State Champ Radio songwriters
The 100 Percenters, a musicians’ advocacy group, announced Wednesday (April 24) that several music organizations have signed a pledge designed to hold companies accountable for ensuring workplace safety.
Signees to the pledge, which was devised by The 100 Percenters, include the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), BMI, the Recording Academy, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (the MLC), EVEN, Artistry Group, Eat Predators, HRDRV, Industry Blackout, LVRN, Love Pulse Music.
Called the Safe Music Business pledge, the agreement asks signatories to abide by the following rules:
Committing to keeping artists, songwriters, producers and staff safe in their workplace and studio sessions
Committing to reporting sexual harassment, intimidation or violence to the appropriate parties in our workplace or studio sessions and taking action
Not tolerating inappropriate behavior in their workplace or studio sessions
Having or creating a safe space to support their artists, songwriters, producers and staff who don’t feel safe
Having or hiring safe space leadership to support their artists, songwriters, producers and staff who don’t feel safe
The organization hopes the pledge will help protect artists, songwriters, producers and staff members who work for or with these organizations. Safety is a particularly pressing concern for women and non-binary creatives working in male-dominated spaces in the industry. The 100 Percenters, founded by songwriter Tiffany Red, is primarily focused on initiatives that protect music’s most marginalized creatives and professionals.
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If a signatory breaks the pledge, a representative from The 100 Percenters says it will have a private conversation with the executives at the company, asking them to take accountability and take meaningful steps to ensure the workplace will be safer in the future. Such instances would be handled on a case-by-case basis, and the organization that breaks its vow could be removed from the pledge — with that removal potentially announced publicly.
The organization announced the signatories of the pledge with a corresponding open letter from Red that pointed to recent allegations of alleged abuse perpetuated by music professionals like Sean “Diddy” Combs and Russell Simmons. “The truth remains to be determined in a court of law,” the letter clarifies. “However, can we not acknowledge the troubling pattern of alleged abuse of power in music?”
The letter continues: “Despite finding allies within these companies who acknowledged the necessity of initiatives like the Safe Music Business pledge, the response has been dishearteningly silent. We encountered a significant reluctance throughout the outreach process to secure pledges. It’s a disappointing reality. It shouldn’t be such a challenging task for companies to adopt a more transparent, proactive stance in addressing sexual misconduct and violence within the music industry.”
“We are immensely grateful for the companies and organizations that have taken the SMB pledge,” the letter adds. “Their commitment to creating safer work environments within the music industry is commendable and represents a significant step towards positive change. By pledging to prioritize workplace safety, these companies demonstrate leadership and a genuine dedication to the well-being of music creatives and professionals. Their actions serve as an inspiring example for others to follow, and we sincerely appreciate their efforts to foster a culture of respect, safety, and inclusivity in our industry.”
To read the full letter, visit the 100 Percenters website here.
A U.K. Parliament committee has issued fresh calls for a “fundamental reform” of music streaming to address what it describes as “pitiful returns” for songwriters and publishing rights holders.
A report from the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee published Wednesday (April 10) calls upon the British government to “do more to make sure music makers are paid fairly” and to press ahead with a package of sweeping copyright reforms.
Those reforms include changing the revenue split between recording and publishing rights from music streaming, currently set at around 55% for recording and 15% for publishing. That weighting “does not reflect the importance of songwriters, composers and publishers in the music streaming process,” says the committee. Its members want government ministers to bring forward a consultation with fans, creators and industry stakeholders to “incentivise an optimal rate” for publishing rights that will “fairly remunerate creators for their work.”
Other recommendations in the CMS report include the introduction of a statutory “private copying” levy like what exists in other European countries such as France, Germany and Italy. That would require a small tax to be charged on the purchase of electronic devices and blank media that can be used to store songs, which is then paid out to artists and songwriters via collecting societies. The introduction of such a scheme would generate between £250 million ($313 million) and £300 million ($376 million) a year, claims the CMS committee, and safeguard reciprocal payments from other markets where private copying mechanisms exist.
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“Not only does a lack of such a scheme in the U.K. prevent British creators from receiving payments from the domestic market, but it has also put their payments from abroad under threat,” says the report, calling for the introduction of a private copying levy within the next 12 months.
On the subject of artificial intelligence, the CMS committee echoed its previous demands for stronger enforcement of creators’ rights against AI developers using copyright-protected works for training purposes without consent or fair compensation.
“We are concerned that the status quo simply favours AI developers, given creators’ concerns that their IP is already being used in AI development without licence or any practical means of recourse,” states the report, which criticizes the government’s lack of progress on establishing a code of practice around the use of AI and intellectual property.
More support also needs to be given to freelancer staff and the self-employed working in creative industries, such as the music business, in response to long-held complaints around contracts and working conditions, say committee members.
The CMS report is the latest chapter in a long and ongoing series of government-led interventions into the U.K. music industry fueled by artist discontent over low payments from streaming, beginning with a 2020 Parliamentary inquiry into the music streaming business. That probe wrapped the following year by calling into question the major record labels’ dominance of the industry and declaring that the music streaming business “needs a complete reset.”
Numerous government-led working groups, investigations and initiatives followed, including studies looking at “equitable remuneration” and the impact of AI on the music industry. A working group focused on creator remuneration is due to meet for the first time this month.
Despite the progress that has been made, CMS committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage MP said the U.K. government “needs to move further and faster to ensure music makers really are properly rewarded for their work.”
“If creators are no longer to be the poor relations, the government needs to play catch up by plugging the gaps in outdated copyright and intellectual property regulations,” said Dinenage in a statement accompanying Wednesday’s report.
In response, Jo Twist, chief executive of British labels’ trade body BPI, said the committee was right to highlight creators’ concerns around generative AI, which she called “unquestionably the most significant issue facing the creative industries today,” but said the report fails to recognize that, “with the support of their labels, more U.K. artists are succeeding in the streaming economy than ever before.”
