The Importance of Songwriting

Licensing and publishing music is an ever-growing sector of the music industry. This section of the industry has many responsibilities, mainly ensuring that writers and composers receive their royalties and the publisher shops their work to other artists, television, and film to increase the amount of payment and recognition they receive. The writer agrees to give partial or full ownership of their copyrights to the music publisher they are signed to in exchange for the publisher’s commercial exploitation of the work.

Publishers make their money by enforcing a series of licensing fees for the use of published and copyrighted music. Publishing companies collect money from the multiple streams and share them based on the agreement the company and writer have. The most common licenses handled by publishing companies are Mechanical and Synchronization. Mechanical licenses give the individual the right to reproduce and distribute a specific composition per unit manufactured and sold. Synchronization or Sync licenses “grant[s] the right to synchronize the musical composition in timed relation with audio-visual images on film or videotape” (“Types of Copyright”). Publishers aim to get their client Sync deals since they bring in a higher income than Mechanical licenses do.

Songwriters work directly with publishing companies. A songwriter being signed to a publishing company is equivalent to an artist being signed to a record label. The publisher-songwriter relationship is very similar to an artist-label relationship such as offering terms with options of extension, sole exclusivity to one publisher, a quota of quality songs to the publisher, profit splits, and advancements for the writer. The publisher will not make money unless the artist makes money and the artist needs the help of the publisher to get placed and properly copyright their music and collect the royalties.

The writer will sign a deal with a publisher. The deal can be a co-publishing deal where the publisher will own 50% of the copyright for the length of the copyright. They can also sign to an administrative deal which allows the writer to own 100% of their copyright and the publisher acts in an administrative capacity, taking a small percentage of any royalties the song earns. Writers can also choose whether to be signed to a major publisher like Sony ATV, Universal Publishing Group, and Warner/Chappell or an independent publisher like Kobalt Music Group, Atlas Music Publishing, and Downtown Music Publishing. Major publishers tend to favor co-publisher deals while independents can depend on the success of leverage the publisher or the songwriter has.

In the focus group, I asked a group of eleven individuals six questions. I chose all college students ranging in a year in college they are, gender, age, and college they attend. The questions asked focus on the impact of songs on the group on a personal level, trying to find out what college students really think about the importance of songwriting and music. The questions and results that were asked include;

“Do you tend to look up lyrics of a song and try to earn an understanding of them?” which 82% of the group said yes, they do look up the lyrics and meanings of the lyrics while 18% said no, they do not look up the lyrics and meanings the lyrics.

“Will you continue to like a song if the music is bad but the lyrics are good? And vise-versa?” 37% said they would not like a song with bad music and good lyrics but would still like a song with good music and bad lyrics. 18% said the opposite, they would like a song with bad music and good lyrics but would not like a song with good music and bad lyrics. Another 18% said they would like a song in both instances while another 18% said they would not like a song in either instance. 9% said it depends.

“What impacts you more mentally and emotionally? Lyrics or the music?” 36% said the lyrics impact them more than the musical element of a song while 54% said the music impacts them more than the lyrics do.

“When listening to a song for the first time do you focus on the music or the lyrics first?” 18% of the group said they focused on the lyrics and 82% focused on the music the first time they listen to a song.

“Does the music or the lyrics play a bigger part in your music taste?” 18% of the group said lyrics play a bigger role in their song taste while 82% said the music does.

Lastly “Think of a song you love, if you had the chance would you want to look into the process of the melody/composition/music or look into the process of writing the lyrics?” 55% said that they would want to see the process of writing the lyrics while 45% said they would want to see the compositional and music element of the song being written.

Kobalt music group is the top independent publishing company to date. They have multiple successful acts who are thriving in the industry which in tell makes them thrive in an industry dominated by majors. They strive for a fairer and rewarding industry for their songwriters. They give their staff and clients “the freedom and transparency they need to build their careers” (Kobalt). Kobalt’s roaster is vast with many different artists writing different types of lyrics and music, including Wolf Alice, Alt-J, Beck, Bon Iver, Lauryn Hill, LCD Soundsystem, The Big Moon, and more. They’re activeness in the industry and the artists are how they stay relevant. Kobalt is the one publisher independent artists can turn to get a good deal with great benefits while not being tied to a major label. My results showed while many people related more to the music, they still appreciated the act of writing lyrics and found interest in the process of it behind the scenes which helps many songwriters. The place Kobalt is in right now is the best spot since they are the most attractive publisher to independent artists (“Meet Kobalt”).

Big Deal Music is another independent publisher but it is much less powerful and much smaller. They are on the smaller side of the independent publishing industry. Big Deal Music has offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and Nashville. They are artist-driven and offer more one-on-one relationships than larger publishing companies. The roaster is much smaller which fits their personal style as a company. Acts include Bad Suns, Beach House, Caroline Rose, Cigarettes After Sex, Deep Sea Driver, Local Natives, and more (“About”).

The results of the focus group found that many people admire and respect the act of songwriting and pay attention to the lyrics but they pay more attention to the actual composition and musical element of the song and the composition and musical element of the piece plays a larger role in shaping their own music taste than the lyrics do. 82% of the eleven in the group said that the music plays a bigger role in their taste and 37% of the group said that if a song has good music and bad lyrics that they would still enjoy the song while they would pass on a song with bad music and good lyrics. The focus group showed that the act and process of lyrics and songwriting are important which keeps these songwriters and publishers in business no matter what size they are which helps independents like Kobalt and Big Deal Music. 55% said they’d want to see the process of writing a song they like instead of looking into how the musical element came to be.

Copyright laws are fair in protecting the writer’s works. The licenses and their fees needed to use a writer’s work allow the artist to keep working and creating content which is essential. If an artist doesn’t file for copyright they won’t be protected against infringement and will have a harder time pitching their work to artists, collecting royalties, reach international audiences, and negotiating for requests. Songwriters should be compensated more than they are because of the work they put in and the hits they put out. Songwriters being compensated more means publishers will be as well. With higher compensation brings a higher incentive to work due to the increase in income that it would bring.

College students are listening to the music behind the lyrics more but find songwriting admirable and important to the overall structure. When it comes to their own personal music taste the songwriting is a smaller deciding factor in their music taste and interest as seen in a majority of the focus group. They understand the importance of songwriting seen in the last question of the focus group.

Works Cited

“About.” Big Deal Music, Big Deal Music, LLC. Accessed 1 Mar. 2018.

“List of Music Publishers.” Songwriter Universe, SongwriterUniverse.com, 2015. Accessed 1 Mar. 2018.

“Meet Kobalt.” Kobalt, Kobalt Music Group LLC. Accessed 1 Mar. 2018.

Tripodi, Alex, et al. Telephone interview. 24 Feb. 2018.

“Types of Copyright.” BMI, Broadcast Music Inc. Accessed 1 Mar. 2018.