THE RECORDING INDUSTRY may slowly be waking up to the fact that some of its most important creators are wildly undervalued — one sign is the first-ever Songwriter of the Year Grammy, which Tobias Jesso, Jr. recently won for his behind-the-scenes work with Adele, Harry Styles, FKA Twigs, Omar Apollo, and others. But as our recent report on the state of the songwriting business emphasizes, the model for compensating writers is deeply broken. The people we spoke with revealed that in a streaming-dominated world, writing a great song for a major artist isn’t enough to earn a living anymore: Only radio hits (and TV and advertising syncs) stand any chance of bringing in real money. Here, six prominent songwriters weigh in on the trials of surviving in a brutal business.

I co-wrote “Don’t Let me Down” for the Chainsmokers, which won a [Best Dance Recording] Grammy, and not only was I not invited to the Grammys, but I didn’t get a trophy. I had to pay 80 bucks for a piece of paper that symbolized the award. That was just unfortunate, because the engineer got an award and the featured artists got an award — everyone but the people who wrote it got trophies. It’s hard to not go home after that and be like, “I’m worthless in this equation.” And if you’re worthless in the equation, no part of you is going to be like, “I’m gonna put my foot down now and insist that I’m properly compensated.” I think songwriters need to feel like they have enough value to respect themselves when it comes to actually doing business.

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