A songwriter is an individual who writes songs. Although songwriters of the past commonly composed, arranged and played their own songs, more recently the pressure to produce popular hits has tended to distribute responsibility between a number of people. Popular culture songs may be written by group members, but are now usually written by staff writers: songwriters directly employed by music publishers.

Some songwriters serve as their own music publishers, while others have outside publishers. Furthermore, songwriters no longer need labels to support their music. Technology has advanced to the point where anyone can record at home.^{[citation needed]}

The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by some universities and colleges and rock schools. A knowledge of modern music technology and business skills is seen as necessary to make a songwriting career, and music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules.

Since songwriting and publishing royalties can be a substantial source of income, particularly if a song becomes a hit record, legally, in the US, songs written after 1934 may only be copied by the authors. The legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law.

Ralph Murphy (born 1944) is a British-born Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter.

Murphy was born in Saffron Walden, England during World War II. At the age of six, Murphy emigrated to Canada with his mother. An avid lover of music, Murphy taught himself to play guitar and began playing gigs in Wallaceburg, Ontario at the age of 14. At 17 he moved between Los Angeles and New York making his way in the music business.

At 19, Murphy moved to London, signed a record deal with Pye Records and released two singles with Jack Klaysen as The Guardsmen. The Guardsmen then changed their name to the Slade Brothers and released an additional two singles. The Slade Brothers opened up for famous headlining acts, such as The Kinks, The Troggs, Martha and the Vandellas, The Byrds, and The Walker Brothers.

Murphy signed his first publishing deal with Mills Music in 1965. He had his first big hit with James Royal's "Call My Name" in 1966. Murphy started producing records in 1966 for CBS, Fontana, Carnaby, Decca, Other hits included Billy Fury's "Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt" and the Casuals "Touched". In 1967, Murphy joined the group Harper and Rowe. The following year, he became Raffi Murphy in the group The High Windows.

Zane Lowe (born Alexander Zane Reid Lowe on 7 August 1973) also known as 'Zipper', is a radio DJ and television presenter. He was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland, where he was a presenter on the local music station Max TV, before moving to England. He presents BBC Radio 1's evening show, where he plays a variety of alternative music, including rock, punk, dance, drum and bass, and hip hop. He was also the presenter of the MTV Rocks show Gonzo, having been a former VJ on MTV since 1997, where he presented Brand:New. Lowe currently resides in London with his wife and two sons, Jackson and Lucius. He is best known for his boundless sycophancy.

Lowe's radio show can be heard on Mondays to Thursdays from 7pm to 9pm. Past and present features on his show have included:

Lowe's method of DJing is rather enthusiastic and fast-paced, similar to many hip hop DJs, with samples of radio stations, interview clips and Radio 1 stings thrown in between songs, along with the occasional sound of Lowe singing along to the music.

Pat Pattison, Professor at Berklee College of Music, is the author-inventor of Object Writing.

Pat completed his undergraduate degree in Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, and went on to graduate work in Philosophy at Indiana University, where he was an instructor as well. He earned a second Master's degree in Literary Criticism at the Kenyon School of Letters. Pat taught Philosophy and Logic at the University of Notre Dame for two years before leaving that position to tour with his band, featherrain.

Pattison began teaching at Berklee College of Music in 1975, first as an English instructor, then as the developer of Berklee's philosophy and poetry electives. He offered a course in literary criticism, and chose to use song lyrics as the subject matter for the course, thereby creating one of Berklee's most popular offerings: Analysis of Song Lyrics. That course, along with Berklee's original Songwriting course-developed by Jon Aldrich and Tony Texeria- evolved into Berklee's unique, groundbreaking songwriting major. Pattison played a central role in crafting the new curriculum. Material for his lyric writing coursework grew into articles that were published in Home and Studio Recording Magazine and ultimately formed the backbone of his first two books, The Essential Guide to Rhyming and The Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure. While his work continued to be published in both Home and Studio Recording and Performing Songwriter magazines, Pattison wrote his third book, Writing Better Lyrics, published in 1995 by Writer's Digest. These three books attracted international interest, allowing Pat to commence an extensive seminar schedule both in the US and abroad.

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM (born 18 June 1942) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of the Beatles (1960–1970) and Wings (1971–1981), he has been described by Guinness World Records as "The Most Successful Composer and Recording Artist of All Time", with 60 gold discs and sales of over 100 million albums and 100 million singles. With John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame as a member of the Beatles, and with Lennon formed one of the most celebrated songwriting partnerships of the 20th century. After leaving the Beatles, he began a solo career and later formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine.

According to the BBC, his Beatles song "Yesterday" has been covered by over 2,200 artists—more than any other song. Wings' 1977 release, "Mull of Kintyre", became one of the best-selling singles ever in the UK, and he is "the most successful songwriter" in UK chart history, according to Guinness. As a songwriter or co-writer, he is included on thirty-one number one titles on the Billboard Hot 100, and as of 2012 he has sold over 15.5 million RIAA certified units in the United States.