4

Tag synonyms: and .

Wikipedia said that:

A songwriter is an individual who writes songs and can also be called a composer.

So I assume that songwriting is similar to composition.

2
  • 1
    Surely songwriting is a more specific version of composition? I always understood that synonyms were for tags which represented the same concept, not were a subset of each other.
    – Chris
    Oct 12, 2014 at 19:19
  • 1
    I'd agree with Chris - these aren't the same, one is a subset of the other, so best not to have them as synonyms
    – Doktor Mayhem Mod
    Oct 12, 2014 at 19:35

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
12

There is certainly some overlap, but I see these as different concepts. Many composers would not consider themselves songwriters, and many songwriters would not consider themselves composers.

7

These terms are not synonyms. A song implies the act of singing, therefore the person who composes songs is a songwriter. Composer is more generic, as a composer can create music featuring a whole universe of instrumental/technical/aesthetical possibilities, of which songs are just a subset.

I see a lot of confusion here at Music.SE regarding the use of the word song, as it is often used regardless of whether the musical work features singing or not.

I am myself a composer, but I very seldom compose songs. I do compose most of the time, but only a small subset of this activity can be considered songwriting.

2
  • +1 for making me use Wikipedia looking for something I actually did not know
    – Shevliaskovic
    Oct 25, 2014 at 16:19
  • agreed -- I would not make a tag synonym. Or if there were one, only keep it until the site is sufficiently established w/ questions to de-link them later.
    – Michael Scott Asato Cuthbert
    Oct 25, 2014 at 17:53

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .