In today’s day and age of music, most of the “artists” that we listen to (Miley Cyrus, Kelly Clarkson, Rhianna and many more) don’t write their own music. For those “artists” do we still call them artists even when they don’t write their own music? I say no.
According to dictionary.com, an artist is “a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.” The word that stands out in that definition is produces. Most of the “artists” out there today don’t produce their own material.
John Seabrook, author of “The Song Machine,” said that it’s common for producers to send the same track to many topliners and then choose the best melody among all the submissions. For example, Rihanna’s 2007 hit song “Umbrella” was actually written for Britney Spears, but Spears’ management team turned down the track which then went to Rhianna and jumpstarted her career.
On the other side, there are rappers who write their own material and need a beat to go with the song. Producers are the ones who would create a beat for the rapper to use with his lyrics. In this case, rappers are artists because they are still producing their own material. That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day: if you didn’t produce something, then you are not an artist.
The reason performers are more prone to using a songwriter to write their material is because pop music is what people are listening to in this generation. Writing songs for pop is more difficult than composing a song with emotional connection. Enter Taylor Swift. She was known for writing her own material and was good at it, but once she converted full time to the pop scene, she has had artists help her or write her songs for her.
The reason performers who don’t compose their own material shouldn’t be called artists is because it is disrespectful to those performers who do write their own music. Artists like Ke$ha, Sam Smith, Beck and so on all write their own material. What’s worse, listeners don’t usually realize it or give them credit. It takes a lot of talent to be able to compose music and then perform it. Artists need to be recognized for their songwriting ability, that’s why we need to not call performers who don’t write their own music “artists.”
It takes a lot of talent to be able to sing and I’m not saying it’s wrong to have songwriters write materials, I just believe that they shouldn’t be referred to as an artist. I would call them performers or entertainers. Artists create the lyrics; producers create the beat; and entertainers perform it.