Find songwriters at an open mic night or songwriters in a round event and arrange to write face to face in a room. Starting to collaborate locally is a great way to start. How great can I get at my craft so I can attract the best opportunities, regardless of what parts of the song I write? Can I write with the largest number of collaborators to determine what works best with my way of writing, and determine what kinds of music writers capture what I am imagining my songs to sound like? And can I experience enough kinds of collaborations to, perhaps, find a writing partner that I can write with for a long time, to try and maximize our chances of writing great work together, over time? In that regard, it does not so much come down to whether there are a ton of ‘lyrics only’ writers making a go of a career in the world, but more about determining… Bernie Taupin would also be a great model of how the get a lot of mileage out of lyrics only. Historically songwriting duos in the jazz era prevailed with a composer and a lyric writer and performing rights organisations like SOCAN, still to this day, separates songwriting into composer and author categories when you register There are a few very successful ‘lyrics only’ writers. James Linderman Technique in Songwriting Magazine Summer 2019 Professional songwriting coach James Linderman was asked what to do if you can only write song lyrics.
