How Much Does A Songwriter Make?

Are you passionate about music? Do you write songs, and you are perfect at it, or maybe just highly creative? There are a lot of songwriters out in the music industry, Talented and experienced, and this is precisely the reason for being a lot of competition on the field. Making money for talents is even more difficult because the technology available nowadays, everybody has the means to create and publish their own music out into the world. Example for platforms that musicians to release is Spotify. Let us know about ‘How Much Does A Songwriter Make?’.

How Much Does A Songwriter Make?

Income of a songwriter in the music industry

Even though the industry is not as lucrative as it used to be, some things can still be used in the modern world to make money from your ability to produce music. Down below are given the details of various opportunities presented today that songwriters can make use of to their full potential.

Definition of a songwriter

A. One way to put it in simple terms is that you need to be dedicated enough and creative enough to write songs, after all, that’s what the term encompasses.

Another way to interpret this question is to truly understand what a songwriter is, and what does he or she do?

Song writing composes of a few factors that are later combined to make a song and release it for the masses to enjoy and connect with.

1. Melodies 

2. Rhythm 

3. Lyrics 

4. Production

And to clarify some musicians are good at every aspect of what goes into creating a top charting or hit song but as one starts to explore the industry more and more, especially the beginners, they soon realize that not everything is as easy as it seems. Everybody is not able to do everything in the production process, but it certainly does not mean that one cannot pick up a few skills along the way as one progresses and learn more about the industry and about making music.

Meanwhile, when you are writing songs, you can start to acknowledge the factor that is special about your music-making style to explain it further:

• Maybe you are good at coming up with catchy melodies.

• Or you’re great at coming up with lyrics that are catchy hooks.

• or you can do two things at once, such as coming up with creative lyrics and catchy melodies.

Focusing on your abilities, natural or learned, maybe be the best bet to creating successful hit songs and climbing up the ladder of the music industry from the ground.

After learning what is song writing and how to become one. The next step is to understand how to earn money from your skills and all that hard work you put in. 

Various methods you can use to get paid as a songwriter

1. Online streaming royalty

Songwriters also get some royalty from just streaming a song they created, and it can be any one of them under their name, and every time it’s streamed they receive an amount for it.

Again they can get a royalty from platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube music.

2. Physical royalty

What this entails is that whenever and wherever a CD or a record Or any other form of physical media is sold by the agency that you work with or anyone that helped you release the song and is bought by a person, the songwriters receive an amount on each media item sold by the rate of 9.1 percent. Physical album sales still matter nowadays in the age of social media and unlimited internet and even though it isn’t the main source of music anymore there is still some potential left in it to earn a considerable amount of money.

One thing to note about the physical album royalty fee is that It is split between co-writers and publishers. 

3. Performance royalty 

Another form of income can be performance royalty in which the songwriters get paid every time the song produced by them would be performed live on stage, on an online platform, or event or radio show, they will be paid in royalty for each public performance. The payment is ensured by PRO or a globally known performing rights organization, they are responsible for the royalty being paid to the publisher and the songwriters which mean it will be split into equal parts between both parties but if you are the sole producer in the production of your music I.e. the publisher and the writer you can also get paid in full. 

4. Publishing deals

If you have taken and your hard work is paying off and songs that you do write are top charting songs and absolute hits then a music company will approach you for a publishing deal, and they will sign up the songwriters who are good at what they do and publish their songs from their company and pay out an advance in retrospect of the future work you will create and publish and deals are negotiable which you can present and then both of the party can come to an easy deal arrangement.

Salary of a songwriter 

As discussed above the salary of a songwriter can vary on many factors and it tends to go higher or lower than what is estimated. 

The average salary of a songwriter can be calculated to be $52,500.

The highest number recorded for a songwriter’s salary is $130,000.

Conclusion

Being a songwriter is tough even though it might seem fun and creative at times, it is especially tough if the songwriter is someone who just started or produces small songs for a company such as jingles and stuff of the same category, it might be a little while before they make any kind of money on their art, and sometimes there can be times when they might not have any income whatsoever. But if they keep trying to release their music and work hard enough to produce it they can make a success using it. 

Hope this has helped understand the question of how much a songwriter makes in the music industry and what it means to be a songwriter and what kind of process is included in becoming and being one. Whether you are a beginner or entry-level songwriter this guide can help you figure out a way to earn good income from your art and talent. 

How Much Does A Songwriter Make?

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