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Hi,

One of my co-writers who was putting music to my lyrics has not been responding back to my emails for almost a month. Last time I talked to him he was almost done with the demo. How long should I wait to get it back or should I give the lyric to someone else?

Well, June 7, 2023, to July 7, I have a feeling something's gone wrong.

You may want to search obituaries in the area where the co-writer was last known to be.

And you can withdraw from the 'partnership', retaining what you brought to it and seeking another co-writer.

No 'partnership' of this nature is a 'sealed deal' unless you both signed a contract to that effect, saying that no matter what each of you submitted for co-writing, you would accept whatever the other person brought back.

That 'reserve' of commitment to a genuine 'legal' partnership is implied in oral 'contract' talks, but those are just 'talks', and that 'reserve' can be formally established in a contract, written, and signed by the parties, enabling you to extract yourself and your work should the partner's product be unacceptable to you, or the 'would-be' partner goes missing.

You can send an email advising the other party/parties to that effect, print it off, have it notarized, or have it notarized and mail it USPS if you have the address.

And then, move on. In future, you may want to make these formal contractual agreements up front, so that all parties are aware of the 'conditions' upon which the 'partnership' will move forward. At some point the amount of 'work' one is investing in a 'potential' partnership deserves a commitment from other parties that the work is respected and the final product will be 'co-written' and can be Registered for Copyright, identifying all 'composers' and 'authors'.