LearnWorking in a Session
Requests and paid collaboration
Ask someone to play on a song — for money or for nothing — and how the money is held until the work is in the record.
An invitation brings someone into a Session. A request asks them for something specific: this song, this part, by this date, for this much — or for nothing at all. It is the offer itself, not a message about one.
Sending one
Requests go out from a conversation with the person you're asking. You attach one or more of the Sessions you're on — songs you started, or ones you've contributed to — say what you're after, and set the terms.
- What kind of work. More than one is normal; “rap and production” is one ask, not two.
- Paid or free. A free collaboration carries no money at all — it is a different kind of agreement, not a paid one set to zero.
- When it's earned. On delivery, or when the part makes it into an Official version.
- How many songs count. With several attached, the request says whether any one of them is done or all of them are.
Private and open requests
A request addressed to one person is private. An open request is public and shareable: anyone can hear the song and put themselves forward, and you choose who gets it. Open requests can only be attached to public Sessions, because the point is that strangers can listen before they offer.
Answering one
Everything you've been asked and everything you've asked for is on Requests, with where each one stands — separate from the conversations, so nothing is buried under whatever was said since. You can accept, decline, or suggest changes from there.
Suggesting changes sends the offer back the other way with your terms on it. Whoever didn't write the version on the table is the one being asked, so it can go back and forth as many times as it needs to.
What a paid collaboration costs
The collaborator receives 100% of the agreed amount. The person paying is charged a 8% service fee on top, with a $1.50 minimum — so a small collaboration carries a proportionally larger fee. The full breakdown is shown before you send a request and again before you pay; card processing costs come out of that fee rather than out of the collaborator's side.
When the money moves
- You agree. If you're the one being paid, connecting Stripe is part of saying yes — otherwise there is no way for the money to reach you.
- The payer goes straight to checkout, and the money is held. It is not paid out yet.
- The work is handed over. Holding the money first is what makes it safe to start.
- The part goes into the song, and the payment is released.
Agreeing a share of sales
A request can also agree a percentage of what the song sells for on In Progress. That is not publishing and not streaming royalties — those you arrange between yourselves. And agreeing it in a request is not the same as having it: the split is authored in the rights editor, where every participant accepts their own share.