During medieval times, the songtexte was the dominant feature of a music work. However, in the 20th century, the text became the secondary feature of a music work. Today, most mainstream pop songs are sang in English. Moreover, non-English speakers may not understand the lyrics.
Today, the lyrics are often produced by members of a band. For example, in German song lyrics, the lyrics are usually in male voice, in the IPA format, and are recorded by a native German speaker in Berlin. In addition, production techniques make the lyrics unintelligible. For this reason, lyrics must be written clearly and given appropriate credit. They must also indicate whether changes have been made.
