Can I "Spin" My Own Songs?

Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain

People have asked me on various occasions why I do not have any of my own music on sites such as ReverbNation, SoundCloud, or Fandalism. The answer is simple. I don't own full copyrights to them.

My only contribution, in most cases are bass lines, lyrics, and vocal melodies. Since my brother wrote the guitar parts, he got the larger percentage of these copyrights, and is the holder of the actual physical paperwork on them. There are even some, which have lyrics written by the drummer, for which I hold no copyright at all, even though the bass lines and vocal melodies were completely mine.

Yes, I fully realize this is my own stupidity, but the real question for me now is, can I use my parts elsewhere? Can I simply take my bass lines, lyrics, and vocal melodies and create entirely new songs, which sound nothing like those written by my brother? Would this be akin at all to "spinning" them, as one might "spin" an article for publication elsewhere?

It is true, I could simply write new songs, which is something I have done, and am in the process of doing. Some of the older songs hold special meaning for me, though, and I really don't want to part with them. Some contain elements of which I was quite proud, and that were totally my own creation and contribution. Am I wrong in wanting to salvage them?

Perhaps there are implications I have yet to consider here, both of the moral and legal variety. However; my gut tells me these individual parts belong to me. I can even hear in my head how I might have done them differently had my brother not insisted that one simply "can't write music on bass guitar!"

Whether these new "spins" on old songs see the light of day outside my own musings remains to be seen. Still, I feel compelled to make this a new pet project. I suppose we will simply have to see what evolves from it.