Give Me Credit
I want to talk to you about an injustice. I know there are probably bigger problems facing our nation: gas prices, the mortgage crisis, the war, and... Andy Dick's arrest (for urinating in public and pulling down a girl's tank top). But there is one thing that has been bugging me big time, and I suspect some of you too.
I pay for music. I use iTunes...a lot. It's just too easy, and I can do it from the iPhone. But you would think that for $0.99 along with the song you could also get information on, not only who the composer of the particular song is, but also on the musicians, producer, and yes, being the geek I am, the engineer. Oh... and I want the lyrics. I love to read them as I hear a song for the first time.
Am I the only one that misses looking in the booklet of a CD to find out who the drummer is? When I was preparing for my up and coming next record, the name Jim Keltner came up as a potential drummer. I jumped at the chance, as he played on some of my favorite records growing up (like those post-Beatles solo albums). I knew his name from studying the inside of album covers.
Maybe I'm old. Maybe, in an era of manufactured pop, no one cares who the programmer or session musicians are. But dang, I knew who played on the Monkee's records (The Wreaking Crew). And I would like to know, for instance, who Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse's producer) hires to play on his records. Who is on the latest Beck record? And, on a personal note, who did Katy Perry write her "I Kissed a Girl" with?
Am I alone in this?
I played guitar on a couple of friends' recent records. No one will probably ever know what a good semi-shredder I am (damn it), since most will either download them for free or iTunes the music.
And let's not forget the "thank you"s! You can name drop famous people who may help you in the future, and please relatives and unmusical friends.
Trying to succeed as a musician or a songwriter -- meaning, being able to pay rent -- is hard enough. Let's at least give credit where credit is due.
Who do I talk to at Apple?
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While I am not a fan of modern country, I think it's great that CMT and other country video channels, show the writer or writers in the credits at the end. I think that's swell
Reader X, Myspace (or Rupert's space) has become a pain, and so ugly with all the ads. More artist, while maintaining their Myspace, are going to other platforms.
Right on Jill! So many fine musicians, engineers, and producers are getting left out of the credits...
I know the public would like to believe that the music they hear springs forth from the artist fully formed like Athena from Zeus' brow, but there are many many of us out there who like to know the ingredients of the dish. It wouldn't take THAT much extra memory to at least list those who helped directly to make the music. C'mon iTunes!
And yes, I have a personal interest, having played on your records (hint: drums and bass on "Clever").
Don't blame iTunes
There's in info field for every song on iTunes where you can put musician credits, songwriter credits, and liner notes. The fact that artists aren't using this when they upload to iTunes is simply oversight or laziness on the part of the artist and/or label.
Since none of the comments after my post acknowledge that anybody read it, let me repeat myself with a bit more volume:
DON'T BLAME ITUNES!!!
There's an info field for every song on iTunes where you can put musician credits, songwriter credits, and liner notes. The fact that artists aren't using this when they upload to iTunes is simply oversight or laziness on the part of the artist and/or label.
IF YOU DIDN'T GET LINER NOTES WITH YOUR DOWNLOAD, IT'S THE FAULT OF THE ARTIST OR THE LABEL. THE SPACE IS SITTING THERE WAITING
The answer to your Katy Perry question is "someone who owes you a lot of money."
So what your saying is that we need an IMDB for music, and videos, and whatever.
Then you go there, look up the song/artist and wahlaa! Instant gratification.
And then some links to places to buy other works by the artist, or in the gene.
Nope, I don't see how anyone could make money off this.
Next thing you'll be saying that American's want small fuel efficent/alterative power vehicals.
YES! I've been trying to get into this conversation for almost a week now (for some reason it took Huff 5 days to confirm my password.)
Tower Records USED TO have musician credits in their on-line database. That's how I stumbled onto the fact that Maurice White (of EW&F) played drums on "Rescue Me". You could query someone like Steve Gadd and find ALL of the stuff he played on.
So an Imdb for music is EXACTLY what we need!
But, on a sadder note, the vibrant session scene of the past just does not exist today. Drums and synthesizers get programmed by one person. Some guy comes in and plays some guitar on a couple of songs. Synth bass. You don't really HAVE the unbelievably tight session crews like Stuff, or the Crusaders who played on an album a week. Or more.
