Hit Writers for Katy Perry, Beyoncé Ask: Is It Time to Strike?
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It may surprise most music fans to hear a songwriter whose credits include seven multi-platinum singles say there isn’t much money to make for their work anymore. But to the fellow songwriters who’ve spent years asking why their revenues have dried up in the streaming era, such a claim is yet another affirmation for how difficult it’s become to enjoy a sustainable career.
Bonnie McKee — who co-wrote many of Katy Perry’s biggest hits including “California Gurls,” “Roar” and “Teenage Dream” along with Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” as well as tracks for Kesha and Britney Spears — was one of three songwriters who spoke about industry issues during the Pay Songwriters Town Hall in Los Angeles on Monday. The Town Hall, organized by the music advocacy groups the 100 Percenters and Industry Blackout, sought to address questions on the minds of many songwriters on what actions they need to take for fairer treatment.
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“It’s the dumbest business model on the planet. In what other industry do you show up for work for free every day just strung out on potential? This could be a hit, this could be your big break,” McKee said to the crowd of about 30 songwriters, artists and other industry workers. “If you like to gamble, be a songwriter. And we have no protection as far as HR. I’ve been in all kinds of situations where things get weird. I can’t call anybody. It’s the Wild West and something’s gotta change.”
Songwriters have been speaking out about what they describe as a dire state for their profession for several years. Despite their outsized role bringing would-be hits to artists, they get paid little compared to the record labels, producers and artists recording their songs. And there’s often no guarantee they’ll see any money from sessions unless their work yields a major hit.
The topic’s grown buzzier among the community as the Writers Guild of America went on strike last month over similar issues like lower pay since the advent of streaming and frustrations about disproportionate executive pay. But while the WGA has a long-running and strong union that made it possible for the screenwriters’ strike to happen, songwriters can’t technically unionize because they’re considered independent contractors, leaving them wondering what can be done.
Songwriter and founder of the 100 Percenters Tiffany Red and Kaydence Krysiuk, who co-wrote “7 Rings” and “Thank U, Next” for Ariana Grande and “Black Parade” for Beyoncé, joined McKee and music tech executive Mag Rodriguez onstage. Krysiuk described a frustrating process that comes with the typical lifespan of a song she’ll work on.
“Somebody reaches out and says, ‘Hey, we’ve got a great opportunity for you. It’s not paid, there’s no budget, but if you break this artist, you’re gonna be good,’” she said as the audience chuckled. “So you go to this session for free, you have to pay for your parking, for your food. You leave the session $50 broker than before, and you hope the artist likes that song enough to put it out, which could take six months to a year, two years, three years.
She continues: “If it gets released, you don’t see statements on that song for a good nine to 12 months. And unless it’s Number One on Billboard, that check won’t even cover your rent. And that’s the peak of the song. As it gets older, slowly the money goes down since it’s not streaming as much and you’re like ‘Damn, I can’t even afford to get lunch.’ So that’s the lifespan of a songwriter.”
Red called the business model “traumatizing” for songwriters, many of whom can’t afford to live on their careers as songwriters alone even if they write frequently for major artists.
“Your day-to-day life, you’re in survivor mode; you’re not able to think about tomorrow or plan your future,” she said. “You can’t dream about buying a house because you’re too focused on rent next month. In the beginning of my career it was stress, cars being repossessed, evictions. It deteriorates your mental health.”
The songwriters called for a few provisions they feel the industry needs to take to improve the system. Songwriters should be paid a session fee for their work separate from what they make if a song is released, they said. They also said food and travel expenses should be covered. Perhaps most importantly, they said songwriters should get a percentage of ownership from the master recording on a song; as of now, they only get royalties on publishing rights, though the master recording is tied most directly to royalties from streams.
Some have already started to incorporate that latter change. Hit writer Justin Tranter, who told Rolling Stone in May that the industry needs significant upheaval for songwriters, announced last month that his record label Facet Records would start giving three master points to songwriters on Facet songs.
It’s still not clear where any such changes would primarily come from; the streaming services contend they give a majority of revenue to the rights holders, while the labels say the streamers are pitting creatives against one another or that the artists are responsible for splits on tracks. Many artists, meanwhile, say a majority of their earnings belong to the label. While the panelists contended that it would likely take a combination of all the stakeholders stepping forward, they suggested it would most primarily have to come from the record companies for any change.
“There is money being made, the lion’s share of it is going who knows where, to the labels and to Spotify. It doesn’t cost a lot of money to make music anymore. People make music in their bedrooms and blow up on TikTok,” McKee said. “They already have 5 million followers, so labels don’t give them a marketing budget. ‘We’ll sign you and you do all the fucking work. There is no development. There’s a lot of money that’s not getting spent anymore at labels that they’re keeping. That needs to go to us.”
The ongoing WGA strike was brought up multiple times during the town hall — moderated by Billboard‘s Colin Stutz and Neena Rouhani — with Red calling the strike an inspiration for songwriters to further assess their options. Red herself organized multiple protests outside of Universal Music Group’s headquarters earlier this year, and called for more writers to get involved in efforts and be more unified.
“Where we go from here is where we are right now. All of us are together. We’re all in one space, and we’re talking,” Red said. “This isn’t going to change overnight but it requires your participation, your will. We’re still in the beginning. We have allies, but we don’t have a lot of allies in songwriters getting paid from artists and record labels yet because we haven’t as a collective body given these people a reason to move. We aren’t angry enough. I love you, but where are y’all? How mad are you, you’re not getting paid?”
Whether or not a formal protest is needed to achieve any of their requests, McKee says what needs to change is a broader acknowledgement of songwriters’ vitality to the industry.
“We’re at the bottom of the totem pole and none of this exists without us,” McKee said. “Giving us points would be great, a session fee, and just basic common respect would be nice. I was recently hired by the U.S. military field band, randomly, to write the new American Songbook. Usually it feels like nobody knows I’m here, nobody cares. They actually paid me, the morale was high. I felt so valued I wanted to cry. I just think that we’re gonna give better work as writers when we feel appreciated and seen.”
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