Songwriting immortal Irving Berlin said: “Make sure you repeat the Title as often as possible so people know what to ask for when they go to buy it.”

In that sentence Berlin distilled a century of songwriting truth. In the 20th Century, certain elements of a song, especially the Title, had to be repeated a lot, otherwise people wouldn’t know what to ask for at the record store. The result: they couldn’t buy it.

And now…? No more record store.

Now, if you hear some part of a song you like, even just some sound you like, you can either Shazam it, or you can Google literally any phrase in the lyric, and find the song – easily.

Also, it continues to be increasingly common to hear songs in fragments –  while waiting on line at the store, hearing bits on commercials, TV shows, and films, etc. In those moments we may not hear the Title, or even the Chorus. But, unlike way back in the 20th century, we can still find the song.

So the sound of, and the sounds in, the recording and its auxiliary riffs and sections, which used to support the Title and the Chorus, have taken on a larger, though still mostly supplemental, role.

Personally I’m still a fan of the Title-based song. Having a unique, emotional, clever, funny, powerful, intriguing, mysterious, or identity-defining Title for a song is an enormous asset.

These days you can repeat the Title a lot if it suits the song and it’s fun and strong and sounds good… But you don’t have to, for listeners to find it and buy it.

That’s a big deal. Just as the invention of the microphone and sound systems changed singing (and all music) inexorably and inevitably, so too will new technologies continue to change songwriting, arrangements, and recordings.

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