Staff Writers
Songwriters signed to an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are known as "staff writers". Being a staff writer effectively means that during the term of a songwriter's contract with a publisher, all their songs are automatically published by the company to which they signed, and can not be published elsewhere.
In the Nashville country music scene, there is a strong staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal "9-to-5" hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writer's 'draw', an advance for future earnings paid on a monthly basis so they are able to live on it. The copyright of the songs written during the term of the agreement is owned by the publisher for a designated period, after which the copyright can be reclaimed. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up: "I was able to concentrate on writing the whole time and have always had enough money to live on."
Staff writers are common across the whole industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract. A staff writer contract with a publisher is a natural first step for any professional songwriting career, with some writers outgrowing the set-up once they achieve a degree of success and a desire for greater independence. Songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a "starter deal", the success from which eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company so that he could "keep as much as possible and say how it’s going to be done."
Read more about this topic: Songwriter
Famous quotes containing the words staff and/or writers:
“... all my letters are read. I like that. I usually put something in there that I would like the staff to see. If some of the staff are lazy and choose not to read the mail, I usually write on the envelope “Legal Mail.” This way it will surely be read. It’s important that we educate everybody as we go along.”
—Jean Gump, U.S. pacifist. As quoted in The Great Divide, book 2, section 10, by Studs Terkel (1988)
“That’s one thing I like about Hollywood. The writer is there revealed in his ultimate corruption. He asks no praise, because his praise comes to him in the form of a salary check. In Hollywood the average writer is not young, not honest, not brave, and a bit overdressed. But he is darn good company, which book writers as a rule are not. He is better than what he writes. Most book writers are not as good.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)