Topliner: Tips for Pursuing Topline Songwriting

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.

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.

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.

A topliner who accepts the gig will listen to the track and then come up with melodic ideas and lyrics that they think fit the track. The topliner records their song over the track and sends it back to the producer. The topliner receives credit as the writer of the song. In some cases, producers will want a songwriting credit as a cowriter, but this is not the industry standard.

Here are some tips for practicing toplining your own songs:

• Search for interesting beats. A major part of being a good topliner is recognizing a good backing beat when you hear one. Search online sites for instrumentals tracks and hone your ear for tracks that sounds like they could become popular songs.
• Produce your own tracks. Another way to practice lyric writing is to produce your own backing tracks to topline. If you have music production software you can create a beat with a chord progression and loop it over. Then practice writing your lyrics to fit your own track.
• Write over instrumental tracks. Once you've found interesting instrumental tracks, practice writing your own lyrics and melody to fit the song. Listen for the mood and atmosphere of the track and fit your song to match, whether it is upbeat and empowering or moody and reflective.
• Record your tracks. Even if you're not an incredible vocalist, try recording your track so you can listen to it and hear whether it's working. Otherwise, recruit a singer to help you record your track so you can listen back to it.
• Edit. Beginner topliners can have a tendency to overwrite their songs, filling every last bit of track with vocal melody. Listen back to your track and see where there is room to edit and allow the track to stand on its own.

Here are a few tips for getting your toplining career in the music business started:

• Invest in recording equipment. Topline songwriters need good quality recording equipment to record their songs to present to producers. As well as a laptop with professional music editing software, you should invest in professional microphones, amps, and speakers to be able to record your track at the highest quality.
• Practice lyric writing. Before you put yourself out there, you will want to practice and see whether you have what it takes to topline a great song. Develop your skills and record a bunch of catchy demo tracks that you can show to prospective producers.
• Study song structure. Listen to the best songs in your chosen genre of music and study their song structure. Listen for what makes them so catchy and successful and learn from them.
• Set up an online presence. Establish yourself online with a professional website and social media accounts. There are also toplining online markets which can connect you directly with producers.

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