OffKey Season 3 Episode 3: The Songwriter
This week on OffKey, we’re looking at our first character in the storyline of the creation of music: the Songwriter. Featured in this episode are the insights of: Kathryn Calder, of The New Pornographers, Frontperson, and Oscar St. Records; Karen Kosowski, songwriter and producer based in Nashville; Mateo Palmisano, composer and producer of Xitmuse; Jonathan Simkin, founder of 604 Records; and Mike McCarty & Holly Fagan from SOCAN. We discussed how the Songwriter starts building a career, connecting with collaborators, sorting out composition credits, and making money.
The Songwriter
As with anything in music, there is no single definition for “Songwriter”. The role can vary, depending on whether they write independently, with co-writers, or are signed to a publisher. Sometimes, the Songwriter is also the performer of their own songs, such as Ed Sheeran or Adele. But oftentimes, the Songwriter is working behind the scenes, writing songs for Recording Artists who then release the songs under their own names. If we look at the songs that top the billboard hot 100 each year, the majority of them were written by 4 or 5 songwriters, many of whom the general public has never heard of.
Featured performers, on the other hand, are usually front and centre. The first thing one generally sees on the cover of a CD or single is their name in bold. However, one has to take extra steps to find information about songwriters, making them appear less central to the musical work.
Last week, we touched on the history of songwriting in popular music, going back to New York’s “Tin Pan Alley”, where music publishers set up shop in Manhattan’s flower district in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Tin Pan publishing houses were a meeting point for composers, lyricists, Broadway performers, and musicians to plug, purchase, and publish sheet music for the songs of American popular music’s Golden Age. Although this shifted during the singer-songwriter era of the 1960s and 70s with artists like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, the Tin Pan Alley days of exchanging songs between writers and artists is largely how pop music functions today.
As discussed last week, while the role of the songwriter has evolved throughout history, the separation between recording artist and songwriter remains relevant today, and for clarity’s sake, I’ll refer to the Songwriter as separate from the recording artist.
So what does the role of the Songwriter entail? What does the writing process look like? How do they get their songs to Recording Artists who might want to record them? How do they make money from the songs they write? In this episode, we’ll get started on answering these questions and go deeper in episodes to come.
First off, let’s learn about getting started building one’s career as a songwriter.
The Songwriting Process
Probably the most simple way to imagine the songwriting process is one person sitting at a piano, with a guitar, or making a beat on a Digital Audio Work station, and coming up with a chord progression, melody hook, lyrics, etc. This more independent process is definitely how a lot of songwriting is done, and with the innovation of the past few decades, there are many technological tools at the solo songwriter’s disposal.
Oftentimes, songwriting involves multiple writers, who connect with one another either on their own initiative or through a record label or publisher. Publishers are important players on the Songwriting side of music, who play a key role in connecting Songwriters with one another and getting their songs to the right recording artists. We’ll get into this more later on when we look at the songwriter’s team and the role of the publisher in more depth. Karen Kosowski shared her experience collaborating with other songwriters in Nashville and explained how the Nashville songwriting community is a lively place where music publishers are very active in connecting songwriters and getting songs to the right artists.
Another interesting way of collaborating with other songwriters is songwriting camps. SOCAN facilitates camps both abroad and locally at their offices across Canada and they’ve started a program called Song Camp Mondays, which aims to bring the camp experience to as many SOCAN members as possible.
Dividing Composition Credits
Beyond the creative process, my question with regards to the business side of all of this collaborative songwriting is: how is ownership of the song divided between co-writers? What determines an equal split vs. dividing composition rights proportionally? Or are the splits predetermined, based on the regulations in the city or country you are writing in?
Connected to songwriting splits is the topic of sampling. When you use someone else’s musical work in a new musical work of your own, getting permission and figuring out the songwriting split is crucial.
Overall, sorting out songwriting splits are crucial to determining what proportion of royalties you are entitled to.
The Songwriter’s Royalties
How does the Songwriter make money? Going back to the first episode, royalties are determined by certain rights. To songwriters, the primary rights are the reproduction right and the performing right, which result in mechanical, public performance, and synch royalties.
Put simply: in order for songwriters to make money, they need to register with a collection society. In Canada, this would be SOCAN, while in the U.S., it would be ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. Every country has their own system of royalty collections, and we’ll get into this deeper later on in the season when we look at collection societies. Canadian songwriters should register with SOCAN as soon as they can, so that they’re set up to earn money when their musical creations are reproduced and performed.
Building a career as a songwriter is a multifaceted and gradual process, and I hope the insights shared in this episode have been helpful. Here’s some final advice for songwriters starting out in the industry:
Thank you to Kathryn Calder, Karen Kosowski, Mateo Palmisano, Jonathan Simkin, Mike McCarty and Holly Fagan for their contributions to this episode!
If you have any topics you would like me to cover in future episodes, please feel free to reach out via email to offkey@membran.net. Otherwise I can be found on Instagram at @membranlabs or @taliyasw
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