Hi, my name is Billy Coombs. I’m a first-year songwriting student who is looking to become a professional songwriter. In this research portfolio I will cover several areas of what being a songwriter has to offer, from legal matters to qualifications and personal skills and qualities. I’ve explored these various aspects of being a songwriter as it will prove beneficial when progressing with my career and offer me skills that I can use in real life scenarios.
Coombs (2025)
Academic and professional qualifications and/or experience required for a songwriter.
Whilst there are no formal requirements for academic or professional qualifications when becoming a songwriter, many established songwriters hold musical qualifications for specific instruments and have often studied music.
It isn’t, however, a prerequisite to have qualifications as detailed by Green (n.d.) who explains that there are no qualifications needed to become a songwriter. Green says that ‘passion, experience and dedication is more important’ however he later explains that musical knowledge and performance skills could be beneficial.
Having a basic understanding about the fundamentals of music theory can prove extremely useful when aspiring to become a songwriter as this might help in expressing creative ideas and ensuring that an aspiring songwriter can both identify and develop musical patterns and production techniques in successful songs.
Knowledge, skills and personal qualities/attributes needed for success as a songwriter the profession.
There are several skills when becoming a professional songwriter. The Indeed Editorial Team (2025) mention the need for ‘some musical talent’ which includes learning an instrument and being able to play to express the melodies and lyrics of the songs themselves. The Indeed Editorial Team (2025) also mentions that some people may have natural vocal talent and may get professional training.
It might also be useful to know how songs are composed, arranged and produced alongside being able to write lyrics and melodies. An aspiring songwriter might need to listen to various genres and analyse how those songs functions in those genres.
These sorts of skills and knowledge can play a vast role in the success of a songwriter and can be utilised to speed up the pace of the song.
Capaldi (n.d.) says that as well as excelling in an instrument or performing, there are several personal skills that you may need. He claims that having, “determination, time management, digital production, social media skills, adaptability and flexibility” are all key attributes to being a songwriter. These skills are crucial as the main way of promoting your music and marketing yourself is via social media, so having the skills to execute this is extremely useful. Other aspects such as flexibility and adaptability are important as this can build important relationships with industry professionals.
There are also personal qualities and traits that are needed as a songwriter. Coutts (2023) states that traits such as simply listening to lots of music can be extremely useful as “effective songwriters understand the importance of diverse musical influences”.
Coutts (2023) stresses that effective songwriters consume a variety of different genres and styles of music which can influence the songwriter allowing diversity in their own writing.
Coutts (2023) also discussed the importance of feedback from peers, tutors and professionals as being beneficial, allowing the songwriter to gain perspective and even making a difference to the outcome of the overall work as they may offer you a different angle on aspects such as lyrics, and melodic ideas.
Coombs (2025)
Duties and responsibilities of a songwriter.
Being a songwriter is a creative job that has a range of duties and responsibilities.
Mills (2024) argues that songwriters have a duty to ensure that they build strong, relationships with people such as producers to ensure that the flow of work is maintained and that the creative goal of a songwriter is realized. In a good relationship with a producer, it is critical to take responsibility for ensuring that the songs are demo’d correctly to speed up the process of production.
Peters (2025) discusses some responsibilities that songwriters have such as meeting with clients and producing songs that fit their specifications, collaborating with other artists to create lyrics and melody.
Silvestre (2021) explains how a typical day’s work as a songwriter includes several tasks including administration. They mention that gathering songs, then arranging them and adding instrumentation, recording and producing them is a key area of administration that must be carried out.
Key financial and legal issues impacting on songwriters and the potential marketing and promotional aspects of being a songwriter.
A key issue when looking into the financial aspect of being a songwriter is that there is no set income. Songwriting is freelance, income is generated by selling the product independently to producers, artists or production companies. The ‘I love Songwriting Hub’ (2024) suggests that one core issue with being a songwriter regarding finance is, Revenue Inequality and that this is extremely valid as songwriters don’t have enough access to revenue streams. This is mainly due to negotiating royalties correctly. Large quantities of revenue from songwriting goes toward the master rights of a song which are owned by labels and recording companies whilst the publishing rights gain a smaller percentage of this income.
The main legal issue relating to songwriting is copyright. According to the Musicians Union (2023), copyright is:
“A ‘property’ right which means that the owner of the right, who can be the author or any person to whom the author has assigned it, has the exclusive right to authorise or prevent others from using their work in various ways. A ‘musical work’ consists entirely of music.”
A key aspect of copyright for a songwriter is understanding how to prove and protect their copyright. For example, the Musician’s Union (2023) say that if a songwriter sends themself dated, unopened work this is a simple way to ensure that copyright is protected. They also claim that if work is printed work it must be photographed and secured in a safe place ensuring that it has the date and time attached.
Goldmacher (n.d.) discusses marketing techniques however focuses primarily on social media as a tool for marketing.
“The outlets for music and ways of marketing online change and advance almost hourly. Taking time out of your day to be aware of the next Facebook or Twitter will pay huge dividends going forward. It’s not enough to find one way of reaching people and stubbornly stick to it. If that were the case, bands would still be mailing postcards to let people know about their gigs.”
Goldmacher (n.d.) states
Utilising social media when marketing yourself as an artist is key. This can lead to getting noticed by labels, to gaining followers and potentially success. For example, ensuring awareness of current, specific trends could be important, as participating in one of these trends using your song in the background to subtly grab the listeners attention can help the songwriter to gain visibility and popularity via social media.