“In an increasingly competitive global industry, their approach risks limiting investment and harming the U.K. talent of the future,” said Twist in a statement.
Umbrella trade group the Council of Music Makers, whose members include the Musicians’ Union and Music Managers Forum, was more positive about the committee’s findings. In a statement, the organization said the report provides a good summary of the issues and some of the proposed solutions to improve creators’ remuneration, but cautioned that for real progress to be made, “we need stakeholders from across the music industry to stop denying reality and to, instead, come to the table with solutions, whether that’s the copyright reforms proposed by MPs or a negotiated agreement.”
While the Mechanical Licensing Collective’s announcement last month about the “final final” Phonorecords III Copyright Royalty Board rate determination adjustment seemed to imply songwriters and publishers were due another roughly $400 million to, sources say the number likely overstates the coming financial windfall.
After a more than two year wait that included an appeal process, a remand, a new partial rate trial, and then the time to recalculate and resubmit adjusted play reports, sources say that number may correctly assess how much more money was earned and reported due to the CRB determination covering 2018 through 2022 — but it also likely includes payments that have already been made.
Within the total adjustment, about $250 million in net extra mechanical royalties will be paid out thanks to the adjustment, with practically all of that coming from the 2021-2022 period. Those royalties will be paid out beginning in May by the Mechanical Licensing Collective, the agency created by the Music Modernization Act to collect and disburse mechanical royalties from on-demand digital streaming services. This means adjusted monies paid out by the MLC will probably begin reaching songwriters from their publishers in the following quarter.
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The rest of the roughly $400 million adjustment comes from performance royalties. But sources at the U.S. performance rights organizations say they are surprised by the MLC’s claim that another $138 million has been discovered in the resubmitted play reports required by the final rate determination.
The MLC may be the best positioned to understand this, though. Because the mechanical rate formula calls for the digital service providers to report how much they paid in performance royalties each month — or estimate how much they will pay — the MLC has insight into how much was reported collectively for mechanical and performance royalties for the period of 2018-2022 before the rate determination was finalized. It also has insight into how much performance royalties totaled after the play reports were resubmitted with the adjustments due to that final determination. The final determination happened in August 2023, eight months after the 2018-2022 term ended, with the resubmitted reports due Feb. 9, 2024.
In contrast, the PROs themselves only know what they each individually have been paid, and each digital service only knows what they individually have paid out to each PRO. Neither of those sides can see the whole performance revenue pool like the MLC can, unless they share information with competitors, which is unlikely but possible. Consequently, sources at PROs and digital services say they are surprised and puzzled by the MLC’s announcement that more performance royalties were found due to the adjusted reports. Others say the MLC’s announcement has caused consternation between songwriters and PROs. One source at a PRO suggests that the MLC including performance royalties in its report was a “marketing mishap.”
PRO sources insist that whatever performance royalties came in have largely already been paid out, and they don’t expect any new windfalls. And sources at the digital services say that, from what they can tell, the streamers have already paid out all the performance royalties that were due and they don’t expect to be making further payments.
Meanwhile, sources at PROs say the MLC’s announcement has caused significant confusion, leading songwriters to inquire about when they will get additional payouts for performance and why they were not made aware of this sooner.
Even if the performance royalties have already been paid, many executives in the music industry are speculating about what caused such a significant increase. The all-in mechanical formula that was determined by the CRB in Phonorecords III, by itself, doesn’t do anything to change performance royalties, which are typically decided by private negotiations between PROs and streaming services.
It’s possible digital services made mistakes when they reported the monthly performance royalties the first time around. The MLC could also have made a mistake either when it added up all the interim royalties paid while parties were awaiting a final determination or when it subsequently adjusted performance royalties for the period.
Alternatively, some of the PROs could have negotiated deals that tie their performance rates to the statutory mechanical rate. That would mean when digital services reverted to paying a lower mechanical rate while the 2018-2022 rate was still being determined, they wound up paying lower performance royalty rates, too — which later increased after the final CRB rate determination. But while some PRO sources concede that they try to negotiate for at least 50% of the statutory rate as a floor, they also say they don’t have any deal triggers specifically tied to the mechanicalrate.
Another theory is that one or two of the PROs might have been operating under an interim royalty rate with one or more streaming services while working through negotiations, which hypothetically weren’t finalized until recently. If those performance royalty rates have now been decided, the adjustments could be reflected in this total reported number. But several sources say they aren’t aware of any instances where this has happened.
It isn’t unusual for there to be streaming royalty adjustments after the fact, even without a new subsequent “final final” rate determination, sources point out. As it is, streaming services will sometimes need to make estimates on reporting monthly performance and mechanical royalty payments and then later adjust if necessary once the period has closed. At that time, the new payment would be made and the expense adjustment would be reported to the MLC — not two years later, sources say.
Performance and mechanical royalties have a see-saw effect where an increase in one will result in a decrease in the other. That’s because the formula for calculating the mechanical rate includes a first step in the formula that initially acts as a cap for an all-in publishing royalty pool that combines the two. This has publishers worried. If the services have already fulfilled all of their performance payments and the PROs have paid out all the received performance royalties, then how can the services now claim that $138 million as an additional deduction in the resubmitted reports? By claiming additional performance payouts, that would likely reduce the potential mechanical royalty payouts on the resubmitted report.
Aside from whether more money is coming, how these publishing royalties are paid — as performance or mechanicals — matters to publishers and songwriters.
For example, if that newfound $138 million in performance royalties needed to be paid out, it would likely mean that only about $120 million to $125 million of it would flow to songwriters and publishers because of the PROs’ overhead expenses.
