I have a question about giving appropriate credit in a musical program.
A man approached me to:
1) "Assist" him in creating original music for a musical
2) Direct a cast to sing the music while he directed them in their dance and scene work
3) Perform the music live and play the character of Raconteur during the run of the musical.
He had already written the lyrics for the musical (around what he called "dummy melodies"). He had an idea of what genre each song would be, and could (for most songs) sing (or more often hum) the melody he had in mind. He didn't know what key they were in, and rarely stuck to one key when he presented them to me. I had to hear him several times to figure out which notes he meant to hit.
As I created the specifics of the songs he had not addressed, I would create or change his melody, key, rhythm, tempo, add harmonies, add instrumental sections and orchestrate the songs. The writing process consisted off me deciphering what he wanted, improving on it, and running it by him for his approval with as little composer jargon as possible, as it confused him. He would often change his lyrics to fit my melody. He would sometimes accept my suggestions for lyric changes. It was fun. Until...
He showed me the program a few days before opening night. In it he was credited as the writer, director and composer. I was credited as the music director and the Raconteur.
I told him that I should have a composer credit as well because I did the composing work. I explained that, although he was correct to credit me as the Music Director, I was not only the music director because he didn't just show up with sheet music for me to direct; I created the sheet music with his approval. I suggested that I should either get the Composer credit or at least a Co-Composer credit. He gave me neither and kept the program as it was. He won a musical competition with the musical. He gave himself full creative credit to the judges, the audience and the papers.
Not long after the run, I found out that he told some people who had inquired that I had nothing to do with the composing process at all. They were surprised when he told them that he had created the music himself because they knew that he had never had any instrument training in his life.
I feel like I was taken advantage of. Although it is too late to change what happened, I'd appreciate an educated opinion on how the credit should have been assigned so I won't get screwed again.
- Sean
