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[Laz-E-Boy]

Is that the only genre that operates this way?

Nope, happens in all of mainstream music. Rock, Rap, R&B, Country, you name it. This has been going on since Motown...hell, before Motown.

 

[Parmadillo Marshmallow]

I honestly don't care who writes/produces music I like. Good on these guys, they made an empire and very few people know their names.

I mostly listen to EDM, and I think in most cases they make their own music. Like Skrillex, Diplo, etc...

 

[FloatingDivider]

I mostly listen to EDM, and I think in most cases they make their own music. Like Skrillex, Diplo, etc...

You'd be surprised honestly, ghost producing was a hotly debated topic for a while and there's definitely some of that going on in the EDM scene. How widespread it is nobody knows because it's sort of like ghostwriting in hip hop where it's not seen in a positive light.
On the low end of edm ghostproduction you've got sites like this: http://www.edmghostproducer.com/ but on the high end you've got actual producers with decades of experience producing stuff for the new kids on the block. The same time/talent constraint problem regular artists experience happens for EDM producers as well. Mat Zo went on a famous twitter rant about it, and with some googling you can find some examples.

 

[hodayathink]

Nope, happens in all of mainstream music. Rock, Rap, R&B, Country, you name it. This has been going on since Motown...hell, before Motown.

Hell, producers have been just as, if not more important than rappers for like the past 20-30 years. I mean, between 2000-2005 I'd argue you couldn't go more than 15 minutes listening to an urban station without hearing The Neptunes or Timbaland, and everyone knew who they were. And when it comes to R&B, I'd argue that the the majority of the performers since the creation of the genre were almost entirely just singers, which is what makes the virtuosos like Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes and Stevie Wonder stand out. Just using your Motown example, there's The Corporation and Holland-Dozier-Holland as the creative forces behind the music.

 

[Always-honest]

How much influence does he/ do they have on these songs, i wonder?
Some a lot i imagine, some not so much, maybe.

 

[zero shift]

I'm not actually against this -- it's one thing to write a song, it's a whole other thing to perform it. It's the same way in the movie business. Most writers don't get to direct their movies, because the time and talent required to do both really really well is absolutely insane.

I disagree wholeheartedly, if anything I feel the opposite. There are millions of people out there who have the talent to sing, rap, or dance. However there are significantly less who can make catchy tune after catchy tune.

I do agree that it is amusing that people don't know this though. Many people assume that most big celebrities live the laid back high life when in reality they often work 100+ hours a week.

Hell, producers have been just as, if not more important than rappers for like the past 20-30 years. I mean, between 2000-2005 I'd argue you couldn't go more than 15 minutes listening to an urban station without hearing The Neptunes or Timbaland, and everyone knew who they were. And when it comes to R&B, I'd argue that the the majority of the performers since the creation of the genre were almost entirely just singers, which is what makes the virtuosos like Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes and Stevie Wonder stand out. Just using your Motown example, there's The Corporation and Holland-Dozier-Holland as the creative forces behind the music.

Hip-Hop definitely has more respect for producers as compared to other genres. Though part of this is likely due to producers having their songs start with a catch phrase (I.E. "Mike-Will-Made-It").