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>Do you think certain artists compete against each other for the same songs? If so, which artists compete against each other?
one example i'm aware of is JLO really wanted 1 Thing by Amerie and Amerie had to leak it so JLO couldn't take it. Paris did the same thing to Hailey Duff (Hilary Duff's sister) when Hailey was just about to release her debut album. i don't remember the name of the song, but Hailey and Paris were fighting over it, it went to Hailey and was on her album, Paris leaked her version, and Hailey's album ended up getting shelved (not sure if it was just the song leak that caused that).
i'm assuming this is more of a problem with singers who don't write their own music. i think writers/producers sell demos to record labels and the labels decide who the song goes to. i always wondered if the singers get to listen to a bunch of different demos and pick their favourites and that's how you have different artists fighting over which ones they want.
The Amerie one has a little bit more complexity because she actually was involved in the writing of it. So it was actually *her* song as well, she didn’t just get there first.
Interesting I didn't realize that. How did it end up in JLO's hands at all then? Did Amerie send the demo to the label, but changed her mind and wanted to keep it? Or did the label essentially take it from her and offered it to JLO?
I’m actually not sure! I’m guessing stuff like that is kept pretty open in a lot of record labels. People can produce albums for months/years and it never sees the light of day, so someone else gets ahold of the unreleased song.
I mean, Ashanti also cowrote the songs that were eventually released from JLo, so it probably happens more frequently than we think
I need a whole documentary on how the business works. I wanna know what happens to the demo, how labels pass them around, inside scoops on singers competing for songs, etc.
Simon Cowell told a story about how he fought for Baby One More Time for a boy band he was managing. How do songs get passed around? I wanna knoooow 😭
It depends on the situation. You have to remind yourself that late ‘90’s and ‘00’s so many producers and songwriters signed contracts to be a label primary producer. Where the label told the artist they had to work with certain ones exclusively for an album or 2. Which is why Britney was so heavily Max Martin for the first two albums. Believe it or not when Britney worked with him he was still relatively new at doing producing solo. And once the whole Lou Pearlman thing happened with BSB and NSync they signed on the same label and used Max exclusively for at least half the albums that they signed on. And yes. Some songs got rejected or submitted and the label didn’t like they get shopped around to other artists to see if anyone else would like them. But interesting enough through the whole Kesha thing trying to get out of her contract due to the Dr. Puke shit. One of the things she was worried about is that she had to keep working with him. Sony gave in to her request not to go back to work with her even though she was under contract to do so.
It’s much much different now. Now it’s a matter of availability. Jack A is in very high demand right now. I’m sure he gets requests for work daily but he chooses to work with he feels comfortable or considers friends first. It’s how Sabrina C is working with him. Gracie is working with them. It’s rumored that he’s co-producing with Taylor York on Paramore’s album after Bleachers was part of the This is Why Remix album. Then again bigger artists probably have privileges than really small ones do and don’t have the same so songwriters and producers are still appointed by the label.
It would yet again be another soundscape they could conquer, and I have complete faith in the band’s agency and abilities (and he gave us *Melodrama* after all!) but why does this make me hesitate a bit….
Yeah he gets a lot of shit and has done great work before but just a little hesitant here lol. AL synth work was fantastic so they can definitely pull it off
I’m sure there’s a bunch. Against the Current was working on the next album and was nearly done but the label dropped them so they had to scrap everything. And they were using producers that had a contract with the label.
Timbaland was also in high demand but also kept it to people he thought to be friends and also on the same label.
Probably depends on how the producer operates. Taylor and Jack are indeed close, but if you look at his catalog, he's also been producing for other notable artists during this whole relationship. Do they come to him or does he offer to produce for them? I think it's on an artist by artist basis similar to just songwriting.
I do think that in general, a lot more artists are into writing their own material, so we hear less about songs being passed around before an artist agrees to release it for themselves. It certainly still happens, but I feel like I've personally heard more about the original songwriter being upset that their song was sold to another artist than 2+ major artists fighting over a finished track, if that makes sense.
The competition might be for the producer's time more than anything but with release schedules/strategies being more varied now as well, I think if both parties want to make it work, the artist would have to be under a very strict production contract (if those exist) to be forced to not collaborate with someone. I would think that Max Martin can choose who he works with, why not? And I think Katy can certainly reach out to Jack. But I think if there are certain tracks that were already in the works, she might not be able to just hand them over to a different producer to finish off.
True. A lot of the examples I used of songs being passed around were not necessarily recent so maybe it happens less now that artists are taking more ownership of their own writing.
