ABSTRACT
Artists who are also songwriters, or who can become songwriters, add a valuable income stream to support their careers. When a songwriter writes a song that is recorded, the writer is entitled to earnings in the form of royalties when a song is performed live, streamed on the web, played as a recording on radio, performed on television, played in a dance club, used as a soundtrack for a music video, and each time it is sold as a single download or is one of the several songs included on an album recording. The songwriter also earns royalties from the printing and publishing of sheet music, karaoke tracks, and from licensing the song for use in advertising, and in video games, movies, and television soundtracks. Clearly, there is considerable potential income for the artist who also develops into a good songwriter. And fi nally, songwriting can ensure that artists will have material they can perform that was written for themselves as part of their total creative expression without necessarily relying on other writers.
