How difficult is it to make money in songwriting?
Extremely difficult. If you do not believe this, then look at the statistics published by the various rights organisations. These show that only a tiny minority of published songwriters (perhaps as few as 5%), make enough money each year to be able to devote themselves full-time to songwriting. Given that published songwriters constitute a minority of those actually writing songs at any one moment, it is obvious that a vast body of writers exist who earn no money from their talent, and never will. In spite of these dismal statistics, songwriting remains a remarkably competitive business, although given the rewards enjoyed by those at the top, I suppose that this is not perhaps surprising. After all, when one hit song can quite literally set you up for life, writers naturally enough prefer to concentrate on the possible rewards, and not the far more likely pitfalls. Because the chances of success are low, most songwriters drop out after a year or two, but on a slightly more positive not
