How much % of the song should you write in order to be credited as a songwriter?

IDK, i am not knowledgeable enough on this but what if they contribute like only few lines that end being the catchiest of the song, do they deserve credit or not? like example "shy shy shy", "rolling rolling rolling" . im sorry if i sound dumb

I'd say they should just directly mention percent wise that which person wrote how much percent of the song's lyrics

Songwriters don't only write lyrics. There are many other things like melodies which are most often than not done by the songwriters themselves. That's why sometimes we see the same credited artists for composers and songwriters even though both are different jobs. In short even if you only write melody and don't write any lyric of a song, you're credited in both categories. So there's that.

As for lyrics, I'll say probably writing a part of a song like a verse or a bridge or chorus should be minimum to be given credit as a songwriter imo.

I think for lyrics, you need to write at least a verse to be eligible for it

I wonder if singers do this for simply wanting to be perceived as songwriters/artists and not for the money? They make bank elsewhere already..

And if you change a word would you get the sams amount of revenue as someone who wrote 40% of the song? That’s not fair I wonder how it’s distributed esp if 4-5 participated with noneven parts. Feels complicated

I think you should write at least a part of a song to receive credit like the bridge, intro, pre-chorus, or chorus.

as others have said purely for songwriting then it should be at least one verse or one line..

Hard question. I mean a single line could make a song famous or go viral. And if this lines comes from someone who isn't credited for the song I think it would be wrong. I think everyone deserves to be credited - even someone who wrote only one line.

To be honest I don't think it should be in %. Did you participate in the creation process for the lyrics ? Did you spend hours working on it ? Then you should be credited, even if at the end your lyrics were changed to something else.

But I think currently some artists are credited, even if the only thing they did was look at the finished product and 'validated' the lyrics... which isn't enough, in my opinion.

Also it reminds me of Yummy. This had... eight song writers

Quote from thebadguy

I'd say they should just directly mention percent wise that which person wrote how much percent of the song's lyrics

This is already a thing.. it’s called split sheets.

It’s how they factor in revenue and who gets what percentage of profit!

Quote from amalyas

To be honest I don't think it should be in %. Did you participate in the creation process for the lyrics ? Did you spend hours working on it ? Then you should be credited, even if at the end your lyrics were changed to something else.

But I think currently some artists are credited, even if the only thing they did was look at the finished product and 'validated' the lyrics... which isn't enough, in my opinion.

Also it reminds me of Yummy. This had... eight song writers

Songwriting credit doesn’t just come of the form of. Lyrics but also melody.. even if they change all the lyrics if they retain the original melody you are still going to be credited as a songwriter!

If you participated in the writing and/or composition/melody of the song then you deserve a songwriting credit PERIOD!

If you don’t want to split your money with a bunch of people.. write your own shit.

As far as professional songwriters. It’s tough but this is business.. The best thing to do is to just build up your brand so you get more work so you can make more money and get more hits.

There are some songwriters who are so famous and respected no one would DARE try to finesse writing credits.. Diane Warren is one of them!

Quote from wendii

This is already a thing.. it’s called split sheets.

It’s how they factor in revenue and who gets what percentage of profit!

I know they do it for royalties stuff and the writer with bigger contribution gets more noney but they don't make that info public tho, they just mention the name of those who participated in song writing but not their contribution percentage.

Like if two song writers A and B are mentioned in credits of a song then it could be A and B both wrote like 50% each or it could be like one wrote 99% while the other one wrote 1%, you never know

While there are times where people who've barely done any work get credited just to show off, songwriting itself is a complicated process. It's very rarely that one person JUST works on one line.

Usually multiple people work on it and say initially the song was built on A person's verse and idea but throughout the process it evolved into something different from the original verse. That does not mean that person A does not deserve the credit for the song as the song evolved from their idea.

I know BTS credits even their translators. And Halsey got credits for just writing oh my my in boy with luv.So I’m guessing it doesn’t take much to just get songwriting credit.

Songwriting order as far as I’m concerned doesn’t really matter. It gives no clues on who contributed the most. Though some people do love to list according to biggest contributors but it’s not a rule or anything.

Quote from thebadguy

I'd say they should just directly mention percent wise that which person wrote how much percent of the song's lyrics

Quote from wendii

This is already a thing.. it’s called split sheets.

It’s how they factor in revenue and who gets what percentage of profit!

All contributors should be credited. Since everybody doesn't have access to the split sheets, I think it would be interesting, and a little amusing, if the contributors were listed like food ingredients; the person who contributed the most would be listed first like water, sugar, or wheat.

I like how arrangers are also included in K-Pop. Producers usually are the arrangers in the western world, but I noticed the impact of a good arrangement for songs with a good foundation. For example, KARD's "Inferno" that BM produced: The original version had a good foundation, but the album version thooooo' was like, "Daaaaang, INFERNO, FYEAH!!!" It was HARD LIT!!

I am sure when royalty payments come in, the one line "writers" are only getting a small fraction of the money.

But hey, if my fave wants to write one single rap line in the whole song, I will call him/her a writer, and all you antis can go F-off! If my fave added the word "saranghae" at end of the song, he/she is basically as good of a writer as G-idle Soyeon, I will fight you if you disagree.

the credits of the songs are positioned according to the amount of contribution that each artist gave

as an example Life Goes On, the first one is that helped the most and the last one is that least helped in the composition

Quote from kayn

the credits of the songs are positioned according to the amount of contribution that each artist gave

as an example Life Goes On, the first one is that helped the most and the last one is that least helped in the composition

"Life Goes On"

Antonina Armato Chris James J-Hope Pdogg RM Ruuth Suga

But here it seems to be only positioned by alphabetical order. When they sang it just the other day, the credits appeared in a different order: Pdogg, RM, Ruuth, Chris James, Antonina Armato, Suga, J-hope.

https://youtu.be/GNx5fnhNi_E