Songwriting - who does what?

Songwriting is one of the most sensitive and political areas of music. Often it is the core issue around which bands split up – certainly it has been responsible for many fights.

 

There are many important issues tied up in songwriting that are rarely agreed upon early in songwriting partnerships. From a publishing perspective, the person who writes all the songs legally earns more than other band members. If these issues are not addressed and fully understood up front, then songwriting and the earnings that exist around the process can offer many pitfalls and fights for the unwary. 

 

Instrumentation involved

 

Copyright law recognises the person who writes the vocal melody (or the instrumental melody if there are no vocals) as the songwriter. In practice, however, the permutations of songwriting are pretty much dictated by the instrumentation involved and whether one or several band members write the songs. If one member comes to practice with complete new songs all the time, that person will have to be considered the band’s songwriter. This means that this person brings songs that are complete from start to finish: if they have lyrics and a melody line, and they also instruct each instrumentalist in what to play, then that one person is solely responsible for writing that entire song.

 

There are plenty of examples of bands where this happens. Most often this is when the band is a vehicle for the creative expression of one individual who has basically hired musicians to play with him or her in order to support a specific creative vision. One of the things any band needs to sort out upfront is whether the band they are in is like this or whether it is more of a creative collective. If it is more of a creative collective, then the songwriting process will be far more organic and involve more members of the band.

 

 

Song originators

 

For example, if the singer comes into the practice room humming a melody around which the rest of the band creates a song, the singer can be said to have originated the song, as melody is central to any song. However, seeing as it is also only part of a song, all the further work that is done on any such song by other band members means that they then become co-writers and originators of any such song.

 

Once a melody is established, a song still needs to have its parts written and to be fleshed out into instrumentation and arrangement. In a band with many instrumentalists, most often the players themselves will come up with what they should be doing and write their own parts. The drummer will find a beat, the guitarist a lead section, your bass player will write a bass line, your sax player his own part. All of this activity means, once again, that these players become co-writers of the music, as they are contributing their instrumental parts to the actual song itself.

 

Originally published in David Chislett's One, Two, One, Two: A Step By Step Guide To The South African Music Industry. Download a free copy of the book at www.davidchislett.co.za.