If, instead, that $138 million was mechanical royalties, the songwriters and publishers would get all of that because the MLC has no overhead expense deduction since digital services finance the operation. But, instead of it getting paid out separately and directly split between publishers and songwriters, these royalties are paid to publishers, who then distribute royalties to their writers, but usually after recouping. So, the difference in where the payment comes through matters significantly to songwriters and publishers.
Overall, this adjustment seems to weigh more favorably for the mechanical royalty pool. Previously, during the interim period, the $2.77 billion in total publishing royalty payouts from digital services were weighted 50.93% to mechanical and 49.07% to performance. But after adjustments, including subtracting a slight overpayment in mechanicals for the years of 2018-2019, the $3.16 billion in total publishing royalties paid out by digital services to the PROs and the MLC works out to 52.63% paid in mechanical and 47.37% to performance, or nearly a two-percentage point increase for the former.
Eventually, when the MLC digs into the resubmissions and compares them to the earlier monthly play reports, it will likely be able to discern if the additional $138 million is coming across the board from all services or if a specific service or two accumulated the bulk of the new reported performance royalties. But if that doesn’t solve the mystery, another process is beginning that could bring in an answer. Last month, the MLC served notice on some 50 digital services that it is performing audits on them. If all else fails, that should bring some clarity to the mystery.
Just days after the Universal Music Group‘s publishing catalog began coming down from TikTok, Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) released a new statement stressing its concerns about artificial intelligence and online safety on the short-form video app. The company stated these are “equally” important issues to TikTok lack of “fair compensation” to songwriters.
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UMPG also acknowledged in its new statement that “the disruption is difficult for some of [its songwriters]” but says leaving the TikTok app is “critical for the sustained future value, safety and health of the entire music ecosystem.”
At the end of January, UMG announced in a letter to its artists and songwriters that it would be allowing its license with TikTok to expire, saying that TikTok refused to pay the “fair value” of music and no deal could be reached. (Tiktok fired back with its own statement, hours later, saying UMG’s decision was motivated by “greed”.) Within days, UMG tracks were removed from Tiktok en masse, including the catalogs of superstars Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Drake, BTS and more who are signed to UMG record labels. In the letter, the company noted that these takedowns would also include its publishing arm, UMPG, but the publishing-related removals did not begin until Tuesday, Feb. 26.
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Now, any song, even if it was released by a non-UMG record label, is subject to takedown on TikTok if even one UMPG-signed songwriter was involved in its creation. Because UMPG is the second largest publisher in the world, these publishing takedowns were wide reaching, impacting almost every record label in one way or another.
In response to the publishing takedowns, TikTok said in a statement on Wednesday, “[UMG’s] actions not only affect the songwriters and artists that they represent, but now also impact many artists and songwriters not signed to Universal. We remain committed to reaching an equitable agreement with Universal Music Group.”
Read UMPG’s new statement to its songwriters below in full:
TikTok is removing UMPG songs because there is no license in place. As you may have heard, to-date, they have not agreed to recognize the fair value of your songs, which so many other digital partners around the world have done.
As we previously addressed in our open letter, in addition to fair compensation for your songs, the negotiations have also focused on two other critical and equally important issues: protecting you, human artists and songwriters, from the harmful effects of AI; and online safety for TikTok’s users, including your fans which include young children.
TikTok’s intentions with respect to AI are increasingly apparent. While refusing to respond to our concerns about AI depriving songwriters from fair compensation, or provide assurances that they will not train their AI models on your songs, recent media reports reveal “TikTok and ByteDance leaders have long wanted to move the app beyond music.” Reflecting on our open letter, other commentators have noted where this distancing from the music industry could lead, fueled by AI: “TikTok has an incentive to push the use of these AI recordings rather than the copyrighted and licensed recordings.”
Every indication is that they simply do not value your music.
We understand the disruption is difficult for some of you and your careers, and we are sensitive to how this may affect you around the world. We recognize that this might be uncomfortable at the moment. But it is critical for the sustained future value, safety and health of the entire music ecosystem, including all music fans.
As always, UMPG will only support partners that value songwriters, artists and your songs. We have a long history of successfully fighting for our songwriters and will continue to do so. You should expect nothing less from us.
While Travis Scott performed a three-song medley at the Grammys earlier this month, the teams of some of the producers and songwriters who helped make his hit album Utopia were fuming — they didn’t yet have the signed paperwork that would get them paid for their work on the project.
At the time, at least four of the producers and writers involved with the album still didn’t have producer agreements or publishing splits finalized, according to four sources close to the project, meaning they cannot get fully compensated for their work. Some of Utopia‘s contributors do have their agreements completed: Ted Anastasiou, a rep for Scott, said in a statement that “the vast majority of payments for contributors on this album have been paid and that any outstanding payments are near complete.”
Artist managers and entertainment attorneys say it is increasingly common for acts to put out an album first and figure out all the clearances later. (Utopia came out more than six months ago, on July 28, 2023, and went on to become one of the biggest releases of the year.) “The amount of paperwork potentially required for clearing a single track has become so excessive that I think some music industry executives may have become desensitized to the importance of having everything in place before release,” says entertainment attorney Gandhar Savur.
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Although artists often enjoy revenue streams outside of recorded music — notably touring and merchandise — the same is not true for most songwriters and producers. Writers are usually financially dependent on publishing royalties from the songs they work on. Producers typically depend on a mix of master royalties (often just an advance unless an album recoups its budget, which is rare) and publishing royalties (but only if they contributed songwriting).
This means all but the most famous writers and producers are already in a precarious financial situation. On top of that, massively successful artists are often slow to finalize the deals that dictate what percentage of royalties writers and producers are owed, and what fee is thrown to producers. As the months tick by, collaborators’ frustration grows.
Anastasiou, Scott’s rep, said in his statement that “the challenge with contributor payments on albums with multiple participants on each track is that negotiations and issues frequently occur before and after an album’s release, as terms need to be agreed and are all interdependent. This becomes further complicated when some participants, like those quoted in the story, are relatively unknown and their minor contributions only came to our attention afterward.”
