Producers: Session Forms and Split Sheets

Two of the most important things to have in a studio session are the session form and split sheet.

Completing these before the end of each session will save tons of time (and money) on the backend when it’s time to release the final track, but a lot of producers don’t use them especially early in their careers. In some cases, when managing a budget with a record label you’ll be required to have session forms and split sheets signed before the end of the session so it’s best to familiarize yourself with them sooner rather than later.

A session form documents the session and with major labels, they often have to be turned in within 24 hours of the end of each session. A complete session form will have the date of the studio session, where the studio session was, what time the session started and ended, who attended the session, what was worked on during the session, and if there are any session musicians their names will be listed along with their musical contribution. As mentioned before session forms will be turned into the label, but they also get filed with musician unions.

Split sheets list the songwriters and composers that contributed to the song and are the number one that can be done to prevent publishing disputes when it’s time to get contracts signed so that the composition is cleared for use.

The split sheet will list all of the songwriters, and provide their contact information, publishing information, PRO, and percentage ownership of the composition and have each songwriter’s signature and date. Consultants and attorney’s spend hours negotiating publishing splits or trying to find contacts to get agreements signed, but a split saves them time and saves you money.

Split sheets used to be filled out by hand, but today there are several apps like songsplits.com that provide a digital split sheet. Each songwriter must sign up with songsplits.com and you are alerted when each songwriter signs. It also includes the songwriter’s manager or attorney if they need to be included.

The music side is only part of the music business and producers need to use session forms and split sheets to ensure that they are taking business seriously and taken seriously when conducting business.