Also called: beats per minute, tempo
What is bpm?
Beats per minute — the speed of the music. Useful for estimating how long a line of lyrics has to be sung, which is how you tell whether a lyric actually fits the melody before the session.
At 90 BPM in common time a bar lasts around 2.7 seconds. A line of ten syllables spread over one bar is tight; over two, comfortable.
A record of how the tempo changes across a project, rather than a single fixed BPM. Because DAW positions are measured in bars and beats, anything reading the timeline follows the map automatically.
The number of syllables in a lyric line, which determines whether it fits the melodic phrase. Counting is the quickest way to spot a line that reads well on paper but cannot be sung in the space available.