The music publisher of respected Nashville musician/songwriter Mike Lawler has sued singer Shawn Mullins for copyright infringement, alleging that Mullins is denying Lawler’s rightful songwriting royalties after giving him proper credit on Mullins’ new album, Beneath the Velvet Sun. In a lawsuit filed Oct. 27 in U.S. District Court in Nashville, Simranch Music charges that Lawler cowrote “Everywhere I Go” and “Up All Night” with Mullins and Matthew Kahler in Atlanta last spring. But according to the suit, in September Mullins and Kahler told Mullins’ label, Sony Music, as well as the publishers and BMI, that they were the sole creators of the song and that Lawler should not receive any song royalties. If these songs are as successful at radio as Mullins’ previous singles, the disputed amount could reach into six figures.
Lawler, a former A&R man for Mercury Nashville Records, is the cowriter of such hits as Patty Loveless’ “Lonely Too Long” and Sawyer Brown’s “Drive Me Wild.” He has played keyboards on sessions for the Allman Brothers, Collective Soul, Elton John, James Brown, and Steve Winwood. “Our position is that Mike Lawler adamantly maintains that he did cowrite with Shawn Mullins and Matthew Kahler and that the two songs cowritten were actually based on music that he had previously composed himself,” says David Moser, Simranch’s attorney.
According to the suit, Lawler created the melodies, supporting chord structure, and rhythm for what eventually became “Up All Night” and “Everywhere I Go” in May 1999, nearly a year before the songs were recorded by Mullins. Then in January 2000, he was hired by producer Anthony Resta to play keyboards on Mullins’ recording sessions in Atlanta the next month. During this time, Resta told Lawler that Sony wasn’t satisfied with the songs Mullins had turned in, so executives asked him to find some new songs for the project. In April, Lawler played “Everywhere I Go” over the phone for Resta, “who said that it sounded like a ‘smash hit’ and was just the kind of song that Sony wanted for Mullins,” the lawsuit says. After Lawler played the song over the phone for Mullins, the singer asked Lawler to come to Atlanta and cowrite with him and Kahler.
The trio wrote the two songs and agreed that they were equal cowriters, the lawsuit says. In July, Mullins gave Lawler CDs containing the songs so that his copyright interests could be documented.
In September, Mullins and his manager, Russell Carter, tried to persuade Lawler and his publisher to take less than a one-third writer’s share, the lawsuit charges, but Lawler and Simranch refused. The single “Everywhere I Go” was released that same month, with the album slated to hit the streets in October. In late September, Mullins’ agents told Lawler that the singer and Kahler claimed to be the sole authors and all royalties should be paid only to them.
Says Mullins’ attorney, Jay Bowen, “Mike Lawler was a session player who was invited in. The song was basically complete; he might have added a couple of chords. He didn’t have anything to do with the creation of the song.”
Asked to explain why Mullins gave Lawler songwriting credit on the album, Bowen says, “The fact that the credit is on there is not indicative of any contribution to the song by Lawler. It is routine in the music business for courtesy credits to be given.”
Although singers are sometimes given a songwriting credit on their album in exchange for recording the song, it is unheard of for songwriters to be given credit as a courtesy, says Nashville attorney Trip Aldrege. “I have never heard of that in my life,” he says. “I know Mike, and he is a pretty well-known songwriter. If he did participate, they are going to have a hard time proving he didn’t participate in the creation of the song.”
Says Simranch co-owner David Kastle, “What I think is peculiar is that somebody is flown to Atlanta for a writing session and then is not considered a writer. Why does a guy fly down there [just] to get a credit? Mike has plenty of credits. Mike has a long and illustrious writing and playing career.”
