Split Sheet Checklist: Everything You Need Before the Session Ends

You just finished writing a song. Everyone's still in the room or on the call. This is the perfect moment to fill out your split sheet, but only if you have everything you need. Here's the complete checklist.

Song information

Song title. Whatever the group has agreed to call it. If it's still untitled, pick a working title and note that it may change. A working title is better than a blank field.

Artist or project name. Whose project is this song for? If it's a collaboration with no designated artist yet, list all the writers.

Date of creation. The date the writing session took place. This establishes when the song was written, which can matter for disputes. Use today's date.

Alternate titles. If the song has a working title, a remix version, or an alias, list those too. This helps PROs match registrations when the song title changes later.

For each contributor

Every person who contributed to the composition needs the following information on the split sheet. Not some of them. All of them.

Legal name. This must match what's registered with their PRO. Not their stage name, not a nickname. Their legal name as it appears on their PRO account. Stage names can be listed as aliases, but the primary name must be legal.

Email address. So they can receive a copy of the split sheet and be contacted if any registration questions come up.

PRO affiliation. Which PRO are they with? ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN, PRS, GEMA, and dozens of others worldwide? This determines how their share gets registered and what percentage scale applies.

IPI number. Their Interested Party Information number (9-11 digits) from their PRO. This is the most commonly missing piece of information on split sheets. If a co-writer doesn't know theirs, they can look it up on their PRO's website in a couple of minutes.

Writer role. What did they contribute? Lyrics, music (melody and composition), or both? Some split sheets also distinguish between arrangement and production. Roles help PROs categorize the contribution and can matter for certain types of royalty calculations.

The splits themselves

Writer share percentages. What percentage of the writer share does each contributor own? These must add up to 50% (on ASCAP's 100% scale) or 100% (on BMI's 200% scale).

Publisher share percentages. Same concept for the publisher side. If a writer self-publishes, they claim their own publisher share. If they have a publishing deal, their publisher's name and IPI go here.

Publisher information. For each writer who has a publisher (including self-published writers), list the publisher name and publisher IPI number. If a writer doesn't have a publisher set up yet, note "No publisher — to be registered" so it's clear that share still needs to be claimed.

Samples and interpolations

Does the song contain samples? If the composition uses any sampled or interpolated material from another song, this needs to be disclosed on the split sheet. Sample clearance affects ownership percentages because the original songwriter(s) typically receive a share.

Sample details. If yes, list what was sampled: the original song title, the original songwriter(s), and whether clearance has been obtained. This prevents registration conflicts when the original rights holders notice an uncleared sample.

Before everyone leaves

Once you've collected all the information, do a quick verification. Read the percentages out loud. "So we're agreeing to 50/50 on both the writer and publisher side, correct?" Make sure every contributor verbally confirms. This takes 10 seconds and prevents the "I thought we agreed on something different" conversation later.

Send a copy to every contributor immediately. Email is fine. The point is that everyone has the same document with the same numbers before anyone walks out the door.

The quick reference list

To make it easy, here's everything in one place. For the song, you need: title, artist name, creation date, and whether samples were used. For each writer, you need: legal name, email, PRO, IPI number, writer role, writer split percentage, publisher name (or self-published), publisher IPI, and publisher split percentage.

If you have all of this documented before the session ends, you're set. Every PRO registration, every song submission, and every licensing inquiry from here on out gets answered by this one document.

The 5 minutes you spend filling this out while everyone's together saves hours of chasing people for information later. That's the entire point of a split sheet.