Your Favorite Pop Singer (Probably) Doesn't Write Their Own Songs

Here is one way to help underpaid songwriters: https://www.change.org/p/support-songwriters-demand-a-decision-on-hundreds-of-millions-in-royalties-owed

I wish we had more people like Prince who not only wrote his song and played most of his instruments but wrote other people's songs as well.

There’s a concept in music called “change a word, get a third” where it allows the artist to do minimal work and get an equal chunk of the royalties.

Songwriting is tough. Glad you made a video on this, it explains the music industry very well.

I like to call it the “prince effect”. Artists saw the way he was revered for writing his own songs and wanted to emulate that. For example, Lauryn Hill’s record label asking her to write and produce her album like Prince, so she stole credits from the actual songwriters and producers to make it look as if she did it all herself. There was lawsuits over this and it’s speculated that is the reason why she remixes all of her songs on tour.

Michael Jackson did not write Thriller, but wrote a surprising amount of his most popular songs. Beat It, Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, etc. were entirely written by him.

Carly Rae Jepsen writes her songs, and everyone should be paying attention to her. She's been releasing the greatest pop music since about 2015. 6 perfect albums since then.

Unpopular opinion: songwriters should get more credit than singers.

one of the most interesting things to me in this conversation is the fact that a lot of fans don't seem to want to accept that their favorite artists don't write their own songs. Like when Selena Gomez releases a song and her fans try to tie its meaning to her relationships, meanwhile she didn't even write it lol. I think this is just one reason songwriters need way more recognition. I feel like there should televised categories for songwriters at award shows or something like that.

There's no shame in singing without writing, or writing without singing. But shining a light on the trend of lopsided credit (and more importantly, money) is a great service to the public.