Who’s Song is it Anyway?

By Mini Radebe

Some of your favorites hits were not written by the performers. The true unsung heroes of the music industry are the songwriters. They are the ones who can successfully merge the skill of songwriting and capture the essence of an artist or project to give us a banger. In this article, we take a look at a man many may know,Christoper Alan Stewart aka “Tricky Stewart”.

The process of how a song becomes to be is quite lengthy. We want to work backwards from the moment you press play on Apple or Spotify to when someone puts pen to paper. There are many people who have successfully made a booming career off songwriting alone and one of those men is Tricky Stewart. It is not always where a writer is writing a song for that person specifically but rather putting together a skeleton in hopes it can find a body. The conversation of rights begins here. Whilst the songwriter themselves in some cases is not the one to perform the lyrical work, they are the author and in the case where they have been able to capture it correctly they are the owner as well. In South Africa, a composition is split into two: the musical work and the literary work. The musical work refers to the beat /rhythm that is created and the lyrical is the written down lyrics /spoken word. Questions of ownership dont come up as often as they should, seeing as the songwriter does have a claim to the work that has been written, if its not commissioned work. There is a practice where one can be called into studio or writing camps and be paid for the lyrical contribution, which can lead to forfeiting copyright. Tricky Stewart however, is a man that understands the power of copyright as a songwriter and has not only fought to keep his name in the credits but also an allocation on publishing.

Tricky Stewart has been in the music industry for over 30 years and has spent that time not only writing major hits but also producing them. This is a differentiation of roles, one that is super important for people to know as they fulfill two different objectives. It is the same success that allowed to mentor what one may consider (unofficially) a protegee, The Dream. The relationship between the two is one that gave us one of the biggest pop songs of the last 20 years and the most important hit of his career, Umbrella by Rihanna (2007). They then went on to produce and write another generational hit with Single Ladies by Beyonce(2008). The positioning and journey for a song writer is one that can result in creative longevity if done correctly. Working with many talented performers as a songwriter should be a measure of confidence , skill but also the knowledge in how to protect yourself and protect your works. Nobody really knows at the time whether a song is a going to be a global hit or not and it should not matter. Lyrical work is copyright and has the write to be protected and open for usage in future to inspire and encourage the next school of music.

Written By: Mini Radebe

Peech Consulting wants to give the songwriters a helping hand.

Are you a song writer/ author and want to learn better ways to protect your lyrical work?

Reach out to hey@peechconsulting.com and lets see how we can help you.

Whose Song Is It Anyway?

Every banger you know has a name behind it that isn’t on the marquee. This playlist is a nod to the writers — the architects of sound who put pen to paper before anyone pressed record. Curated around the legendary catalogue of Tricky Stewart, these are the hits he helped build: from Umbrella to Single Ladies and beyond. Press play and hear the work of a man who understood that the song belongs to the one who wrote it.