Songwriter

A songwriter is a

Songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. Being a staff writer effectively means that, during the term of the songwriter's contract with the publisher, all their songs are automatically published by that company and cannot be published elsewhere.[1]

In the Nashville country music scene, there is a strong staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal "9-to-5" hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary, says staff writer Gary Growden. This salary is in effect the writer's "draw", an advance on future earnings, which is paid monthly and enables them to live within a fixed budget.^[4] The publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright.^[4] In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up: "I was able to concentrate on writing the whole time and have always had enough money to live on."^[5]

Unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of these work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. Because the recapture provision of the United States Copyright Act of 1976 does not apply to "works made for hire", the rights to a song created under an employment contract cannot be "recaptured" by the writer after 35 years. In Nashville, young writers are often strongly encouraged to avoid these types of contracts.

Staff writers are common across the whole industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favoured in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract.

A top-line writer or top-liner is a songwriter who writes a song over a pre-made beat. In top-lining, the writer is not creating a song from scratch, but rather creating lyrics and melodies over an existing music genre, tonality, harmony, rhythm, and form of a song.^[7]

In modern commercial writing, it is a common practice for the musical track to be produced first without any vocal melody or lyrics. This is partially due to the rise of portable music production equipment and digital audio workstations that are designed for the swift arrangement of electronic music, such as Cubase^[8] and Ableton Live.^[9]

The top-liner usually is also a singer, and will sing over the

There is a way to prevent such legal battles. A songwriter can commit their "intent to make a song", which prevents any of the parties ripping the song apart. Some artists send out a legal disclaimer making clear that if their melody is not used after doing a topline, it reverts to them, and the track back to the track writer.[11]

Songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In part, this is because the process of "working out" a song or arrangement requires a songwriter to play an instrument, typically the

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys is one of the earliest and most widely known examples of a songwriter turned music producer. Within two years of the band's commercial breakthrough, Wilson had taken over from his father Murry, and he was the sole producer of all their recordings between 1963 and 1967.

Many singers also write songs for themselves, and as such, they are usually referred to as singer-songwriters.^[12]

In solitary songwriting or sole writing, only one person is responsible in creating the entire music and lyrics of a song. According to Billboard, 44% of the songs that reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the 1970s were written by just one songwriter. The percentage declined to 42% in the 1980s, 24% in the 1990s, 6% in the 2000s, and 4% in the 2010s.^[13] Lionel Richie and Diane Warren are the only songwriters with at least 8 number-one singles written solely by themselves.^[13]

Songs written by more than one person is co-written, written jointly or written in collaboration with other authors.^[14] Co-writers may use the "stream of consciousness" approach, referring to having ideas flow rather than being discussed. The first step in co-writing is to establish the division of the contribution between co-writers. In copyright law, there is no distinction of importance between the lyrics of the song or the melody of the song, therefore each writer is given equal ownership over the song, unless another agreement is arranged.^[15] "Phantom" songwriters provide small contributions to songs. The songwriter suggests a line for a verse or a session musician who informally proposes a chord progression for a coda. "Phantom" songwriters are usually not given credit.

Songwriting partnership or songwriting duo is a prolific collaboration which consists of two songwriters, usually sharing 50% royalty each. Songwriting partnership can be between a composer and a lyricist (Andrew Lloyd Webber with Tim Rice, or Elton John with Bernie Taupin),^[16][17] a performer and a producer (Madonna with Patrick Leonard or Mariah Carey with Walter Afanasieff),^[18][19] or between bandmates (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones or Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA).^[20] According to Billboard, the songwriting partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney remains the most successful one of all time, resulting over 180 songs and a record 20 number ones for the Beatles on the Billboard Hot 100.^[21]

Songwriting camp is a gathering of multiple producers and topliners in a pre-selected location for the purpose of writing songs for a specific artist.^[22][23][24] As one of the most successful artists in releasing many hit songs, Rihanna has been known for holding various writing camps to make her albums.^[12][25] Writing camps are also very popular in the K-pop music industry.^[26][27][28]

Sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. The original songwriter(s) of a song usually receive co-writing credit when their work is sampled on another song, although they did not literally involve in making the latter. For example, Sting is credited as a co-writer alongside Todd Gaither and Faith Evans for "I'll Be Missing You" (1997) due to the sample of "Every Breath You Take" (1983), a song he solely wrote for the Police. However, "I'll Be Missing You" did not have legal approval for the sample before its release, thus Sting sued and received 100% of the song royalties, with payments reportedly going until 2053.^[29][30] Beyoncé's album Lemonade (2016) features as many as 72 co-writers due to use of samples in majority of its tracks.^[31]

• Musician
• Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time
• List of Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees
• Singing