There are several ways of promoting your music, whether that be online, in person or via networking. Liddane (2025) speaks about networking and its benefits. Liddane (2025) says that even simply attending an open mic night or a gig and speaking to people and making connections is crucial for the music industry and the promotion of music. Meeting people at these events may offer advice or want to collaborate with and improve your promotion techniques and skills.
This might help offer a different promotional perspective, for example using social media as a way of promoting the music, alongside advice to begin emailing industry officials so as to broaden the chance of success.
Coombs (2025)
Potential intellectual and personal challenges for songwriters.
When looking at intellectual challenges of being a songwriter, Mills (2025) offers a valuable insight into what separates ‘good’ writers from ‘great’ writers, claiming ‘great’ songwriters write whether they feel inspired or not. Songwriters often have a loss of inspiration however there are simple methods to overcome this such as changing the writing by simply going on a walk, exercising or literally moving location.
“Inspiration is an odd thing. Many misunderstand it, and believe that without feeling inspired, it’s impossible to write music. Nothing could be further from the truth! The truth is that inspiration comes from the songwriting process, not the other way around”
There are a considerable number of different arguments surrounding this and its validity however one convincing argument is from Ewer (2009) who says,
Ewer (2009) progresses to say that if you are struggling to finish a song the likelihood is that it isn’t a lack of inspiration that is the issue. It’s more likely you need a refresher of how the main principles function when writing a song, such as maintaining a melody and understanding harmonies for example.
The second claim that Mills (2025) makes as the difference between ‘good’ and ‘great’ songwriters is whether they are process orientated, suggesting that a songwriter who lacks a writing process may not find the overall process rewarding or productive. Morrow (n.d.) mentions that having a process ensures that when beginning a new song, it’s “less scary”. He looks at this in more depth and proceeds to say
“If we’re honest, we all fear the blank page. I’ve found that processes have a way of eliminating that fear, because it erases a lot of the “unknowns.” I already know where I’m going to find the melodies (in my phone’s digital recorder files) and where I’m going to draw lyrics from (my collected stash of lyrics and Scripture.)”.
Having a process aids songwriters in several different ways. For example, it can speed the process up If time is an issue whilst maintaining structure and creative integrity.
The third area of developing your skills as a songwriter that Mills (2025) talks about is writing what you feel in ways that make sense to others, describing the importance of using emotion even though it isn’t always easy to understand the emotion in a song when it is not a personal emotion. When researching this I found several pieces of writing that discussed the emotion involved in the creative process and how this is and should be portrayed.
Harness (2023) speaks of the emotion that is in music and specifically songwriting, stating that it is nearly impossible to listen to music and not “feel something”. As a songwriter it’s important to portray emotion to the listener so that they understand the core emotion whether that be using metaphors, similes or other areas of creative language.
Mills (2025) claims that skilled songwriters can appreciate different perspectives in their writing, and this is another area of that separates them from a more mediocre writer. Barra (2019) writes about perspective in songwriting and why it can be so useful. claiming that one can zoom into a song, zoom out of a song and use first, second and third person perspectives as ways of enhancing the writing. Barra claims that doing this can “shift the lens” of the song which overall may add a more advanced, mature element to the track.
The final intellectual and personal challenge Mills (2025) mentions is that songwriters should always be learning stating that creative people often succeed however take the success to mean that there isn’t room for more knowledge, which is not accurate. Dodson (2025) explains that most generic songwriters will see results from something they are working on and believe they’ve “Figured it out” when you will never truly have songwriting “figured out” and that the actual question is “how much do you want to learn?”. Every time we write our writing process and structure continue to advance. However, we will never truly understand songwriting and realising that issues will always arise is key to your improvement as a songwriter.
Career-progression/development opportunities within the industry.
Zelenz (2025) claims there are several career options when becoming a songwriter. The first is a ‘top liner’, specifically working on the more noticeable aspects of songs such as the lyrics and melody. However, songwriting careers can also lead to careers such as entering music production, becoming an industry professional, and performing. One key job role that many songwriters gain income from is writing for media. For example, many songwriters will receive a brief and are asked to create a piece of music for said media. They would then receive royalties from this in several different ways, such as when the piece is played and other incomes such as PRS.
My main findings within this research are that being a songwriter has many different aspects to it. There is room for career development in that you may investigate production or performing and that there are several different ways to make a living as a songwriter. This is relevant to people aspiring to be a songwriter as they may not know important issues, such as copyright and sourcing your own revenue. However, this research demonstrated the issues with being a songwriter and the qualities that are needed for this profession.
Bibliography
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BBC Bitesize (no date) How to become a sing-songwriter: Lewis Capaldi’s story. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvmcmfr [Accessed 28 Dec 2025].
BBC Bitesize (no date) How to become a songwriter (for Kylie!): Jon’s story. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zfn3nrd [Accessed 28 Dec 2025].
Coutts, K. (2023) 7 Traits of Highly Effective Songwriters [Blog Post]. How to Write Songs. 9 Aug. https://howtowritesongs.org/2023/08/09/7-traits-of-highly-effective-songwriters/. [Accessed 2 Jan 2026].
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Morrow, N. (n.d.) 7 Reasons You Should Have a Songwriting Process [Blog Post]. The U.S.A Songwriting Competition. n.d. https://www.songwriting.net/blog/bid/116658/7-Reasons-You-Should-Have-a-Songwriting-Process. [Accessed 2 Jan 2026].
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