The songwriter Kaydence spent two years writing for an acclaimed R&B album — and made just $4,000. In our new special report, songwriters say a broken system has left them struggling to make ends meet.
Songwriter Warren “Oak” Felder, who’s written for Usher, Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj, and Demi Lovato, was recently in the studio with a talented fellow writer who announced that he had to leave a session after three hours of work. He mentioned the name of a restaurant, and Felder assumed he had a reservation. “He’s like, ‘No, no, I’m going to work,’ ” says Felder. “He’s like, ‘I work in the kitchen.’ I’m like, ‘Holy crap.
In February 2022, Lambert and Krysiuk joined a songwriters’ protest outside the Los Angeles headquarters of Spotify, where writers held picket signs with slogans like “No budget? No bops.” The protest was organized by the 100 Percenters, an organization founded in 2020 by singer-songwriter Tiffany Red.
It was a noble goal, an effort to fight a practice that dates back to at least Elvis Presley and continues to be common. Krysiuk, for instance, saystook a songwriting credit and royalties for 2021’s “Unfuckwitable,” which she co-wrote — despite his not being in the room when it was written.
Some writers simply see the credit sharing as the cost of doing business. “That’s part of the industry,” says veteran songwriter Sam Hollander, who chronicles his time in the industry in the entertaining new book. “And truthfully, in general, I’m OK with it. My feeling is, if [artists] are gonna go out there and do 150 shows a year singing this thing, wake up to do TV and press in the morning while I’m sitting on my deck smoking a joint? I have no problems in sharing a little piece of the pie.
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