Music publishers are escalating their battle with Spotify, with the National Music Publishers Association sending a letter to the Senate and House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee advocating a change that, if enacted, could significantly alter the way publishers and songwriters negotiate with the streaming service to determine their payments. The …
Read More »How Teasing Tunes on TikTok Screws Songwriters
Ryan Tedder’s hard drive is a repository of some of the biggest hits of the past two decades. But it’s got at least one potential hit song he wrote that, despite getting cut by two different recording artists, will likely never be released. The OneRepublic frontman and prolific songwriter behind …
Read More »Hit Writers for Katy Perry, Beyoncé Ask: Is It Time to Strike?
It may surprise most music fans to hear a songwriter whose credits include seven multi-platinum singles say there isn’t much money to make for their work anymore. But to the fellow songwriters who’ve spent years asking why their revenues have dried up in the streaming era, such a claim is …
Read More »WGA Writers Want Reforms. Songwriters Ask, 'When's Our Turn?'
As the Writers Guild of America continues to ramp up its first strike in over 15 years, no one in the music business has been looking on with more intrigue — and maybe a hint of envy — than songwriters. The cadre of behind-the-scenes hitmakers have themselves been looking for …
Read More »Hit Songwriters Tell All, from Thieving Artists to Grammy Snubs
The recording industry may slowly be waking up to the fact that some of its most important creators are wildly undervalued — one sign is the first-ever Songwriter of the Year Grammy, which Tobias Jesso, Jr. recently won for his behind-the-scenes work with Adele, Harry Styles, FKA Twigs, Omar Apollo, …
Read More »'The Job Is Going to Die': Songwriters Say More Change Is Needed to Survive in the Music Industry
Lauren Christy has had a hand in some of the biggest hits of the past 20 years. As a songwriter and producer, she’s made a living co-writing hits like Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8ter Boi,” “Complicated” and “I’m With You” alongside Jason Mraz’s breakout single “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry),” and tracks …
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