The A collection of notes, melodies, chords, rhythms, arrangements, instrumentation, and more, excluding lyrics. created by a trackwriter can include The selection and combination of musical instruments., chords, and a clear structure outlining the A part of a song, usually a longer section, that features changing lyrics rather than repeating lyrics, such as in the chorus., A part of a song that repeats after each verse. It is often the recurring section that highlights the main theme of a song., and A part of a song that serves as a transition between two other song sections, for example in between a verse and a chorus. A bridge is often used as a way to add change or variation to the song. – the building blocks of a new An original musical composition with or without lyrics..
In some genres, such as rap or dance music, a trackwriter is also known as a A type of creator that creates an underlying musical accompaniment, usually the main accent or rhythmic unit in music., or someone who composes musical beats. And often, the trackwriter is also the Sometimes called a studio producer or record producer, a person who typically helps a recording artist record a musical work. They are usually responsible for the entire recording process..
Unless the musical work is written to be an A musical work involving only the use of musical instruments., The words written to be performed by singers, rappers, and other vocalists. and A succession of single musical notes in an organized manner. are then added — potentially by a A type of creator that writes the words of a musical work., A songwriter that focuses primarily on writing the vocal melody and, in most cases, also the lyrics of a musical work., or A person who makes an original contribution to the creation of a musical composition or lyrics..
Where a A composer creates the melodies, chord progressions and other elements of a musical work other than the lyrics. may write a musical work in its entirety as an instrumental, a trackwriter's starting place is to craft a foundation of the musical work for other songwriters to build on.
Copyright ownership for trackwriters
Trackwriters and all additional songwriters, such as composers, lyricists, topliners, etc., who make an A creative contribution to a musical work that is sufficiently distinct from any pre-existing musical work contribution to the musical work are considered under National laws that protect creators' and other rights holders' moral and economic rights in musical works, performances, and sound recordings.. Therefore, they can all own a share of the The controls creators or rights holders have over what they have created or produced and over their identity and image. in the musical work; it's like sharing a pie.
Agreeing and properly documenting each author's share, also called Also sometimes referred to as shares, the portion of ownership a rights holder has or the portion of income they are entitled to., is the first step for each author to receive a share of earnings if the musical work is used. Learn more about this in the Songwriter Splits and Registering Musical Works pages.
Trackwriters who have multiple creative roles
If you are a trackwriter, you might also have additional roles when writing or recording a musical work, in which case you might also have additional shares in the ownership of that musical work and the Typically, the recorded performance of a musical work protected as a phonogram under copyright law..
Explore how this works in the Recording topic. To understand authors' rights in more detail, visit the Music Creators’ Rights topic.
Image Credit: Eric Ivar Persson, Parapix