAP or BMI.
A split sheet does one job: it turns an agreement made in a room into a document you can register from. Without one, a song's ownership exists only as everyone's separate memory of a session, and memories diverge exactly when money appears.
A usable split sheet carries more than percentages. It needs each writer's full legal name, not their artist name; their PRO — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR; their IPI or CAE number; their publisher entity if they have one; the song title as it will be released; the date; and signatures from everyone. Those are the exact fields The MLC and your PRO ask for when you register the work, which is why filling one in properly makes the registration a copy-and-paste job instead of a research project.
The percentages must total 100%. Conflicting or over-claimed shares are one of the most common causes of frozen, unmatched royalties — if two writers each register 100% of the same composition, the collecting society holds the money until the dispute resolves.
Sign it at the session. Not next week, not when the mix is done, and definitely not when a sync opportunity arrives. The conversation is easy while everyone is still pleased with what they made, and it gets progressively harder with every month and every dollar that passes. I have had exactly one song where I let it slide, and it is the one I still cannot register cleanly.
The misunderstanding: thinking a split sheet is only for co-writes with strangers. Friends and long-term collaborators are where the undocumented splits pile up.
Templates are widely available free; use one, and use a lawyer for anything unusual.
Related terms
- Songwriter splitA songwriter split is each writer's percentage ownership of a musical composition.
- IPI / CAE numberAn IPI number, formerly called a CAE number, is a unique identifier assigned to a songwriter, composer or publisher within the…
- The MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective)The MLC is the non-profit organisation designated under the Music Modernization Act to administer the United States blanket…
- Musical compositionA musical composition is the song itself — the melody, harmony, structure and lyrics — protected as its own copyright separate…
Answers that use this term
- When Should You Do a Split Sheet — and What Goes On It?Do the split sheet the day the song is made, while everyone is still in the room and nobody thinks it is worth anything.
- What Percentage Does a Producer Get on a Song?There is no legally fixed producer split. A producer who wrote the underlying music commonly takes a share of the composition…
- The 90-Minute Royalty Registration Checklist for Independent ArtistsIn one sitting of roughly ninety minutes you can open every account that collects money for your music: an ASCAP or BMI writer…
- How to Register With ASCAP or BMI (Step by Step)Pick one performing rights organization on cost: BMI charges songwriters $0 and ASCAP charges a $50 one-time processing fee.
Definitions on this site describe the United States system. I am an artist who has been through this, not a lawyer.
Get the paperwork done in one afternoon
The Zero to Beat Society walks through registration, splits and release paperwork step by step — with the templates and checklists already filled in.
See the tiers