Lyricist Says Artists Take Undeserved Song Credit
Do pop artists take song credit for doing nothing? In the opinion of Heather Bright, A-listers often do. Recently, Britney Spears received criticism for not writing any of the music on her album. To Bright, the media is missing the point. None of these artists write their own songs. They merely leverage their fame to get song credit and publishing income. On Bright's blog, she comes to the defense of Spears and makes many interesting claims.
"I would just like to address one thing! The media is talking trash about how Britney didn't write any of the songs on her album … HELLO! Wake up everybody! NONE OF THESE ARTISTS WRITE THEIR OWN SONGS!!!!!!
(there are a few exceptions … lady gaga, will.i.am/BEP, chris brown is starting to write a lot of his own stuff … ummmm … and now I'm running out of artists). Anyway … here's my thing … and I feel VERY passionate about this issue. Britney could have come to me, like all these other A-list artists, and said …
"Hey, you wanna be on my album? I'm gonna need writing credit for that song AND part of your publishing even though I didn't write anything! And then I'm gonna go on tour and gross $150 million in ticket sales and not give you any of that, even though I'm performing your song!"
I could rattle off a laundry list of artists who I've had that conversation with! And I'm on the other end like … "Oh okay … so you wanna rape me, but just with the tip?!" *Prince side eye* Britney's one of the few artists I've worked with who didn't try to take something that wasn't hers. In my experience, from a business standpoint, her entire team is nothing less than a bonafide class act!" (Read on.)
Hmm – classy. If I’m an artist manager or A&R exec, I’m now NOT going to consider putting my artist in a co-writing situation with Heather Bright. There are just-as-talented, way-less-whiney/high-maintenance writers out there.
I would like to say this and I stand by my opinion strongly. What she said is true, and unfortunately disappointing in a couple of ways. THEN I realized something essential.Even though I not a fan of Britney Spears, it was very honest and respectful for her to do that and own up to it that “I didn’t write this song, these are not my words”. Yet THAT IS HER VOICE and SHE did sing that song, so that is her participation, which is just as important. What I’m saying is, people need to recognize that the Vocalist makes a HUGE IMPACT just as much as the people behind the process of the project (Songwriters, Producer, Engineer, Arranger…). Without a vocalist, songwriters wouldn’t be able to find the right person for them to make that song successful (vice versa) or just to have as a nice album cut to add to the writer’s resume. You can’t just give a song to anyboby. It’s a team effort. Are ALL vocalists/performers well rounded, NO. Should they, I would like them too. Could they, I believe so. Is their contribution to an album less important than the songwriters/producers, HELL NO.
Well, I would not consider the writer of the blog post to be “high maintenance”. She just wants to help create a buzz for that new release with her song on it. She’s even defending the artist in question from the criticism that non-writing artists get in the press. That is not “high maintenance” at all.
As long as an artist sings songs with well-written lyrics and good melodies, they do not need to be ashamed at all for not contributing to the songwriting process. Things are different when it comes to picking producers that prefer cheesy musical arrangements because it’s the artist that works with the producer. Singers who do not write their own songs rely more heavy on picking a good producer. For example, Tom Jones tended to pick the wrong producers for lots of the 80s and 90s whereas Joe Cocker mostly chose to work with good ones during the same timeframe.
Of course, a good interpretative singer needs to bring more to the table as a singer than one who writes their own material. It is generally accepted that the voices and delivery of singer/songwriters are allowed to be a bit rough. The company of artists who claim writing credits to songs they did not help writing just so they can get away with a sub-par performance should be avoided by both songwriters, producers and listeners.
I have no idea on who the “black sheep” are but according to the pop music history books, they have been around since copyrighting of music began.
The only trouble is that those sub-par performances mentioned above just don’t sell as well and are not enjoyed as much as great performances by great singers. And that’s when the A&R team of a label should come into play again and change something.
It’s true that a successful vocalist lifts a song to an audience the songwriter wouldn’t otherwise reach, if the singer/artist performing the song is not the songwriter. Also true that there is great value to that.
If that artist must dip into the songwriter’s income, in exchange for the exposure, then share in the publishing and leave the songwriting credit to the writer of the song. Anything less than the truth is less than the truth.
I can’t imagine being up on a stage, performing to so many people, sharing so much of myself, and, having taken a writing credit for something I never wrote, living in such an untruth.
Nothing has ‘legs’ like authenticity. I don’t believe an artist can move a multitude without having an essential sensitivity and humanity that resonates, however in touch or out of touch they might or might not be with that in their daily life. Why put a sensitive being in that position? In the position of standing before those multitudes with a big falsehood behind them.
Just tell the truth. Nothing speaks like the truth. There’s great power in it and taking a ‘grasping posture’ toward life, as many in the business of entertainment seem to do, sells everybody short.
Interesting article in that it exposes some of the slight of hand that became the norm in the old music industry and it’s worth discussing as we make choices in the future. It seems to me that famous performing artists and their management have taken undeserved writer and publishing credit because…they can. It’s about money and power, pretty simple. There are many more writers than famous performers, especially in the factory system that feed the pop/country genres.
There is no question that performers add value to a song, but it seems to me that the revenue they create should suffice without having to resort to exploitive strategies that reflect a lack of integrity. Perhaps they justify it in their minds because it takes a lot more money to be a successful performance artist especially for the hype. Then again there are plenty of writers that would be happy to receive at least something for their song. It would be naive to think that everyone would opt for honesty at the same moment. But it is worth the light of awareness.
Had enough of the hype of these so-called A-listers, like Gaga, Spears, Bieber and the like.
Check out REAL artists who write/wrote and perform the majority of their own material; Lennon & McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora, U2, Green Day, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts.
These guys are the REAL deal and perform superb gigs for their fans.
Bon Jovi made $200million last year from their tour because they sing, play and do not LIPSYNC or do STUPID dancing on stage. You get them and the music, real music at that.
Enough said.
“Had enough of the hype of these so-called A-listers, like Gaga, Spears, Bieber and the like… Check out REAL artists who write/wrote and perform the majority of their own material”
According to the songwriter quoted in the article, Lady Gaga does write her own material. And Lennon & McCartney haven’t written much for a long time :p
This is nothing new ! Elvis put his name on songs he didn’t write. Most of the the time the writers went along with it. They felt 50% of a hit, was better then 100% of nothing.