Is there a preference for legal or performance names in writing and performance credits?

[draconx]

@justcheckingitout

What I mean is - you open up a rights society (such as BMI or ASCAP) and you see a work was written by 7 people. But you look at the liner notes and see only 2 writers listed. In most cases (for contemporary music) the two writers will be band members.

The primary purpose of the rights society databases is keeping track of how royalties are distributed. These databases are very useful but should not be considered authoritative for determining authorship of a work.

This is especially important to keep in mind in cases where the writers are dead or copyright has expired.