4 ms·

I feel that this article convincingly makes the case that women are vastly underrepresented in songwriting of top hits. That said, I feel like I have little to

I feel that this article convincingly makes the case that women are vastly underrepresented in songwriting of top hits. That said, I feel like I have little to no insight into how songwriting works as an industry. Who chooses songwriters for a headline act? How much say do the performers have? What ostensibly motivates the choices of whoever chooses? The conclusion implicit throughout the article (made explicit at the end) is that this data is the result of bias, and I suspect that's probably right. But I'd love to hear more about where and how that actually happens.

fwungy 3y ago
Modern songwriting is like a factory. There are multiple technicians adding an editing parts to give it marketable attributes. The days of Joni Mitchell holing up in a Paris estate with Steinway grand to pour out her soul, and make it up the charts are long gone.
- acheron 3y ago
  At the same time Joni Mitchell was making it up the charts there was Motown and the Brill Building (famously employing Carole King whose songs were often sung by men, n.b. to the “article” authors) and the Monkees and so on. And the Tin Pan Alley stuff before that. “Songwriting like a factory” predates recorded music. There’s nothing “modern” about it.
  - fwungy 3y ago
    Carole King isn't a technically outstanding singer, but her voice is compelling. She's a bit of an outlier, and someone whose songs have been regularly covered by men. But how many men could cover a Kate Bush song without it being ridiculous? Tin Pan Alley was still more individually driven than what we have today where a tune is passed around between as many as 10-20 producer/songwriters who add some technical candy to the mix. Many of these songs lack bridges or even choruses, and are highly assisted by technology. T-Pain made it big because he mastered Auto-Tune very early, for example.

fwungy 3y ago

Modern songwriting is like a factory. There are multiple technicians adding an editing parts to give it marketable attributes. The days of Joni Mitchell holing up in a Paris estate with Steinway grand to pour out her soul, and make it up the charts are long gone.

acheron 3y ago
At the same time Joni Mitchell was making it up the charts there was Motown and the Brill Building (famously employing Carole King whose songs were often sung by men, n.b. to the “article” authors) and the Monkees and so on. And the Tin Pan Alley stuff before that. “Songwriting like a factory” predates recorded music. There’s nothing “modern” about it.
- fwungy 3y ago
  Carole King isn't a technically outstanding singer, but her voice is compelling. She's a bit of an outlier, and someone whose songs have been regularly covered by men. But how many men could cover a Kate Bush song without it being ridiculous? Tin Pan Alley was still more individually driven than what we have today where a tune is passed around between as many as 10-20 producer/songwriters who add some technical candy to the mix. Many of these songs lack bridges or even choruses, and are highly assisted by technology. T-Pain made it big because he mastered Auto-Tune very early, for example.