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Post subject: Does a band’s lyricist typically write melodies as well?
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 12:25 pm
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I just discovered an underground band from my area that recently released an EP on indie record label. On that EP, I found something peculiar about the songwriting credits.

All the music is credited to the entire band, while all the lyrics AND all the melodies are credited to the band’s lead singer.

I thought that the creation of melodies (as well as harmonies, rhythms, riffs, and chord progressions) are part of the entirety of musical composition. And I thought that a band lyricist just generated the words.

How can a band have its lyricist credit himself with all the melodies?

How can a band’s lead singer come up with BOTH the lyrics and the melodies at the same time?

Isn’t musical composition considered a complete package consisting of melodies, harmonies, rhythms, riffs, and chord progressions?

If an entire band is credited with the musical composition, shouldn’t the whole band come up with all the melodies as well during the songwriting process?

Any professional songwriters here care to give some input?


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Post subject: Re: Does a band’s lyricist typically write melodies as well?
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 12:38 pm
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I'm not a pro but I have noticed over the years by reading about, being in, and watching bands practice that usually a band has one or two really creative types that pretty much write most of the material. One guy will sometimes work with each member working out their part of the song. It can be any member that is the drive behind the bands songs. I would not get to caught up in the semantics of it all.

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Post subject: Re: Does a band’s lyricist typically write melodies as well?
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 12:47 pm
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Jericho-79 wrote:
I just discovered an underground band from my area that recently released an EP on indie record label. On that EP, I found something peculiar about the songwriting credits.

All the music is credited to the entire band, while all the lyrics AND all the melodies are credited to the band’s lead singer.

I thought that the creation of melodies (as well as harmonies, rhythms, riffs, and chord progressions) are part of the entirety of musical composition. And I thought that a band lyricist just generated the words.

How can a band have its lyricist credit himself with all the melodies?

How can a band’s lead singer come up with BOTH the lyrics and the melodies at the same time?

Isn’t musical composition considered a complete package consisting of melodies, harmonies, rhythms, riffs, and chord progressions?

If an entire band is credited with the musical composition, shouldn’t the whole band come up with all the melodies as well during the songwriting process?

Any professional songwriters here care to give some input?


Did you ever stop to think that just maybe that bands Lead Singer is just an arshole? If a lead singer ever tried to take credit for a songs melody I wrote there would be an arswhooping coming his way.

I think it works differently in almost every band to be honest.

T2

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Post subject: Re: Does a band’s lyricist typically write melodies as well?
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 1:02 pm
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I always liked that all of REM's music & lyrics was copyrighted to REM the band as an entity unto itself.

So much music copyrighted to Lennon-McCartney just becuse it was easier that way.

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Post subject: Re: Does a band’s lyricist typically write melodies as well?
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 2:27 pm
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It depends if the lyricist is also a musician as well as the record deal and publishing rights. Some I know are singer/songwriters and do it all. In most bands I was in where I did the music writing the singer wrote the lyrics and I came up with the melodies so we shared credit. As far as who owns the rights that just depends how it is decided on a song by song basis or the deal as a whole. I know some bands that are signed where the singer owned the rights and got paid lump by the label and the rest of the band were on salary and gave up all rights even if they contributed to the music (I think they call that "getting screwed" lol). Another band that is friends of mine "Fuel" back when they had the original singer (Brett) and producing hits, the guitar player got all the credit since he wrote both the music and lyrics.

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Post subject: Re: Does a band’s lyricist typically write melodies as well?
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 5:35 am
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Jericho-79 wrote:
...How can a band have its lyricist credit himself with all the melodies?

How can a band’s lead singer come up with BOTH the lyrics and the melodies at the same time?

Isn’t musical composition considered a complete package consisting of melodies, harmonies, rhythms, riffs, and chord progressions?

If an entire band is credited with the musical composition, shouldn’t the whole band come up with all the melodies as well during the songwriting process?

Any professional songwriters here care to give some input?


The song writing process is different for each band situation.

Take the Beatles, while most of the songs are credited Lennon/McCartney, you can tell who actually wrote the song by who sings it. "A Day In The Life" you can see that John wrote the majority of the song while Paul wrote the middle section.

Now with a band like Van Halen, Eddie would write the music - in terms of his riffs and such, and then Dave would write lyrics and melodies. Most singers that can write, like/need to write their melodies to make sure they can sing it.

It is not uncommon for lyricists to write melody to make sure that the lyrics actually fit with the music and will work in context. I was actually very surprised by you being surprised by that and the fact that singers write lyrics and melodies at the same time. From my experience, writing lyrics and then trying to write melody is the most difficult way to song write.

There are many rock bands that fall into the Van Halen method like AC/DC. Now with Iron Maiden (at least the albums that I own), the Bassist Steve Harris writes everything.

Harmonies and riffs are mostly considered arrangement and not necessarily worthy of a writing credit - except for musicians that write music as riffs (AC/DC, Van Halen, Scorpions and so on).

Some bands like to write in the Studio (Metallica's self titled Black album). Which is so expensive. Having worked as an audio engineer, I don't understand the expense. But some bands like/need the collaborative effort under the guidance of a producer.

Now as far as a band getting credit for all the writing, because of how monies eared are divided in part based on writing credits, some bands have opted for an agreement that they will share those monies equally regardless of how much individual input was put into a song. Helps keep jealousies at bay and aide in band longevity.


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Post subject: Re: Does a band’s lyricist typically write melodies as well?
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:02 am
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I believe all of that is just liner-note semantics. As far as publishing and royalties go, the songwriters are identified along with a specific percentage breakdown of who gets what. Van Halen are famous for -- initially -- having equal 1/4th shares for all their material for each band member even though it was Eddie and the lead singer writing everything. Dee Snider in his book mentions how he wrote nearly all of Twisted Sister's material but still gave the guitar player a percentage (15%, I believe) of songwriting credits to compensate him for his band-management work.

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Post subject: Re: Does a band’s lyricist typically write melodies as well?
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 1:35 pm
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Semantics indeed. Album credits and publishing contracts are not necessarily the same thing.

When someone writes lyrics there will be a basic meter or rhythm to them. The writer will often have a basic melody too.

It can also be that the lyricist will just write lyrics for a tune another member comes up with.

What is a "Typical" lyricist anyway?
Don't be too quick to put people in boxes re: who does what


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