Topliner: Tips for Pursuing Topline Songwriting
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Loading... - Shirley Sarfo
- 24 Apr 2023
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A topliner is a songwriter who writes the melody and lyrics over a premade instrumental track.
What Is a Topliner?
A topliner, or topline writer, is a songwriting professional who writes the melody and lyrics to a premade beat track. Topliners receive a recorded track that has no singing and writes the melody to fit the premade track. Toplining has become an increasingly popular method of writing songs in the music industry—particularly in pop music, hip-hop, and EDM. Topliners have written many of the biggest chart-topping songs.
Topliner vs. Songwriter: What’s the Difference?
The difference between a topliner and a songwriter is that a songwriter writes both the music and the lyrics of a song, whereas a topliner receives a premade instrumental track and writes the lyrics and their melody over the track. Singer-songwriters who write their own songs will develop the music and lyrics together, or sometimes even start with the lyrics. A topliner is part of a collaboration with a music producer. A topliner always starts with the recorded track and fits their lyrics into the track.
How Does Toplining Work Today?
Most pop songs, EDM, hip-hop, and R&B music today is written by topliners. The process begins with music producers or instrumentalists, who create interesting and dynamic beats, often with sophisticated computer technology. Producers then send out their tracks to topliners to write songs for them. Read More…
