# Who scores modern music? (assuming the band has not done it)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-scores-modern-music-assuming-the-band-has-not-done-it/984366>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** music\
**Created:** [May 21, 2023, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-scores-modern-music-assuming-the-band-has-not-done-it/984366 "2023-05-21T19:34:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 11

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-scores-modern-music-assuming-the-band-has-not-done-it/984366/11 "2023-05-22T00:21:17Z")

</div>

> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> That would be @Musicat

Thanks, you guys. Here is the exact post I was recalling — it was older than I recalled:

> [@Eagles – Their Greatest Hits…. Why so many album sales?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eagles-their-greatest-hits-why-so-many-album-sales/847056/20):
>
> Lemme explain. Most professional writers, ca. \<1976, did not file for copyright; their publishers did, as they were (typically, by that time) under contract to the publishers. Performers were often more concerned with recording songs than the esoteric detail of the copyright & publishing business. The writers (the Eagles) like many rock artists, typically did their arrangements “by head” or in the studio. They may not have had anything written down, and many rock musicians read music little,…

EDIT: This post as well:

> [@Eagles – Their Greatest Hits…. Why so many album sales?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eagles-their-greatest-hits-why-so-many-album-sales/847056/10):
>
> OK – I never miss an opportunity to tell one of my favorite stories. Ca. 1976, when I was working in Hollywood, California, I got a phone call from a publisher. She said, “We have a new album being released tomorrow, and we forgot to copyright all the songs! Can you help?” Since I specialized in writing lead sheets, the primary way to copyright songs under the latest (1909) law, I sure could. But it took me about an hour and a half to produce a single, finished lead sheet, and my usual time…

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-scores-modern-music-assuming-the-band-has-not-done-it/984366)._