| Some of the biggest stories of the music industry this year have revolved around songwriters. Spotify Technology SA classifying its subscription offering in the US as a bundle will cut royalties paid to these composers. Universal Music Group NV's spat with TikTok meant songwriters' songs were pulled off the service without their explicit permission. On a more existential level, generative AI threatens to upend the songwriting space by allowing anyone to use text generators to come up with ideas, some of which might be usable. Taking all the news together, you could imagine it's a hard time to be a songwriter. Sure enough, Midia Research released a report this week, based off of a survey of over 300 songwriters, highlighting the difficulties. Among the findings: the vast majority of songwriters, or 74%, make under $10,000 a year. Those making a more livable wage, or over $30,000 a year, represent the top 10% of the industry. The songwriters said their biggest challenge was a lack of meaningful streaming income followed by difficulty in breaking through among the noise of other songs. (Indeed, Luminate has said that over 100,000 new songs were delivered to streaming services every day in 2023.) The modern streaming era has challenged both songwriters and recording artists, said Tatiana Cirisano, senior music analyst at Midia, in a chat with Bloomberg News. In response to the current challenges, many artists have diversified their revenue streams with touring, merch sales and more. For songwriters, who often prefer to remain behind the scenes, that's been a trickier feat. But that might be changing. "Even for songwriters who are just songwriters, these days, there is interest from fans in learning about them," Cirisano said. "Today's consumers are more in the know about how the products that they like are made and marketed. They're not scandalized to learn their favorite artists aren't writing their own songs."
To adjust to the new dynamics of the industry, songwriters might have to post on TikTok and Instagram more frequently, taking viewers into their writing process. Or it might involve recording artists tagging their songwriters more prominently on social media, placing them more at the center of the conversation. At the same time, in response to the concerns about the streaming model overall, the National Music Publishers' Association has pushed Congress to overhaul the Copyright Act and allow songwriters to directly negotiate their royalty rate with streaming services, rather than relying on a government-mandated one. That system, however, would likely introduce its own set of challenges when platforms have to contend with numerous songwriters on tracks, all of whom would have to sign off on a licensing arrangement. Interestingly, Cirisano doesn't see generative AI as a doomsday scenario for songwriters. Sure, more people can generate lyrics, but perhaps only those who are passionate about the craft will stick around. And for songwriters who can't necessarily sing well or haven't wanted to, an AI-generated voice might actually help them. But in the end the content onslaught will likely remain a legitimate concern for both songwriters and recording artists who are now competing with hobbyists for promotion and listening time. "I definitely think AI is going to accelerate this massive volume of music that is coming out every day and that is ultimately challenging for everyone," Cirisano said. | 
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