The songs can have ALL of that info embedded into the file but they are too lazy I guess. When you buy a Greatest Hits album that contains a song from 1977, why does the track year say 2008 ? This is my big complaint about iTunes. The songwriter should be there, the lyrics should be there, the producer, the CORRECT YEAR OF ORIGINAL RELEASE and the artist name, etc. should be filled in properly. I bet my personal collect supasses iTunes in how it is organized. If I were an artist with music on iTunes, I would want the bit rate to be of a decent quality and for all of this data to be complete and correct.
one more thing I wanted to add: As much of a non-fan I am of modern country, CMT - as well as other channels that show videos - add the name of the writer or writers at the end of the video. I like that
and Reader X, I am having trouble with My Space (or Rupert's space ) these days. I think more artist, while maintaining a myspace presence, are starting to rely on other places
jill
As a couple commenters hinted at already, the solution is to buy vinyl. Not only do you get that big beautiful artwork, you get all kinds of goodies usually included in the cover, yes, and all the credits.
And thanks to 'The Loudness Wars' and the industry catering to the lowest common denominator downloaders, most CDs sound like hell anyway. Sure most new vinyl releases are made from a digital source, but even so, they cannot destroy the music as bad as they do on CDs. And I won't even mention the horrible crap that a digital download is.
here here.
THAT is very funny, who co wrote I KISSED A GIRL> u GO GIRL< and i love that song, and am happy the CO author of that great tune ( and others ) can share some great thoughts here on the huffington press. I too am from the same golden age of songwriting you are, i am a songwriter too, and yes, VERY much miss all the paraphanelia that comes along with the record, the same way you do. great article, first time ive ever seen such sentiments expressed in print, VERY good point. dave
This is an excellent argument. Downloaded music should always come backaged with a digital booklet of album art, album credits, lyrics, and anything else the artist wants to throw in there.
There is so much more that goes into the release of an album than just the artist and their songs! Many times the producer plays a key role, along with the engineer(s). They absolutely deserve published credit on digital downloads. Many of them rely on these credits to bring in future work.
From a creative standpoint, the booklet is a key piece of the artist's complete work. Meaningful lyrics are a key ingredient to a great song, and many artists want to let their fans read their words. Graphic design also plays a huge role in the package. The choices in layout, typography, imagery, and flow all add to the overall feel of what the artist is putting out there.
The ability to download music is great, but it has one downside that saddens me. It seems the album as we know it is dead. Now that you can buy a song for a buck, too many ipods are filled with unfinished albums, and radio singles. This has had an effect on the overall quality of music being released (mostly in the mainstream). When a production is focused solely around the single, and not the complete album, we end up with a top forty list of one catchy song, and thirty-nine knock-offs.
Bring back the album booklets!
.... so how many times can you collect Glen Campbell's name? There is no reason why the record companies couldn't publish this stuff on a website but I think a lot of it is on "MySpace"
I miss that stuff, too, which I found interesting and sometimes important. It was never worth the $4 difference between the price of a download and the whole CD package.
I miss it, too, Jill, but as interesting as all of that info was, it was not worth $4.00 (the difference between the $10 for a download and what a CD goes for). Sorry.
Yes it bothers me. I know more about file formats than the average person and there is a place where credits may be embedded into the sound files. We, someone, also could set up a performer database where the credits may be keyed by a unique identifier for the track and this would work like a cross between imdb and the current web database that fills in track names after a disc is inserted.
On iTunes, if one buys the full album, one may get a pdf booklet, but that's if the artist and record company make it available and it seems tied to the purchase of the full album. It also, by its nature as something opened with a different application, not wholly integrated with the music files.
One does run into a problem that many credits were on the album as a contractual obligation and thus a cost and we have seen for years where the record companies stand on the issue of spending more for greater fan enjoyment.
I do miss not knowing the basic info we used to get off the 45 label: who wrote it and who produced it. One of these days the bright bulbs in the record industry will recall that credits were cross-selling.
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