Anastasiou continued, “these challenges are not unique to Travis or any specific artist. Attributing any blame to Travis or his team for this common issue is both wrong and short-sighted, especially when Travis’ team has been more than proactive every step of the way and are hard at work to finalize the last few remaining payments.”
The Utopia contributors who spoke to Billboard about their experience would almost certainly dispute that they are “relatively unknown.” But as Anastasiou noted, the collaborative nature of much contemporary pop music does mean that there are mountains of paperwork and negotiations for an artist’s team to complete around each album release.
“Back in the day, a band could release a record and basically have a producer agreement, maybe a mixer agreement and a few session musicians, and possibly not much else,” Savur explains. “These days, commercial pop tracks can have multiple producers, outside people contributing beats or music beds, samples and interpolations, one or two featured artists or side artists who each need their own agreements and also waivers from their record labels, and sometimes a dozen or more co-writers who are all signed to different publishing companies.”
“I don’t know any attorney’s office that represents producers and songwriters that’s not completely underwater at the moment, scrambling to get all the deals done,” adds Dan Petel, founder of This Is Noise MGMT, another writer-producer management company. He says the problem is compounded by artists releasing music more frequently in order to keep their fan bases engaged.
To make things even more complicated: Artists’ teams are usually responsible for all the clearances on their albums, but the money paid to the producers will usually come from a label. For producers, “the lack of a direct contractual relationship [with the label] yields an uncomfortable disconnect between who creates the music and who pays for it,” says Matt Buser, an entertainment attorney.
And once an album is released, artists often hit the road, meaning their attention — and their team’s attention — is focused elsewhere. Still, “the labels insist that the producer agreements be finalized and signed by both parties [producers and artist] for the producers to be paid their fees in full,” explains Maytav Koter, founder of Good Company MGMT, which works with songwriters and producers. But one of those parties might be bouncing from town to town on tour.
Most writers and producers have little recourse to ensure clearances get done in a timely fashion. “I’ve not gotten a cohesive response as to what the f— is going on,” says a source close to a person involved with making Utopia who is still waiting on paperwork. “Why is it so hard to ask people to do good business?” asks a member of another frustrated Utopia producer’s team.
Savur says that extensive back-and-forths over email are routine for post-release clearances. The only other option is to try to take down the track or sue the artist who put it out — without a signed producer agreement in place, for example, that artist has released that producer’s work without permission. Writers and producers hardly ever take this route, though. They most likely want to stay in the good graces of the artists they work with — especially if they are stars — and suits are costly and time-consuming.
That means all that’s left for collaborators is following up with the artist’s team week after week, and making personal appeals. As one source whose client is waiting on finalized Utopia paperwork puts it, “don’t you want to make the people who write your hit songs happy?”
The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) has selected its leadership for the coming year.
Lee Thomas Miller has been selected to serve as president, while Jenn Schott will serve as vp of the organization. Outgoing president Steve Bogard, who previously served as NSAI president from 2006-2012 and was elected to the role again in 2017, is the longest-running president in NSAI’s history. Bogard chose not to seek another leadership term, though he will continue serving on NSAI’s board of directors.
The results of the general election also include new board member Trannie Anderson joining for a first term, while 10 current board members were re-elected to two-year terms: Steve Bogard, Chris DeStefano, J.T. Harding, Byron Hill, Josh Kear, Jamie Moore, Jon Nite, Liz Rose, Jenn Schott and Emily Shackelton. Meanwhile, Roger Brown was re-appointed to a one-year term as legislative chair, while Rhett Akins and Caitlyn Smith were re-appointed to the organization’s “artist writer” board positions for one-year terms and Brett James was re-appointed to a one-year term in the industry liaison role.
The new additions join existing board members Miller, Kelly Archer, Sarah Buxton, David Hodges, Jessie Jo Dillon, Tim Nichols, Josh Osborne, Rivers Rutherford, Anthony L. Smith, Troy Verges and Parker Welling, whose terms expire in 2025.
“Steve Bogard led NSAI through complicated trials where we sought higher streaming rates, the Music Modernization Act, and many challenges as we sought to improve compensation for American Songwriters,” said NSAI executive director Bart Herbison in a statement. “Every songwriter in the United States owes him a handshake and thank you for his work and the thousands of hours he sacrificed. We are also glad to welcome Lee Thomas Miller who has served as President previously and is a proven, effective advocate. And Jenn Schott who will serve as NSAI Vice-President after years of experience on our board and Executive Committee.”
NSAI Board elections happen in two phases: voting by the NSAI professional songwriter membership and appointments by the NSAI board of directors. The board terms begin each year at the April meeting.
Three “non-performing” songwriters – Hillary Lindsey, Timothy Mosley (Timbaland) and Dean Pitchford – and members of two groups – Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) and Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (Steely Dan) – are the 2024 inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
They will be honored at the organization’s 2024 Induction and Awards Gala, which is slated for Thursday, June 13, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
There are usually three inductees in each category – non-performing and performing – but this year there are just two in the latter category. Twelve performing songwriters and 10 non-performing songwriters competed for these slots.
Timbaland competed as a non-performing songwriter, even though he has had five top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 as an artist, including three on which he was the lead artist: “Give It to Me,” “Apologize” and “The Way I Are.”
SHOF chairman Nile Rodgers said in a statement, “We are … very proud that we are continually recognizing some of the culturally most important songwriters of all time and that the 2024 slate represents not just iconic songs but also diversity and unity across genres, ethnicity and gender, songwriters who have enriched our lives and literally enriched music and the lives of billions of listeners all over the world.”
A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.
Induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame is a prestigious honor for songwriters and one that is very hard to achieve. The list of nominated songwriters who weren’t chosen this year ought to make those who were chosen feel both proud and humbled. Performing songwriters who weren’t chosen this year are Bryan Adams; Randy Bachman & Burton Cummings; Debbie Harry, Chris Stein & Clem Burke (Blondie); Tracy Chapman; George Clinton; Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons & Michael McDonald (The Doobie Brothers); David Gates; Ann Wilson & Nancy Wilson (Heart); Kenny Loggins; and Chuck D and Flavor Flav (Public Enemy).
Non-performing songwriters who weren’t chosen this year are L. Russell Brown, Dean Dillon, Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter, Tony Macaulay, Roger Nichols, Maurice Starr and Narada Michael Walden.
Tickets for the Songwriters Hall of Fame event begin at $2,000 each, and are available through Buckley Hall Events, (914) 579-1000 and SHOF@buckleyhallevents.com. Net proceeds from the event go toward the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs. Songwriters Hall of Fame is a 501(c)3 organization. The non-deductible portion of each ticket is $215. Contributions are fully tax-deductible as provided by law.
Here’s a quick look at this year’s inductees. The “key songs” are supplied by the SHOF. Additional special award honorees will be announced soon.
Hillary Lindsey
Country music had a record-setting year in 2023, thanks to hit songs released by Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Oliver Anthony Music, Zach Bryan, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll and other big artists. But underpinning every chart-topping, impactful hit were the songwriters and writer-artists who weave together lyric, melody, rhythm and rhyme into a unique composition that […]
When the Recording Academy announced the new songwriter of the year category in 2022, the move was widely praised — and considered a rare win for the songwriting community, which has faced major economic challenges in the streaming and TikTok era.
“With the visibility brought by this award comes power,” says Justin Tranter, one of the five nominees for the honor this year. “The more that people know we exist, the more we can make sure the next generation is taken care of.”
Along with the new category, the academy created a new Songwriters & Composers Wing, helmed by hit-maker and Seeker Music CEO Evan Bogart, to continue expanding its outreach to the songwriter community. “The underpinning of what we do as an academy is built on songs,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., said when announcing the new award and wing. “I started out as a songwriter myself, so the idea of honoring someone who is truly a professional songwriter and craftsperson is special.”
Though producers and artists often play a role in the songwriting process, the songwriter of the year award has specific rules to ensure that it honors the career songwriters who spend their days working primarily on melodies and lyrics, making it the rare space that formally honors the craft.
“As a songwriter, your job is to serve the artist,” the honor’s inaugural winner, Tobias Jesso Jr., told Grammy.com after his victory. “To have this symbol of ‘Hey, you can be creative as a songwriter and just be a songwriter who doesn’t sing and doesn’t produce, and you can get this prestigious symbol of your gifts that the world will now recognize’ — I think that’s a wonderful thing.”
When Billboard convenes this year’s nominees — a remarkably diverse sampling of today’s foremost hit-makers comprising Tranter, Jessie Jo Dillon, Shane McAnally, Edgar Barrera and Theron Thomas — the five songwriters express similar sentiments to Jesso’s and have an immediate camaraderie in conversation stemming from their shared vocation. “Songwriting is the most important part of a song,” Barrera says, “and it always will be.”
Every Billboard Hot 100 hit starts with the work of songwriters and producers. Though there has been a producer of the year, non-classical award at the Grammys since 1975, songwriters didn’t have their own category until last year. Why is it important that there’s a separate category to specifically honor songwriters?
Edgar Barrera: I do a lot of production, but I start my songs on guitar, and I produce after I have the song. Having a songwriter of the year award is super important because songwriting is the most important thing. Without a song there’s no touring, there’s no production, there’s no artists. There’s nothing.
Theron Thomas: I’ve never seen anybody sing along to a beat. I’m sorry. They don’t. They sing the words. Those lyrics touch people.
Justin Tranter: People say [of] awards that “Oh, it’s just an honor to be nominated.” Sometimes I think that’s bullsh-t, but with these four other nominees, I mean it. These are some of my favorite songwriters, period. To be in this company? Holy f–k!
Justin Tranter, 43. Nominated for: “Gemini Moon” (Reneé Rapp), “Honey! (Are U Coming?)” (Måneskin), “I Want More” (Marisa Davila and the Cast of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies), “Jersey” (Baby Tate), “A Little Bit Happy” (TALK), “Pretty Girls” (Reneé Rapp), “River” (Miley Cyrus)
Jenna Peffley
Have you all followed your fellow nominees’ work over the years? If so, is there anything you particularly admire?
Barrera: I’ve actually worked with Theron a lot. He’s the only one I’ve worked with from here. I wish I could work with everyone soon. I’ve been a fan of everyone here. Justin has been a huge inspiration to me, just hearing him talk about songwriters’ rights and everything. Hats off to you, Justin. You’re standing up for all of us. I wish we could all hang out. We all need to get together during Grammy week.
Thomas: Oh, we 100% have to. We got to write a song together.
Shane McAnally: That would be so amazing.
Barrera: That would be pretty interesting, having all the Grammy nominees write together. All different genres.
What moment made you feel like you had made it as a songwriter? Was this songwriter of the year nomination one of those career-defining moments?
McAnally: I don’t think I’ve had that “made it” moment. (Laughs.) I’m kidding. When I was 33, almost 20 years in at that point, I lost my house, lost my car. I was really done. Finally, I had a song recorded by Lee Ann Womack [2008’s “Last Call”], and it gave me this moment of like, “OK, I have a thread to hang on to.” But for me, I really exhaled for the first time when I won a Grammy with Kacey Musgraves [best country album and best country song for 2013’s Same Trailer Different Park and its single “Merry Go ’Round,” respectively]. I remember thinking, “How did this happen? It has fallen apart so many times.” I rode on that wave for a while, but this nomination? I mean, this is really special. This is a moment for me.
I feel so outside of things. Country music is dominating right now, but it’s the artists I don’t work with — Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Zach Bryan — so for this nomination to come now is a big deal. There’s a gap in political views for me, with Morgan specifically, and they’re just from a different group. I don’t want to stereotype or lump everyone together, but sometimes you just feel outside while other people are killing it, and to be acknowledged this year, when [my work] wasn’t maybe as commercially obvious as some of my past years, feels amazing. I also feel really good about the integrity of this group of [nominees]. I think I’m really good at this, and I’ve worked my ass off, but it feels really nice to be acknowledged right now.
Tranter: I’m beautifully delusional, and at 15, I was like, “I am the best,” even though that didn’t mean my songs were good; at 15, they were actually quite unlistenable. (Laughs.) But I’ve always been delusionally positive.
There was a moment when my band [Semi Precious Weapons] was ending, and I was considering going back to work in retail. I was with Tricky Stewart, the legendary producer, and he was like, “You’re a really good songwriter. I don’t think you should give up on music just yet.” I was 33, and if you’re in the music business at 33 without any success, it’s starting to look like maybe it is time to pack it up. Having someone like Tricky say that to me was a turning point. I’ll never forget when my first hit, “Centuries” by Fall Out Boy, went No. 2 on iTunes in 2014. I was like, “That’s it. I’ve made it. If this is my life and this is all the success there was, then I am OK with that.”
This year, it has been really special because I intentionally worked on newer artists and wanted to push myself and work on projects where I could really shine lyrically, which is my favorite part of songs. To see that the bulk of my submissions for songwriter of the year are very new artists that the general population is not aware of yet is special.
Jessie Jo Dillon: My dad [Dean Dillon] is a songwriter. He’s in the Country Music Hall of Fame, so I always had a huge complex about him. I was massively insecure. In my first publishing deal, I wrote with Mark Nesler, who wrote many songs I grew up loving. We were leaving the write and he said, “Hey, I just want to tell you something. You’re supposed to be doing this. You just have to trust yourself and keep doing it.” I’ll never forget him saying that. Shane is also one of the first people that told me I was any good, too, and I loved so much of his writing. It has all been other writers that made me feel like I was going to make it.
Jessie Jo Dillon, 36. Nominated for: “Buried” (Brandy Clark), “Girl in the Mirror” (Megan Moroney), “Halfway to Hell” (Jelly Roll), “I Just Killed a Man” (Catie Offerman), “Memory Lane” (Old Dominion), “Neon Cowgirl” (Dan + Shay), “screen” (HARDY), “The Town in Your Heart” (Lori McKenna), “Up Above the Clouds (Cecilia’s Song)” (Brandy Clark)
Noah Needleman
Jessie Jo, your father came up in a very different time in the music business than you. Have you ever talked about the differences in being a songwriter from his generation to yours?
Dillon: I honestly don’t know how to give advice to newer songwriters. It used to be that you’d show up to a publisher and say, “Hey, I’ve been writing these songs. What do you think?” It feels like such a different game to break into now. I worry all the time that true, blue-collar songwriters who are writing every day in Nashville are going away. My dad says the money was much better in, say, the ’90s. Now because of streaming and everything, it’s hard to make ends meet. Maybe I’m being dramatic…
Tranter: No, I think you’re completely right. For me, fighting for songwriters’ rights is so easy because it’s not about me. I’ve had songs that have hit the top five at pop radio, which means my life is fantastic. Because I’m the lucky one, I need to fight for the next generation of songwriters.
I know a few young songwriters who are so talented. Their catalogs have a couple billion streams cumulatively, but one of them is still driving Uber. One is doing OnlyFans. They are doing whatever it takes to survive. If a song doesn’t go to radio, you don’t have much of anything. I think it’s very fair to say that the middle class of songwriters is going to be decimated — and it already is.
Barrera: It is looking really bad. In Latin, there are managers who get songwriting credits [despite not contributing to the songwriting] like it’s normal. It’s disrespectful to us because we write songs as our only source of income, but managers have a lot of other sources. I know a lot of big writers are still struggling. I feel bad for the next generation. I’m 33 years old, and I’ve been looking at all of this transition. Getting a radio single is really one of the only ways to make real money.
Dillon: It makes me sad to think about the next Diane Warren or Bernie Taupin, moving to Los Angeles or Nashville or Miami or New York or wherever, and that they maybe wouldn’t even get a publishing deal or be able to sustain themselves. Sometimes it takes a writer years of development to reach their full potential.
Barrera: There should be a songwriter fee, like there is for a producer. It’s not fair that the producer is the only one to make money from day one.
Thomas: Us talking like we are right now and standing up for each other is so important. I do have some producer friends who stand up for me, too, which I appreciate. They are like, “Yo, make sure you take care of Theron.” Communicating with each other, sticking up for the next generation and setting the standard high for ourselves can make things better. I think [fear of missing out] on a big record is the reason why a lot of executives get away with giving songwriters almost nothing. A lot of us fear missing out on being in the writing room on a big song because we speak up.
Theron Thomas, 41. Nominated for: “All My Life” (Lil Durk featuring J. Cole), “I’ve Been Thinking” (Tyla), “Cheat- back” (Chlöe and Future), “How We Roll” (Ci- ara and Chris Brown), “Make Up Your Mind” (Cordae), “Pretty Girls Walk” (Big Boss Vette), “Seven” (Jung Kook and Latto), “Told Ya” (Chlöe and Missy Elliott), “You and I” (Sekou)
Christopher Ayme
Edgar, what moment made you feel like you had made it as a songwriter?
Barrera: Getting nominated for this Grammy. For me, that’s huge coming from the Latin market. Just getting to make it with Spanish songs. I was like, “What’s going on?” That’s when I realized that music almost has no language, no barriers. We’re a minority part of the music business, and we are changing the game for the Latin community. That’s why it was such an important moment.
