Songwriter:

The career field I want to go into is a songwriter. This is an exciting career role within the industry because of its integral importance to the music industry. Yet, songwriters are often underrepresented and underpaid for the work they do. Throughout this research portfolio, I’m keen to understand this job role, and what key skills, responsibilities, and challenges songwriters face while delving into some case studies of successful examples.

To get into this career, unlike many jobs, set qualifications aren’t needed, as mentioned in the BBC Bitesize article with Lewis Capaldi, artist and songwriter “No qualifications in particular are needed just passion, experience and dedication”. To be considered a professional working songwriter there’s no degree of any kind that you can do. However, that doesn’t mean that certain degrees like mine don’t help to strengthen your musical knowledge and give you years to hone your writing which would then ultimately get you in a room as a topliner. Songwriters are hired on their skill, likeability, and past credits, as mentioned in almost every research source of mine, it is a people-based job as most of the work topliners do is through collaboration, therefore the ability to communicate and work with other people is integral to making it as a songwriter. As Ines Dunn, professional songwriter, mentioned in her masterclass at Abbey Road Amplify 2024 (2:10:18), your job as a writer is to ‘help the artist find their vehicle to express their feelings’, meaning a required skill of a songwriter is the creative ability to put into words and melody how another person is feeling.

However, due to the fact writers aren’t paid for sessions, some other key skills can help you stand out as a more equipped songwriter whilst also helping you gain some more income through session work. This is by being a capable producer. Even if this means you’re just producing the demo or even getting to the point where you can be the ‘producer’ in the writing room, you can then get paid for your time in the writing session. I have made this argument because when I was researching different songwriters, I found that most of the latest successful songwriters produced as well. For example, Finneas, Kamille, and Jack Antonoff, currently some of the biggest writers of this century all winners of Grammy awards for their work, are writers and producers. On Bloomberg Uk an article states that “the vast majority of songwriters, or 74%, make under $10,000 a year.” Which shows me that producing is a crucial skill if you want to be chosen for sessions, but most importantly find a way to increase your income.

Not only are the skill requirements quite uncertain, but so are the ways songwriters make money. Obviously, the best way to make a sustainable income as a songwriter is to have lots of hit songs released that’s royalties are continuously generating you an income, however, that isn’t very realistic, especially for up-and-coming songwriters. One huge way that enables Topliners to have a sustainable career is through publishing deals, this is where a publishing house gives you money, this is like a grant of sorts that funds you to live and pays for your writing sessions, and in return, they take a percentage of your royalties (each deal terms and conditions vary). This can be a huge help for songwriters starting as publishing houses have many artists who they can put you in session with and help you to begin to have released songwriting credits. As well as this, having a publishing deal can mean that your day-to-day work is much more structured as you have a team of people booking you in for work as a topliner. Ines Dunn, a songwriter signed to Universal Publishing Group, says how when she first signed her deal, she would be booked into writing sessions for “a couple of days of the week”, Abbey Road Amplify (2024), meaning that her workflow would look like two to three writing sessions a week where she would be put in a studio with an artist just to write songs.

However as mentioned before, there is no same day for every songwriter, and it can change based on many factors, if you are a freelance songwriter you can choose how intense your workflow is, but at its core the day of work for a songwriter would be to meet the artist, generating ideas with them, writing lyrics/ melody or instrumental for this song. But the key ingredient in all of this is to have artists to write with, therefore for newer songwriters, this may include going to networking events or going to gigs at night to network and find new artists to work with.

One common theme with all the sources is that when successful songwriters are beginning their careers they write with as many people as possible, this is to help spread the word of you as a writer, Ines Dunn mentions how A&Rs are not usually looking for writers and instead for the artist. Meaning if you have worked with lots of people your name will start to come up more in conversation directly leading to more work and opportunities. Therefore, it is your duty as a new songwriter to write with as many people as you can to develop your career and collaborative skills, meaning your schedule will be busy with writing sessions. This could also be a good opportunity to promote your work as a writer, in the new age of social media and the emphasis on having an online platform to break through, it is even harder for new songwriters to get into this career. And by the nature of the job most writers do not want to be front and centre posting their involvement in songs, most want to work solely behind the scenes. Therefore, to promote their writing in hopes of gathering new collaborators or traction to their work, songwriters almost must let the artist they write with and the songs they write speak for themselves. As if you have written with lots of new artists, A&Rs, and other industry professionals start to piece together that you are a good writer who writes music people resonate with, directly leading them to want to get you in sessions to make more music with artists they have.

One amazing example of this is Amy Allen, an amazing songwriter who has worked with sensations like Sabrina Carpenter, Selena Gomez, and Harry Styles. Though she does post on social media and has more of a presence than most songwriters I have investigated, this is because she is also an artist herself meaning she mainly promotes her songs. However, when a song she has written comes out, she posts about that song and displays that she was a part of the creation process of it. For example, when the hit song of this year espresso by Sabrina Carpenter (2024) was released, Amy Allen posted a behind-the-scenes picture of one of the sessions- a simple but effective way to promote your work and show you are constantly working and marketing you as an in-demand writer. Ultimately showing that as a songwriter you must utilise the artists you are working with, for networking opportunities, and promotion to retain continuous writing work.

