Understanding writer shares
Writer shares are the percentages of a composition owned by each contributing songwriter or composer. They must total exactly 100%.
Last updated August 16, 2026
What a writer share represents
A writer share is the percentage of a composition's musical work rights that belongs to a particular songwriter or composer. If you wrote a song entirely on your own, your writer share is 100%. If two people contributed equally, each person's writer share is 50%. Writer shares reflect the creative ownership split agreed on by all contributors.
100% rule
All writer shares across a composition must add up to exactly 100%. MRP checks this automatically in Step 3 of the wizard. You will not be able to lock a composition until all shares balance correctly.
Setting shares in the wizard
You set your own share in Step 1. Co-writers' shares are set when they confirm their claim in Step 3. MRP shows the current allocation and warns you if the total is under or over 100%. Common preset values are available (100%, 75%, 50%, 33.33%, 25%, 12.5%) but you can enter any custom percentage.
Writer share vs. publisher share
Writer shares and publisher shares are separate concepts. Your writer share is your ownership of the composition as its creator. A publisher share is the portion of your publishing rights that a publisher controls on your behalf. A writer can own 50% of a composition and independently have a publisher who controls some or all of that 50% publishing portion. See the Publishers & Publishing section for more detail.
Changing shares after confirmation
Once a co-writer has confirmed their share, changing shares requires all affected parties to re-confirm. If you need to adjust shares after a composition is locked, you must request an amendment, which resets the composition to draft status and requires all parties to confirm again before it can be re-locked.