WHO writes the songs that make the whole world sing?

[Armistice]

This has always bugged me:

Generic singer/songwriter strums a few guitar chords in a particular sequence and sings words with a melody - so far all we have is guitar and voice.

They are "discovered" somehow and end up in studio where the basic song transmogrifies into something else.

The drummer (own or session) gives it a shuffly beat that gives it some groove.

The bassplayer comes up with the bassline including the critical decision to play F# against the D chord that the singer's strumming which works in beautiful counterpoint to the melody at that point, adding to the "hook" feeling in the chorus.

An electric guitarist adds some beautiful jazz-influenced phasings that the singer/songwriter would never have thought of, likewise the keyboard player adds his own touches.

A string arrangement is done (OK, going big on fantasyland here, but bear with me!) and recorded and added, and the producer uses her/his arcane skills to add flavour by using some old keyboards / effects and gives the whole lot some space and room to breathe.

I hear the song on the radio, and buy the CD - where, I discover, the songwriting is credited to singer/songwriter alone.

Without the help of the other players / producer, the song would have remained just a strummed acoustic guitar and voice thing - the singer/songwriter not yet having the skills to put all the other parts to it.

Is it just me, or do you feel that those that "add" to the original idea should also share some of the credit as far as songwriting goes - after all, that's where the revenue will come from if it's a hit?

Or are all you bassplayers, guitarists, drummers and sundry other musicians happy to have your "bits" usurped as part of the "whole" without recognition?

Does it happen this way at all? I don't actually know, it just seems that way from the sidelines sometimes.

Thanks for listening, the soapbox is now available....

 

[matty_boy]

I think a lot of the stuff you mentioned there would fall under the category of arrangement. It is a pity, though, that most people don't realize how important arrangement is when they are listening to music. Great arrangers make a huge difference to a song, and are often overlooked.

Just my thoughts

Matty

 

[Peter D]

Great question, but kind of strange forum to ask it. I know that people other than songwriters frequent this subject area, but it seems kind of strange. I'm half of the chord strumming writer you describe, but I don't perform, so I seldom end up in studios unless it's to do rewrites or because the recording artist requested my presence.

I may be completely off-base here, but isn't a lot of what you're describing considered part of being an A-List studio musician? I've worked with musicians who come in and simply play the charts; they usually work in low cost demo studios and aren't on the A-List of studio musicians because they prefer not to get involved and simply want to play, get paid and go home.

On the other hand the A-List players come in, play through the charts, make suggestions, tell you when they think they can do a better take and are vital particiipants in the session and they are well paid for it at 3 to 10 times local scale.

If you are talking about guys/gals in a band going into the studio and taking a simple rhythm guitar and vocals chart and developing a complete arrangement from scratch, then I agree with you they deserve some kind of credit as co-writers, co-producers, arrangers, whatever.

I don't let my house painter sign his work when he paints my house, but I try to compensate him fairly and treat him decently. I would never think of asking to be credited for playing guitar on an album, though I may do so if asked. Nor do I ask for credit as a vocal coach and arranger because some singer can't figure out how to do the phrasing of a song correctly or acceptably.

They say every actor wants to be a director. I don't know, but I do take offense at some bass player wanting co-writing credits for one of my songs because he said, "Let's try this.", especially when he's probably going to make more money for his work on the session than I will with my 4 cents per unit writer's share of royalties.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

"Generic singer/songwriter strums a few guitar chords in a particular sequence and sings words with a melody - so far all we have is guitar and voice."

Sounds easy, right? Then why aren't they working on an arrangement to a song the bass player wrote? What? He can't write a lick? Oh. Let's give him a writer's share anyway. After all, he did come up with the F#.
That goes for the lead player, drummer, etc.
OK- so now the "songwriter" has given up ALL the publishing and HALF the writer's share to the publisher/producer just to get the song cut (Oh, yeah!) Not to mention the costs of attorneys, etc. So we'll take his 50% writer's share and divide that to the players. So every time the songs gets airplay, the bass player (who did three takes and went home) gets the same amount as the writer. The writer, who spent months perfecting the song, making a demo, pitching, negotiating, etc. gets the shaft.

"Without the help of the other players / producer, the song would have remained just a strummed acoustic guitar and voice thing - the singer/songwriter not yet having the skills to put all the other parts to it"


Without the SONG, none of these people would have a job!
Good writers make it look easy. They are rare. Great lead players and drummers and bass players are a dime a dozen in any recording center. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood both worked as demo singers in Nashville for years. Are they receiving any writer's royalties from those demos? No.

Peter D is right. Session players are entitled to be fully compensated for their performance, and that's all. It's called "work for hire", not "songwriting".