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One half is for the songwriters (could be 50/50 if you write music & he writes lyrics)
The other half is performance and split between all bandmembers equally, unless one of them was already paid for session time.
Sounds like your singer has LSD, and that sounds like it doesn't bode well for the future! Look at Elton - he co writes, he writes the music and Bernie writes his lyrics. I don't know their agreed split but I reckon it might be around 50/50 or thereabouts.
A song isn't just words.....that's a poem at best! A song is words AND MELODY. I already don't like your singer!
It should be equal...
But............
Who else has a claim? Anybody?
Any publisher?
If people make 80% off of a song be they whatever invested into the song, the remaining could be 10% 10% if two people have a claim - as an example, but my point is, writing credits should be equal if it's to be fair.
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“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
The former is easy to define, that's the bit the postman sings.
The latter is a minefield of subjectivity, and where you get the mental things like the blurred lines and sam smith/tom petty controversies. On the other hand, a recognizable guitar solo melody or a genuinely original drum pattern might be fair game - obviously not all songs have words or vocals and they still need to be protected legally.
In truth, most parts of the arrangment aren't going to be very original in 99% of all music ever made. 4/4 Drum patterns, chord sequences, standard grab-bag of song arrangement cliches... it can be tough to hear as a supporting musician, and is the reason most bands come to an agreement early on. Some only credit the songwriter of each song (the beatles being a famous example, other than the Lennon/Mcartney split because they did for a time genuinely work together creatively), others split things evenly, U2 being the most famous example probably. Sometimes it leads to unusual situations - for example, Rick Wright was fired from Pink Floyd for being unproductive in the studio, then hired on a fixed wage for the Wall tour. The tour lost the band money, and Rick was the only one to actually come out of it in the black.
Your singer sounds like a dickhead, but if he did write the words and melodies he's probably closer to being right. I'd suggest being in a band with a dickhead isn't going to be fun for you, long term.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
There are two basic royalties - publishing and performance. When a song is printed and sold in a songbook, the writers get publishing royalties. When a song is played (say, on the radio) then there is a performance royalty payment to the writer(s) and a performance royalty payment to the performer(s). Ditto for when a CD is sold or downloaded or played by a streaming service.
Who wrote the song is really something you should have agreed already. Some bands share songwriting royalties equally across the board - to keep the peace and avoid arguments about whose song gets onto the record. I believe I read somewhere that Coldplay includes their manager in this - a 5-way split - because they feel he is an equal member. Other bands do not split it, and then each song has one or more writers with varying percentages of contribution. Generally, the lyric writer(s) get 50% and the music writer(s) the other 50%. If you can't agree amongst yourselves, then it's likely that a song will be considered (in court, for example) to be the words and the melody line, including the rhythm of the notes.
A distinctive riff (Smoke on the Water?) might be considered a distinctive non-vocal melody, too - but I could play and sing Smoke on the Water for you without using "the riff" and you'd still identify the song from the lyrics and melody.
I may well be wrong, as I haven't thought about this for many years, but I don't think a chord sequence is accepted as being part of the song - that's just part of a specific arrangement to underpin the performance of the melody.
If you're getting songwriting royalties, do you already have a publishing agreement in place? That complicates things further, because you (or someone who claims they wrote the song and owned the original rights) may have sold the publishing rights to a publishing company in return for an advance against future royalties. That usually means they've given up control over how the commercial value of the song is exploited over to the publishing company. The publisher will take a cut of the gross royalty payments (publishing and performance) for their efforts in promoting the song and collecting royalties (as if!) on your behalf.
If you're a band playing and writing your own stuff - especially if it's unlikely someone else would want to record it - then there's little benefit these days in having a publisher unless you're broke and they offer you an advance you can live off.
If it's too late, then it's too late - but if you write any other songs together, make sure you agree what the royalty split should be before it gets published or performed.
Oh, and your singer might be a dick. Or, he might actually (in law) be the only person considered to be the writer, because he wrote the words and sang you the melody he was going to use to sing them. Can the song be performed and recognised without playing your riffs? If so, you might not have a strong case, sorry.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
FWIW we split everything three ways. Our drummer gets 33.34% instead of 33.33%, but we let him have the extra 0.01% since he's the one who sends the forms in!
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Yeah, we're going for the minimum possible chance of making a living playing music!