How I Put My Lyrics to Music and Create Songs - A Basic Introduction

 

How I Put My Lyrics to Music & Create the Songs and Videos

With digital music today, some people think creating a song is as simple as writing a sentence and getting a finished recording. And for those who want to create music that way, they certainly can. I don't do that. 

My songs begin with original lyrics, ideas, digital production, stories, and turning those words into a song involves its own creative process.

Rather than writing a lengthy article, I thought I would answer five frequently asked questions. 

I'll keep my answers as brief as I can, just to give you an overview of what goes into bringing my lyrics to life through music.

I'll include a video of different songs I've written and produced after each question, so you can see finished products.

1. Do You Write Your Own Lyrics?

Absolutely. I write every single word of the lyrics I create. To date, I have written nearly 100 different songs (I also published a book of lyrics/poems in 2019), and every word is my own. I've been writing since  I was eight years old in 1968; I care about the words I choose. My lyrics are original, and I am intentional about the stories, messages, and emotions I put into them.

Digital music production can also generate lyrics, but that's not something I am interested in or do. It is certainly possible, but it's not my approach.

Quite frankly, I can often tell when lyrics have been generated automatically! To me, they lack a natural flow, rely too heavily on metaphors, or fail to carry a clear message from beginning to end.

The song I feature below is one of my personal faves I've written, for the message it tells. It's about redemption.

2. What Should I Be Aware of if I Want to Create a Song Using My Own Words

This would be an entire article on its own, but here's one of the most important things to keep in mind: 

You need a commercial plan with the digital music service you use if you want to use your finished music commercially! Commercial plans are mostly, if not all, paid plans. 

The commercial rights and licensing terms depend on the service and the plan you have. Read the terms.

Your own lyrics are yours. However, if you use digitally generated lyrics (which I don't), you also need to understand the terms that apply to those lyrics and the music you create.

What is commercial use? For example, if you have a YouTube channel that earns money through the YouTube Partner Program, that counts as commercial use. Releasing your music on streaming services is another example. These are just a couple of examples of commercial use. There are more!

This song speaks for itself, about empathy and acknowledging someone's challenges. I dedicate it to my friend Margaret xxoo.

3. How Difficult Is It to Create the Music for Your Songs?

For me, this is the hardest part.

I am certainly not just typing one sentence describing the sound I want and expecting a finished song!!

In my music instructions, I often specify musical details such as the notes I want the song sung in, the beats per minute, the tempo, the type of voice, the instruments I want front and center, background vocals, genre, and more! Whether I want a baritone, soprano, mezzo-soprano, or a mid-range voice, these choices matter because I have a particular sound in mind. And that sound in my head is, unfortunately, the boss!

The most frustrating part is that I can hear exactly how I want my words to sound and where I want the emphasis and phrasing to fall. 

Getting a computer to understand precisely what I am looking for can be challenging. Sometimes I need to have my mouth washed out with soap! LOL. Hubby knows when I'm on that part of the process!

So, no, the music side of creating my songs is not easy for me. It can be quite intense, and I am extremely conscientious about how I want my words delivered.

I also use a DAW program on my computer that lets me work with stems (individual audio tracks, such as vocals, drums, bass, and piano, that make up a song). I have altered stems and used the program to address artifacts, which are unwanted sounds or glitches that can sometimes occur in digitally produced music.

This was written for weddings - a father-daughter dance song.

4. How Do I Create the Videos for My Songs?

You don't have to do a video. I do, to enhance the story, and it gets a better response on social media.

I have a very specific way of creating my song videos, and it's more involved than simply putting a song over a few pictures.

I generate the images I use for my videos because I want as much control over the visual content as possible. I have paid authorization to use images from various programs, but I prefer not to leave questions about licensing or ownership hanging over my work. So I rarely use those for my in-depth videos.

I want to know exactly where my images came from and avoid a mix-up that asks me to prove I can use them. That's just an added hassle I'm not interested in. So I prompt/design my images using AI.

I create each image based on the song's lyrics. Because I write story-driven lyrics, I want the visuals to help tell that story. I describe what I want the people to look like, what they are doing, the setting, the mood, and the feeling I want the image to convey. Sometimes it takes several attempts to get exactly what I have in my head.

Once I have the images I want, usually somewhere between 10 and 15 images for a song, I bring them into Canva and convert each image into a video section using "Image to Video". I adjust the timing and speed of each section to match the lyrics and the music.

I also use a paid version of CapCut to automatically generate the lyrics on the video. There was certainly a learning curve to getting the karaoke-style highlighting to look the way I wanted, especially how the words move or highlight along with the song. I eventually found a style I really like, and I now tend to use it for most of my videos.

After that, I take another step to finish the video, but that is essentially how I put the main pieces together.

The entire process can take me at least half a day, and sometimes considerably longer. I'm fairly fast, so someone else could easily spend a couple of days creating the same type of video.

For me, that time is worth it. I want the finished video to do more than simply accompany the music. I want the images and lyrics on the screen to help tell the story I wrote into the song. 

This is one of my top songs (for me) on streaming, YouTube, and TikTok. People have used it for weddings, which I truly appreciate! 

5. Do You Own the Copyright to Your Songs?

I am not a lawyer, and I am not giving legal advice here!!

I am simply sharing what I have learned along the way about copyright and digitally produced music. So do your own research! Copyright can get complicated, and what it means can depend on what you are doing with your work.

For example, I am registered with SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada), which is a music rights organization that collects and distributes royalties for the use of music. Copyright registration through a government copyright office is different, and copyright has its own legal meaning in that context.

When digitally assisted music is involved, the amount of human creative input can also matter. Generally, copyright protection is based on human authorship and creative contribution. In practical terms, that means the original human contributions to a digitally assisted work can matter when determining which aspects of the work may be protected. How that applies to a particular work is a legal question, and the rules surrounding digital and AI-assisted creation continue to evolve.

For me, I provide significant human creative input. I write my own lyrics, decide what I want the song to sound like, produce and modify, make creative decisions about the musical direction, and control how the finished song and video come together.

Streaming services are another part of the picture. Their requirements can differ, and music generally reaches those services through a distributor. So you need to choose a distributor and understand their terms and the do's and don'ts.

You have to go through the distributor's submission and review process before they accept your music. Is it difficult? Not necessarily. Is it time-consuming? It can be. And does it help to understand what you are doing before you start? Definitely.

There's a lot more to say about copyright, licensing, distribution, and digitally assisted music, but that's a rabbit hole I will leave for you to explore if you are interested. I am simply sharing a few of the basics here about what I have learned from doing this myself.

This song is a fun, upbeat song about turning life's lemons into lemon pie :)

Summary Conclusion:

I want to end by saying that this is by no means the end of the story. Heck, it's not even the full story!

These are only five questions, and they really just scratch the surface of what goes into my own process. To date, I've created about 100 songs, and I've spent about a year learning, researching, experimenting, and figuring out what works for me. And I'm still learning. I learn something new almost every day.

So, if you've ever wondered what actually goes on behind the scenes when I take one of my lyrics and turn it into a song and video, this is simply a glimpse into my personal process. 

There's more to it, but these five questions give you a sense of what's involved.

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🎵 I write and produce story-driven lyrics. Vocals and music are digitally produced (I am not the singer). I digitally direct and arrange the video and recording.🎵 ©2026 DragedaPoemsLyrics (B.T.C) - All Rights Reserved - Original Lyrics Authored | Sound Recording: Produced With Digital Assistance (Vocals and Instrumental) 2026. Licensed digital composition (Commercial Rights Held). The visual artwork may include AI-assisted digital elements. SOCAN Member.