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A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. That is to say, a songwriter is a lyricist, a composer, or both. The word "songwriter" is however more commonly used to describe one who writes popular songs than to describe a writer of art songs.

Songwriters may perform the songs they write themselves, or they may write for somebody else to perform. People who sing their own songs are nowadays typically called singer-songwriters, although the tradition of doing this dates back hundreds of years. More recently, the troubadours of the Middle Ages sang their own works, as did the German Minnesingers.

Most art songwriting is written for somebody other than the composer to perform, although it is known that Franz Schubert often sang his own songs at private parties. In fact most popular songwriters of today enjoy having their work recorded by a variety of artists and hearing different renditions.

Many modern rock and roll bands have one or two songwriters, usually members of the band. Then there are songwriters like Bob Dylan, Gary York, Todd Rundgren, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Sir Paul McCartney, Prince and others that write songs then record them playing their own instruments or all the instruments using a process called overdubbing (see multi-track recording). The advantage to being able to play many instruments and operate a studio is one can write the music first then weave the words into the tune, experimenting on the way. Still, many songs or foundations of songs are written with simply the songwriter and one instrument. The guitar and piano are the most popular instruments to use for songwriting because they have chordal as well as melodic capabilities. There are no rules although commercial writers speak of hooks and such required to fit into radio formats but in the 60s and 70s writers broke new ground and forced the radio to make room for them. To become a songwriter it is strongly recommended that one study music theory and poetry, as the craft is one of merging music and words. However, many talented songwriters have attained success without formal training.

There have been quite a few popular songwriting teams such as the Motown team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland (collectively known as Holland-Dozier-Holland) and the teams of Leiber and Stoller, Lennon and McCartney, Steve Clark and Phil Collen as the "Terror Twins", James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Morrissey and Johnny Marr, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, George and Ira Gershwin, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Ian Brown and John Squire, Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Koshi Inaba and Tak Matsumoto, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett, Geoff Stephens and Tony Macaulay, Rodgers and Hart, The Bee Gees, Xenomania, the Jackson brothers, Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, Ashford & Simpson, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Pete Doherty and Carl Barat, Don Henley and Glenn Frey, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, Eddie Galan, and the team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis alongside Janet Jackson.

Many songwriters also serve as their own music publishers, while others have outside publishers. Songs in country music are often written by staff writers; songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Legally, songs may only be copied or performed publicly by permission of the authors. The legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or otherwise transferred. This is governed by copyright law. Songwriting and publishing royalties can be a substantial source of income, particularly if a song becomes a hit record.

Songwriters in the popular music genre often also work as record producers, commonly using the professional title Producer-songwriter.

• List of singer-songwriters
• Songwriters Hall of Fame
• Singer-songwriter
• Copyright collective
• WikiBooks The open-content textbooks collection: Music.

• Rimler, Walter Not Fade Away Pierian Press (1984) ISBN 0-87650-159-5
• Waterman, J. Douglas, Ed. Song: The World's Best Songwriters on Creating the Music That Moves Us Writer's Digest (2007) ISBN 1-58297-424-1

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (September 2007)

Resources for Songwriters and Music Publishers

• Performing Songwriter Magazine Popular songwriting magazine.
• Midlate: Songwriters Bridge A Social Network for Songwriters with ability to showcase songs.
• Blogging Muses Articles and songwriting tips repository for pros and hobbyists.
• NashvilleHype! Hit Songwriter Interviews
• Songwriting Tips for Beginner Songwriters Songwriting tips and articles for beginner songwriters
• American Songwriter Magazine Founded in 1984, bi-monthly publication celebrating the craft and business of songwriting
• The Muse's Muse Songwriting Resource Since 1995, providing songwriting information and tools to both beginners and pros
• SongwritersGuide.com Helping songwriters get their music heard
• The Acorn Music Group represents songwriters and artists
• Songstuff Songwriting Resource Online since 2000, providing information, services and support to all levels of songwriters