Regional Mexican music had an especially big year in 2023, and you played a role in propelling its success. What is it like to be nominated during this pivotal year for the genre in particular, Edgar?
Barrera: I’ve worked with a lot of big names in Latin music, and this year was different because I decided to go back to my hometown [of McAllen, Texas] and support a local act, Grupo Frontera. We grew up together. Where we are from, on the border of Mexico and the U.S., being a songwriter and producer is not even a thing to be in life, you know? Getting the opportunity to support local acts and having them on a song with Bad Bunny, it just doesn’t happen every day. They’re so humble and for me, that’s what I enjoyed the most.
Before this, [Grupo Frontera’s] singer was making fences in McAllen, Texas. The accordion player was selling cows. The percussion player was selling cars. I met all those guys when they performed at a local tire shop for 20 people. Nobody was paying attention to them. They said, “We love what you write. Can you help us out?” And I said, “Of course, why not?” It has been life-changing. This is what is truly important — being part of a movement for regional Mexican with people I grew up with. It’s so full circle.
Edgar Barrera, 33. Nominated for: “Cuestion de Tiempo” (Don Omar), “Falsa Alar- ma (En Vivo)” (Grupo Firme), “Gucci los Paños” (Karol G), “La Despedida” (Christian Nodal), “Mi Ex Tenía Razón” (Karol G), “Que Vuelvas” (Carín León and Grupo Frontera), “Un Cum- bión Dolido” (Christian Nodal), “un x100to” (Grupo Frontera and Bad Bunny), “yo pr1mero” (Rels B)
Natalia Aguilera
Theron, what moment made you feel like you had made it as a songwriter?
Thomas: I moved here with $35 from St. Thomas [in the U.S. Virgin Islands]. I went to Miami, slept on the floor, moved to Atlanta. I [have] never felt like I made it because I always feel like I’m one hit away from having to tell my wife and kids, “It’s over. We’re going back to our first apartment with three kids and two bedrooms.” I am doing really well and money is no issue, but you know what I mean? I don’t want to lie and make something up. I don’t know if I’ve necessarily had [that moment]. I’m just minding my business and continuously working every day.
A couple of you mentioned what an honor it is to be nominated based on true passion projects. How do you balance taking on sessions with big names with great chances at commercial success — but that may not be as creatively fulfilling — and sessions with smaller artists that bring you creativity and joy but likely won’t result in a commercial hit?
McAnally: I’ve done the years of trying to get in every commercial room, and now I really like going with something I’m passionate about. Nobody has any idea what’s going to happen with songs nowadays. New artists can go viral in seconds. Old songs can, too. You just never know.
I have always had the most fun and the most success with things that I saw through from the beginning. I was there right when Kacey Musgraves came to Nashville. I was there when Sam Hunt came to Nashville. I was so enamored with what we were making because it was new, and we didn’t know if they were ever going to have success. I’m trying to get back to that.
Tranter: I was just looking at the Instagram account @indiesleaze, which is all photos from the era my band came up in. It was punk as f–k and gay as f–k. And I thought to myself, “25-year-old me would be so embarrassed [by] half of my catalog,” but hey, I got to make music the whole world has heard and my parents got to retire. I could not be more grateful for the songs that 25-year-old me would be talking sh-t about.
I am in a place now where I want to get back to “Do I f–king love this song?” And listen, I have my hits that I am so proud of, but now I want every single song that comes out from here on out to be something 43-year-old me is proud of and 25-year-old me is proud of, too.
Barrera: I’ve always been involved with artists that are up and coming. Working with big names is enjoyable, too, but for me, giving another song to a big-name artist is not that life-changing. I try to be involved from the beginning. For example, I met Maluma way before he was famous. We started off together. I helped him mold his music. I’ve done that with Christian Nodal and Camilo. I’ve always been involved from the very beginning because I feel like I can experiment a lot more with up-and-coming artists.
Shane McAnally, 49. Nominated for: “Come Back to Me” (Brandy Clark), “Good With Me” (Walker Hayes), “He’s Never Gunna Change” (Lauren Daigle), “I Should Have Married You” (Old Dominion), “Independently Owned” (Alex Newell and Original Broadway Cast of Shucked), “Never Grow Up” (Niall Horan), “Start Somewhere” (Sam Hunt), “Walmart” (Sam Hunt), “We Don’t Fight Anymore” (Carly Pearce and Chris Stapleton)
Robby Klein
You’re an extremely diverse group, hailing from different genres, nationalities, races, genders and sexual orientations. Why is writers’ room diversity important?
Tranter: I just think it’s the right thing to do for humanity, but the way to really understand how important diversity in the writers’ room is [is] to show that it’s great for business. We are trying to make music that the whole world loves. The more diverse your writing room is, the more diverse the audience is going to be that enjoys that music.
I have a rule that I don’t write songs for women without a woman writer in the room. This is not because I’m trying to be a great person; it’s because I know it’s going to be a better song when a woman is writing, capturing her real lived experiences in the world.
How will you be celebrating on Grammy night?
Barrera: I’m going, and I want to see all these guys there. It is not a matter of winning or not. That night, for me, is to meet Shane, Justin, Jessie Jo and hang out with Theron. I’m just here for fun. I think we all deserve a night of fun… or a week, maybe. (Laughs.)
McAnally: I’ll be there this year to celebrate. I bought a suit for the Tonys that wasn’t ready in time, and now I have the perfect place to wear it.
Tranter: I am going for sure. We worked so hard to get nominated. I will be there with my mom and dad. I will look unbelievable. I’m going to have a f–king blast.
Thomas: I’m definitely going. Last year, I won record of the year with Lizzo for “About Damn Time,” [but] they [had] put me in the nosebleeds. I couldn’t go up onstage. When we won, I just cried. Not because I couldn’t go up there, but because I wanted to win so badly. I was so happy, but this year? We’re going to have better seats in that thing! Don’t tell on me, but I might need to sneak a little drink in there, too.
