The types of songwriters in the music industry -

The Real Songwriter:

Most songwriters like this are often behind the scenes and never release music themselves. One instance where this changes is in Lady Gaga. According to her producers, Gaga reportedly wrote all the lyrics to the 43 songs on her two albums and EP completely by herself. She also has co-production credit on most of her music and has been reported to break the artist’s fourth wall and program and produce her songs herself in the studio to make sure it sounds just right. A recent example of a songwriter coming out into the mainstream is the recent phenomenon of Skylar Grey.

The Producer’s Pet:

Collaboration is the key to their success - you’ll also see these kind of writers in packs. The current brat pack includes Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and their behind the scenes buddy, Bonnie McKee. They rely on their producers to take their raw ideas and lyrics and turn them into #1 hits. These producers also hang out in groups too. Dr.Luke, the Svengali producer to the hottest female stars atm, uses his own crew of co-producers who often ghost-write and produce for him like Benny Blanco (Who has his own pet, Neon Hitch), DJ Ammo, Claude Kelly, Max Martin, Shellback, Kool Kojack and Billboard. Common examples of this in hip-hop are the producing camps of Timbaland and Darkchild.

The Publishing Brats:

Many people listed in “publishing credits” often do nothing towards the actual song. Some may added a suggestion to the vocals or change a lyric or two, but many artists like Usher, Rihanna and Justin Bieber fall into this category.

The Evil Stealing Hoes:

Not has an artist brought more controversy to songwriter as has Beyonce, who has been accused multiple times of lying about her involvement in songs. Her album I Am.. Sasha Fierce was dissected and revealed that every song on the album was written in full before Beyonce had her the songs. Beyonce will often pay and use smart business tactics to get her name in the credits to help further build the brand of Beyonce Knowles.

The Britney Spears:

Also something like a phenomenon is the power Britney Spears has when she announces she’s working on a new album. The entire industry starts to write on the song they hope Britney will love and submit it to her, even when not even 5% of the songs are even heard by her. On a couple of her albums, Britney also co-wrote and collaborated with artists. She’s apparently very influential and offers input in most of her work, but refuses to take publishing credit on paper, like in the booklet and official credits, unless the idea is of her own doing. Thus, Britney Spears is actually saying ‘no’ to getting a ton of credit to things she’s done, but doesn’t feel like she deserves it.