first began building her portfolio as a songwriter when she was around 15 years old and was placed in writing rooms to craft hooks, melodies, and verses for other artists. So much has changed for her in the decade since then. Last year, the singer and songwriter released her long-awaited debut album,at the 2024 Brit Awards when she took home six wins out of her seven nominations.
Detailing the exploitation that songwriters often face, Raye recalled one particularly wicked industry practice. “Songwriters are being manipulated,” she explained. The conversation, which she notes “has happened to me very many times” while dealing with record labels, usually goes something like this: “We’re going to use the song that you wrote.
The result, she added, is an overly competitive spirit among songwriters who begin to take aim at each other over minuscule percentage splits for songwriting credits when the bigger issue rests in when and how they’re being paid in the first place. “What should be happening is from the top — a respect payment. Cover food and travel, please. If a songwriter is pulling up to write a song for your artists or for a pitch session or whatever, food and travel. Come on.
Even as Raye continues to bask in the spotlight that she’s fought throughout her career to emerge beneath, she’s passionately and relentlessly advocating for the songwriters who are currently where she once was — dealing with those same unsustainable systems that value-creating songs for radio play and prioritizing paying producers over paying the people who wrote those songs more than fractions of a dollar years after they crafted a hit.
“I feel very passionately about that needing to be fixed,” Raye concluded. “There’s a really bad problem going on — but songwriters needs to be correctly paid and respected. Full stop.”Ryan Gosling and Kate McKinnon's 'Close Encounter' Sketch Sends 'SNL' Cold Open Into Hysterics'Golden Bachelor' Couple to Divorce Three Months After Televised ABC Wedding