Live data from Hacker News

Hit songwriters ask pop stars to stop taking credit for songs they didn't write

bbc.co.uk

151–160 of 363 posts

Re: Hit songwriters ask pop stars to stop taking credit for songs they didn't write

#151
post #12

This unfortunately has been a long used tactic in the music world. In the old times it was sharpie producers putting their names as writers for songs of poor black artists, so they (the producers) can get royalties in addition to their usual fees. Now it is the singers taking advantage of the songwriters and composers. It is all evil but it kind of shows who has the negotiation leverage. Todays pop music scene is all…

Bingo; This "appeal to the court of public opinion" strikes me as a last resort due to a lack of negotiation leverage.

Re: Hit songwriters ask pop stars to stop taking credit for songs they didn't write

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The m&m's story might be misrepresented here. The true story is that they had extremely complicated rigging for their stage show. By putting the M&M's into the contract (a canary of sorts) they were able to ensure that it was read. Otherwise they knew immediately there could be problems. https://www.insider.com/van-halen-brown-m-ms-contract-2016-9

Is this really the true story? I see that claim a lot and it's obviously a nice story. But isn't it quite likely that they were just acting like obnoxious rock stars, and they made up the story later when they didn't like being legendary for being assholes anymore? Or are we just taking their word for it?

Everything can be a conspiracy if one tries hard enough.

Re: Hit songwriters ask pop stars to stop taking credit for songs they didn't write

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Labels have been cooking the books and running dirty schemes since forever. Hell even Pink Floyd wrote a song about it. I would not be shocked in the slightest if a few artists are increasingly also starting to throw their weight around and that is gaining some traction and becoming more of a norm as well. Thats also not new, ranging from the inane (no brown m&m's back stage) to stuff like this. I think a lot of peop…

The m&m's story might be misrepresented here. The true story is that they had extremely complicated rigging for their stage show. By putting the M&M's into the contract (a canary of sorts) they were able to ensure that it was read. Otherwise they knew immediately there could be problems. https://www.insider.com/van-halen-brown-m-ms-contract-2016-9

While I’ve heard David Lee Roth’s argument here. I’m not sure I buy it. For one, the rider itself somewhat had a Streisand effect of its own. So it wasn’t much of a canary once it was public knowledge.

And two. Most large touring acts have all sorts of heavy equipment. Zepp, Skynyrd had enourmous amounts of stuff. Even to date, RHCP has a boat load of gear they lug around because like many they don’t use a venues PA, they use their own gear because it’s quintessential to their tone. Hell the Grateful Dead had a wall of sound.

All that is to say....sure that could be a reason. May even have been the reasoning to start out. But I’m not sure I buy it personally. That band was also known for their.....persona. Especially with David Lee Roth.

Re: Hit songwriters ask pop stars to stop taking credit for songs they didn't write

#155

LMAO why dont they sing themselves? Sorry as it seems the lyrics are nothing without the artist performing it, just letters in your notes.

Why don't actors just make a movie without a script? They're just words on paper. Why doesn't an orchestra just start jamming, with no score or sheet music? It's just notes on paper. Why don't construction workers show up on a jobsite and start hammering without waiting for plans? It's just lines on paper. Why don't...you get the idea.

That's not an equivalent analogy. It's the exact opposite in fact. The equivalent analogies would be:

Why don't screenwriters just film their own movies? Why don't composers just form their own orchestras? Why don't architects just build their own skyscrapers?

The screenwriter example should make it obvious why these song-writers' complaints are baseless. A movie filmed by amateur videographers with no editing experience, no acting talent, and no marketing is not going to achieve mainstream success no matter how good the writing is. Meanwhile movies with terrible writing rake in huge numbers at the box office just because they have big name actors and top-of-the-line production quality (ex: the Avengers). This is because the script isn't particularly important to the success of the movie. Hence why the script writer doesn't get paid a large percentage of royalties.

If the quality of song-writing was a key determinant in the success of a song, the song-writers would have leverage to negotiate better royalties. But it isn't, so they don't. If you don't like it, stop listening to pop music. There are plenty of struggling artists playing their own compositions in dive bars on friday nights that would love your support.

Re: Hit songwriters ask pop stars to stop taking credit for songs they didn't write

#157
post #23

LMAO why dont they sing themselves? Sorry as it seems the lyrics are nothing without the artist performing it, just letters in your notes.

Why does Google or Microsoft pay coders to write software. Their work is nothing without the big company bringing it all together and the brand? Are you saying that the song writers should give their work away for free? The credit is tied to the method the song writers use to be paid for their work. This is coupled to pay. When an artist puts their name on the song lyrics they are taking pay from the people who wrote…

> Are you saying that the song writers should give their work away for free?

They have been paid already, byt fame is for the artist, have ypu been living under a rock? Do I need to draw?

Re: Hit songwriters ask pop stars to stop taking credit for songs they didn't write

#158
post #54

It seems as though this is not a well understood issue from reading the comments here. This isn’t artists doing interviews and saying “I wrote this”. The problem is that the artists are bullying their way into getting points for the song writing credits (publishing royalties) when they had little(change a word in the lyrics) or no input into the song. I fully support artists getting as much of the live performance/me…

I always thought the artists make token edits to the songs so they can keep up the charade of writing their own songs for marketing reasons. Someone told me "Taylor Swift writes her own songs." Sure, but when you look at the songwriters on 1989, over half of them were at least co-written by the song writer with the most #1 hits after McCartney and Lennon.

Looking at Folklore on wikipedia Antonof or Dessner are on most of the tracks. Do I think she took a couple of Indie music people to help her write/produce etc songs in a new style? Clearly. Does that actually mean she just added a word here and there though?

Trying to infer whether on not Taylor Swift writes her own songs based on consistent collaborators seems odd to me.

Re: Hit songwriters ask pop stars to stop taking credit for songs they didn't write

#159

LMAO why dont they sing themselves? Sorry as it seems the lyrics are nothing without the artist performing it, just letters in your notes.

Imagine trying to sing lyrics you don't know to a tune you don't know.

Exactly
Post reply on HN