McAnally: I mean, I hope they get us better seats.
Thomas: Honestly, I’m just looking forward to meeting everyone. Last year was the first year they had this award, and I remember saying to myself that I wanted to be in the songwriter of the year category someday. Here I am this year — I’m in it, and I’m in it with you guys. Words can’t really express how this moment feels as a songwriter. To be celebrated on one of the most important nights in music, chosen by our peers. I’m excited about that, period.
This story will appear in the Dec. 16, 2023, issue of Billboard.
At the SONA Warrior Awards in October, hitmaker Justin Tranter used his acceptance speech as an opportunity to warn the music business: “If we’re not careful,” he said. “We’re just not going to have any songwriters left.”
It used to be a lot easier to make a living as a songwriter. In the days of physical records, songwriters would get paid with each album sale, even if they had the least popular song on the album. Now, in the streaming era, songwriters say the only way to get a livable wage is to write the album’s breakout single. Getting a song on AM/FM radio is still a good way to make money, but radio hits are tough to come by. Plus, there’s the problem with artists demanding cuts of publishing income, even if they didn’t pen the song, and writing rooms have grown bigger than ever. For these reasons and more, songwriters like Tranter say the current business has led to the “decimation of the songwriter middle class.”
To try to alleviate some of the strain facing songwriters, three small independent labels – Tranter’s Facet Records, The Other Songs and Good Boy Records – have made a new pledge they hope will catch on: giving songwriters a percentage of master royalties— or “points” — on every single record.
“We didn’t feel like the industry was changing fast enough to fix this,” says Billy Webber, co-founder of London-based indie label The Other Songs, which has Ren, Navy and SUPER-Hi on its roster. His company, founded alongside brother Alastair Webber, started first as a series of events, offering songwriters the chance to perform their unused pitch songs in front of a crowd of publishers and advertisers. From the start, Webber says, they knew they wanted to not only take care of their artists, but also to look after the writers behind their records.
In 2020, The Other Songs started offering four points to songwriters on every recording, split between however many writers there are. (The policy excludes writers who are also the artist or producer, roles which already receive cuts of the master income.) They call it the “TOS Writer Royalty,” and it is taken from the label’s share of revenue — not the artist’s.
Tranter’s Facet Records — home to emerging talent like Jake Wesley Rogers, Shawn Wasabi and Shea Diamond — announced earlier this year that it would start a similar program, offering three points from the label’s share to songwriters, also split between however many non-performing writers were on the track.
Jaime Zeluck-Hindlin — founder of Nonstop Management which represents hitmakers JKash, Michael Pollack, and Ryan OG — says she has been calling for a standardized system for songwriter master points for years. She explains that her larger writers can sometimes get half a point or a point on a master when they have enough leverage to negotiate it, but it is still considered a luxury for anyone to receive. “It’s not the norm yet,” she explains. These days Zeluck-Hindlin asks for points for all her clients, not just the hitmakers, and has been making some headway, but she notes it’s a careful conversation that varies project-by-project. “More than ever,” she says, “it’s so hard for songwriters to make money, so I don’t feel as bad asking anymore.”
Writers and their teams are in a difficult position when asking for master points: They don’t want to push too hard and threaten getting cut out of sessions for being labeled “too demanding,” and if an A-list artist wants to cut a song, their name and image alone could propel it to success.
Songwriters historically have not received payment for the master recording, because they are not part of that formal recording process like producers and artists. But now, citing economic hardship for writers — even with a song that is a streaming “success” — it has become more common. “I’ve noticed people are way more open to the conversation than they were before,” says Zeluck-Hindlin.
It might seem like giving a songwriter master income is a band-aid for a larger issue, but those who are fighting for it feel it is the best option available, given the current system. Streaming rates on the publishing side have always been considerably lower than on the master side, and in the U.S., publishing income is regulated by the government, making it much more difficult to make changes.
Good Boy Records, a label started by producer Elie Rizk and entrepreneur and manager John Zamora that represents Mazie, Judith and Georgee, is also working on their own system for master points. “We want to give out one point per songwriter,” says Rizk. The team at Good Boy started to work on finding a way to cut in songwriters since Mazie hit it big with her song “dumb dumb,” which helped Good Boy recoup its distribution deal with Virgin and see “real money” for the first time earlier this year.
By May, the team paid every songwriter who had ever worked with the emerging label a small non-recoupable fee as a thank you. “Since then, we have gotten savvier with our system,” says Zamora. “We treat songwriters like we treat producers – with fees and points every time, but we are still evolving as we go.”
Some producers are also hoping to address the economic problems facing songwriters. Producer, Tre Jean Marie, posted to Instagram this summer that he would be giving £500 of his production fee to non-performing songwriters on every major label release he has. “I believe that the record labels, turning over billions of pounds in revenue every year, should shoulder the responsibility of ensuring songwriters are compensated for their time and work, but until that happens, I want to help,” he wrote. Rizk says he has also shared a portion of his producer fee and points with songwriters on the recent single “Heartbroken” by Diplo, Jessie Murph, and Polo G to makes the payments more equitable.
The heads of the three indie labels say that they hope that by being public about their new offerings for songwriters it will encourage other labels, especially larger ones with much greater financial impact, to follow suit. Tranter says they are already talking with one “pretty large company” to discuss how to implement a similar system at that company and is hopeful for more to follow suit.
But he is not confident the majors will accommodate songwriters anytime soon, especially those that are publicly traded. He thinks there are still other changes that can be made within any label to make it more songwriter-friendly, like offering per-diems, free lunch or free transportation to sessions.
“If we can do it [as a new label], then pretty much any record label that’s really taking itself seriously can do it as well,” Webber says. “Songwriters are basically the beating heart of our industry. Without them, we’re not going to have any masters anyway.”