However, all of this comes from the perspective of a new songwriter, and once you have established yourself in this career things are a bit different. As successful writer and producer Britten Newbill said in a masterclass I went to, ‘once you have established yourself within this field you can have a much better work-life balance as you no longer must find people to work with and have more people reach out to you’.

Though songwriting is considered a creative career and those who do it professionally find great joy in writing music, some big problems can occur because of this job, one being finically it takes a long time to generate any income from the music you write, and most of the time it can take over a year for a song to be released, let alone see any money from it. This means many songwriters must find other side jobs to afford to live. Not only this, but due to the world of streaming now, songwriters make almost no money from streams, Ditto music states that Spotify “pays artists between $0.003 – $0.005 per stream on average”, which forms the question of how songwriters make any money? The biggest way is through PRS (Performing Rights Society). PRS collects writers’ royalties when ‘their works are broadcasted, performed or streamed’ and quarterly distributes it to their members. And anyone can sign up to be a member, meaning this is inclusive for all writers including new and inexperienced topliners. Once I started to investigate PRS this then led me into the massive area of the industry that can lead to many legal issues- splits.

When a song is written and released, you must name everyone who has worked on the song and state the split they have in the performance royalties of the music- this is for the publishing copyright. This is where split sheets start to become a massive necessity for songwriters to protect their work and intellectual property. Split sheets are a document signed by all writers on a song agreeing on what each person’s split was so that when the music is released everyone is credited fairly for their work. Therefore, causing legal trouble for songwriters who don’t sign split sheets as they may not get fairly represented for their work, for example, be given what they see as an unfair percentage for how much they worked on or be left out completely. So, to protect yourself from facing legal battles for splits of royalties, signing a split sheet after finishing any collaborations is key.

After the legal and financial struggles of this career, there are then personal challenges a songwriter may face, especially as this a career based on your creative output as well as the fact it’s hard to measure if an idea is good or not. This is where the infamous writer’s block comes in. Different methods work for different people, however, Ines and Britten both shared some valuable ideas about how they eliminate writer’s block. Ines Dunn states that ‘if she is finding it hard to write she leans on her collaborators for inspiration and sometimes powering through as you can end up with your best work’. However, on the other side because of this being a career that is leaning on you and your ideas being interesting, sometimes writer’s block can be a sign of burnout and the need to take a short break. The masterclass with Britten delved into burnout and mental health and how every writer struggles with this at some point. And to deal with them once again might mean you’ll have to take a step back from writing for a bit, therefore you can come back to writing to your full potential.

Once again, songwriting is a unique career where though there are progressions and milestones someone could hit to prove they’re at a new height of their career, it’s different for everyone. One milestone could be getting a publishing deal, as it shows that enough people believe in your writing and feel confident funding your work because they’re sure that it will be successful and pay them back when the music is released. A publishing deal renewal would be the next milestone as it proves that a publishing house is confident in the work you have already done for them and thinks you will continue to write commercially successful music. There are then also awards you can win that showcase on a big scale that you are a writer to watch, the big one being the Ivor’s Novello Awards. One songwriter I have referenced throughout this portfolio, Ines Dunn, was nominated for the Rising Star Award in 2023, and again in 2024 for her work with METTE on the song Mamma’s Eyes (2023).

To conclude the research portfolio, though finding that my preconceived ideas about this career and its lack of accessibility are correct, I have also discovered that with determination and hard work, you can earn an income by being a songwriter. In my career, I would love to be signed to a publishing house, due to its security and guidance as you would always have people to write with. Not only that, but I have also discovered that the key to making it in this career, despite all of the obvious answers like being a good writer or knowing music theory, is being a good communicator and having the ability to allow people to open up to you so you can help put into words how they’re feeling, is the most important skill that I will take into every writing session I ever have.    

Bibliography: Abbey Road (2024). Abbey Road Amplify 2024 – Studio Two Livestream. . Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohq35Pow4XU [Accessed 01/01 2025]. Allen, A. (2024). Amy Allen, Espresso Post. [Picture] Available online: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5qxX_9Rkil/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== [Accessed 01/01 2025].   BBC Bitesize (n.d.). How to become a singer-songwriter: Lewis Capaldi’s story. Available online: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvmcmfr [Accessed 01/01 2025]. Carman, A. (2024). Songwriters Say Streaming Doesn’t Pay the Bills. Available online: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-08-01/songwriters-say-streaming-doesn-t-pay-the-bills [Accessed 8 Jan. 2025]. Carpenter, S (2024) Espresso [Audio]. Island Records. [Accessed 01/01 2025]. DITTO Music (2023). How Much Does Spotify Pay Per Stream in 2023. Available Online: https://dittomusic.com/en/blog/how-much-does-spotify-pay-per-stream [Accessed 01/01 2025].   METTE (2023). Mamma’s Eyes. [Audio] Universal Music Publishing. Newbill, B. (2024) Masterclass- Britten Newbill 07.11.2024, workshops and masterclasses [Panopto]. Available online: https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=40ab22d6-4c6a-4894-817e-b22600f8c3b4 [Accessed 01/01/2025]   PRS for Music (2019). PRS and MCPS: Who does what?. Available online: https://www.prsformusic.com/what-we-do/prs-and-mcps [Accessed 01/01 2025].