How should jukebox musical releases be credited? Do the theatre guidelines of crediting the writers apply? Looking at a few examples it seem editors don’t apply it.
Mamma Mia! is credited to Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus, not to Catherine Johnson who wrote the script.
Similarly, We Will Rock You is not credited to Ben Elton and Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) is credited to Various Artists.
That one makes sense, they are the only artists credited on the cover.
That credits both artists, and having both would seem sensible?
That seems to credit nobody at all, I guess you could prefer the writer if known and credited at all on the release? The back cover also has no clear credit, just producers. Unless Baz Luhrmann is the credit.
So the writers should only be credited if they appear on the cover? It’s not clear from the guidelines.
My understanding is that the theatre guidelines were generally based on the classical ones, which do say to use the cover stuff only. That said, maybe writers on cover are less common for theatre releases and that’s why that is not explicitly required in the theatre guideline? (I see it does explicitly ask to use what is on cover for track artists). I barely ever edit theatre so people who do often would be better in this discussion though.