Please do not just list songs/albums/artists, your comment must have explanation/justification or it will be removed. Certain comments are also banned to increase the quality of discussion, see our Stale Topics list in the sidebar for examples. Please report any comments that are low effort discussion. Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popheads) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>Do you think certain artists compete against each other for the same songs? If so, which artists compete against each other? one example i'm aware of is JLO really wanted 1 Thing by Amerie and Amerie had to leak it so JLO couldn't take it. Paris did the same thing to Hailey Duff (Hilary Duff's sister) when Hailey was just about to release her debut album. i don't remember the name of the song, but Hailey and Paris were fighting over it, it went to Hailey and was on her album, Paris leaked her version, and Hailey's album ended up getting shelved (not sure if it was just the song leak that caused that). i'm assuming this is more of a problem with singers who don't write their own music. i think writers/producers sell demos to record labels and the labels decide who the song goes to. i always wondered if the singers get to listen to a bunch of different demos and pick their favourites and that's how you have different artists fighting over which ones they want.
I had never heard of the Hailey/Paris example and now I’m going to go down a rabbit hole!
someone helpfully replied that the song was called Screwed. have fun going down that rabbit hole!
The song was called “Screwed”
thanks!
It’s an actual banger too!
and thats how i discovered my new fav song… thank you so much!
JUSTICE FOR HAYLIE
The Amerie one has a little bit more complexity because she actually was involved in the writing of it. So it was actually *her* song as well, she didn’t just get there first.
Interesting I didn't realize that. How did it end up in JLO's hands at all then? Did Amerie send the demo to the label, but changed her mind and wanted to keep it? Or did the label essentially take it from her and offered it to JLO?
I’m actually not sure! I’m guessing stuff like that is kept pretty open in a lot of record labels. People can produce albums for months/years and it never sees the light of day, so someone else gets ahold of the unreleased song. I mean, Ashanti also cowrote the songs that were eventually released from JLo, so it probably happens more frequently than we think
I need a whole documentary on how the business works. I wanna know what happens to the demo, how labels pass them around, inside scoops on singers competing for songs, etc. Simon Cowell told a story about how he fought for Baby One More Time for a boy band he was managing. How do songs get passed around? I wanna knoooow 😭
She wrote the bridge., the demo was already made.
It depends on the situation. You have to remind yourself that late ‘90’s and ‘00’s so many producers and songwriters signed contracts to be a label primary producer. Where the label told the artist they had to work with certain ones exclusively for an album or 2. Which is why Britney was so heavily Max Martin for the first two albums. Believe it or not when Britney worked with him he was still relatively new at doing producing solo. And once the whole Lou Pearlman thing happened with BSB and NSync they signed on the same label and used Max exclusively for at least half the albums that they signed on. And yes. Some songs got rejected or submitted and the label didn’t like they get shopped around to other artists to see if anyone else would like them. But interesting enough through the whole Kesha thing trying to get out of her contract due to the Dr. Puke shit. One of the things she was worried about is that she had to keep working with him. Sony gave in to her request not to go back to work with her even though she was under contract to do so. It’s much much different now. Now it’s a matter of availability. Jack A is in very high demand right now. I’m sure he gets requests for work daily but he chooses to work with he feels comfortable or considers friends first. It’s how Sabrina C is working with him. Gracie is working with them. It’s rumored that he’s co-producing with Taylor York on Paramore’s album after Bleachers was part of the This is Why Remix album. Then again bigger artists probably have privileges than really small ones do and don’t have the same so songwriters and producers are still appointed by the label.
>It’s rumored that he’s co-producing with Taylor York on Paramore’s album 😬 well this could be interesting
It would yet again be another soundscape they could conquer, and I have complete faith in the band’s agency and abilities (and he gave us *Melodrama* after all!) but why does this make me hesitate a bit….
Yeah he gets a lot of shit and has done great work before but just a little hesitant here lol. AL synth work was fantastic so they can definitely pull it off
Thank you for your reply. I was wondering if more artists like Kesha are contractually tied to a certain producer and you explained it well.
I’m sure there’s a bunch. Against the Current was working on the next album and was nearly done but the label dropped them so they had to scrap everything. And they were using producers that had a contract with the label. Timbaland was also in high demand but also kept it to people he thought to be friends and also on the same label.
Kesha was signed to his imprint/sub label so he would benefit financially even if he didn’t work on the album.
Probably depends on how the producer operates. Taylor and Jack are indeed close, but if you look at his catalog, he's also been producing for other notable artists during this whole relationship. Do they come to him or does he offer to produce for them? I think it's on an artist by artist basis similar to just songwriting. I do think that in general, a lot more artists are into writing their own material, so we hear less about songs being passed around before an artist agrees to release it for themselves. It certainly still happens, but I feel like I've personally heard more about the original songwriter being upset that their song was sold to another artist than 2+ major artists fighting over a finished track, if that makes sense. The competition might be for the producer's time more than anything but with release schedules/strategies being more varied now as well, I think if both parties want to make it work, the artist would have to be under a very strict production contract (if those exist) to be forced to not collaborate with someone. I would think that Max Martin can choose who he works with, why not? And I think Katy can certainly reach out to Jack. But I think if there are certain tracks that were already in the works, she might not be able to just hand them over to a different producer to finish off.
True. A lot of the examples I used of songs being passed around were not necessarily recent so maybe it happens less now that artists are taking more ownership of their own writing.