#songwriting
6 stories
Stories tagged #songwriting on Sampled — sound, style, and scenes, all in one place.

What Is a Performing Rights Organization and Do You Need One?
PROs collect the money your songs earn when they get played in public. Here is what that covers, what it does not, and how to join.

Dolly Parton's career, start to finish: the songs, the albums, and the coat she gave everybody
From Locust Ridge radio to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — the records that matter, the copyrights she refused to give away, and what a working artist can actually take from sixty years of it.

Dolly Parton's impact on music: the songwriter who rewrote what a country star could own
She built a catalog, a business and a blueprint — and you can trace the line from "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You" straight through Reba, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Miley Cyrus and Lainey Wilson.

How to copyright your music in the U.S. (and why it actually matters)
You own your song the second you record it — but registering it is what lets you enforce it. Here's how to file with the U.S. Copyright Office, what it costs, and the mistakes producers keep making.

Dolly Parton at 80 is still doing the most, and it still works
A new all-star cut of "Light of a Clear Blue Morning," a travel stop opening in Tennessee, a summer show at the Stampede, and a children's hospital getting the check. A feature on one of the busiest people in music, period.

How a creative writing course actually makes you a better songwriter
Better verses, cleaner hooks, songs that actually say something. Here is what a 16-week creative writing diploma teaches — and where it earns its keep for a working songwriter.