So you've gotten to the publishing page and you're trying to select a role for your writers, but what role should you select? Here's our quick guide on how to select the proper writer role for your writers.
Adapter: An adapter is someone who takes multiple parts of a piece and changes them or marries them in a way to create a new work. For example, taking a poem and setting that poem to a melody.
Arranger: An arranger is someone who takes and existing work and changes the instrumentation or key of the work. For example, if I re-write Für Elis to be played on Ocarina, I can credit myself as the arranger of the work.
Composer: Simply put, the composer is the person who writes the music only.
Composer / Arranger: Now we're to the more complex version of a composer. A composer arranger is someone who 1.) Composed a song and then 2.) Arranged the song in a new key or instrumentation. For example, if I wrote a choral piece for a full choir, then arranged that piece into a duet for French Horn and Trombone, I would be a composer / arranger on the French Horn and Trombone version and a composer on the choral version.
Income Participant: An income participant is someone who is receiving revenue from the release and should also be credited on the release. This is extremely rare and usually refers to someone whose role doesn't fit in any of the other categories. For example: A voice actor.
Sub-Author: A sub-author is someone who may have contributed in part to your piece, but not significantly enough to be consider the author of a piece. I would use this role if someone wrote a line or two of lyrics for me.
Translator: Another simple role! A translator translates the lyrics of a piece from one language to another.
Writer: The writer of a piece is the person who wrote the lyrics only
AND FINALLY (Drum-roll please)
Writer - Composer: A writer-composer is someone who wrote both the lyrics and the music. This is by far the most common role selected.
When in doubt, it's always best to select from either writer, writer-composer or composer