Hey
Hmm, I detect you might have had a bad experience with a producer?
It's a complex picture. I would start by pointing out that many many producers are also musicians. As producers they do tend to have a good perspective on what is popular. Why should they not write songs, any less than a guitarist or singer takes up songwriting.
The trouble is not the producers. The problem is taste makers and record label executives... in truth it's everyone's fault from the music makers through to the music buying public.
Poorly written songs is hardly a recent issue, nor is it restricted to songs written by producers. There is a long, long list of popular songs that have poorly written lyrics. The problem is also the needs of popular music are not necessarily the same as the interest of songwriters. The dominance of producers is also far more common within specific genres, for example hip hop.
What is a very common approach these days is collaboration, with songs written by several songwriters often including a producer amongst the writers. Do producers trade on their name? Yes, just like artists and other writers. Do they write some terrible songs? Yes, but not much different from songs written by other songwriters. Does the music industry under-value songwriters. Yes, absolutely. Does the public under-value songwriters? Absolutely. Do they tend to have the ear of music execs? Often yes. Do they know what the public is interested in? Yes. Are they much more interested in what is popular than the majority of songwriters? Yes, that's a big part of their job. Do songwriters tend to neglect writing songs while keeping in mind "Do people want to hear this kind of song?"? Yes, they do.
If you want to change opinions it's far better to be motivated to change by leading the way than by complaining. Few listen to songwriters now and we can scream and shout about it, but the way to get people to notice is by doing what producers and others do.... embrace the rest of the business of music and write excellent songs and critically, learn how to drive songs forward into the music marketplace with the drive to put them in front of a mass of public, and in a way that takes into account what they want to hear. So learn about making music, producing music and marketing and promotion and show them. Don't wait for recognition of craft to dictate a change of heart in the record execs and the music buying public. Take the fight to them.
Cheers
John
