Should Gaga stop being so generous with songwriting credit?

[YourEvilTwin 1,379]

After the Linda Perry debacle, I feel especially strong about this.

Remember this interview? http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lady-gaga-producer-making-born-193459

 

THR: She’s credited as a co-writer on most songs from Born This Way, what percentage of the songwriting would you say she’s responsible for?

Garibay: She doesn't need anyone to write a hit song. A lot of times, it’s 100% her. She's generous enough to give the producers who worked on this album a percentage of the songwriting for the production and whatever contributions we gave in arrangement or a few lyrical suggestions here and there.

 

Essentially, Gaga has been doing the exact opposite of what most pop stars are known to do. It makes me proud as a fan, but it's not good for her legacy. So far she only has one song all to herself (You & I), and that's simply not an accurate reflection on her ability to compose music independently. Co-writing credit is meaningless nowadays, since anyone can land themselves a writing credit by changing a word or two. Sole writing credit is what separates the real deal from the frauds.

If she really wants to share with the producers, then just give them a percentage of the publishing, which is more than generous by any music industry standards, but keep the songwriting credit to herself.

 

 

[kvnrp 48,353]

Not at all.

Even if they made some very minor changes to the lyrics, they "wrote" them so they should be credited.

Maybe she could do an acoustic album in the future that she would write completely on her own.

[The Child 18,997]

I mean Bad Romance wouldn't be epic without the ooh that RedOne added at the beginning.

[YourEvilTwin 1,379]

1 minute ago, CrazyMonster said:

I mean Bad Romance wouldn't be epic without the ooh that RedOne added at the beginning.

That warrants a producing credit, not a songwriting credit.

[Iwontell 7,312]

Not really...she does that bc she knows producers are usually not well compensated...
I love that she takes good care of people around her, unlike most of the other girls...that's one of the things that makes me identify with her, knowing that her moral compass points to the right direction...

[YourEvilTwin 1,379]

2 minutes ago, Iwontell said:

Not really...she does that bc she knows producers are usually not well compensated...
I love that she takes good care of people around her, unlike most of the other girls...that's one of the things that makes me identify with her, knowing that her moral compass points to the right direction and not to awards or money...

And sharing the publishing with them would be more than enough to take care of that problem. Royalties are tied to publishing, not songwriting credit.

[420 1,042]

Idk. I think the definition of the word "songwriting" is up to one's interpretation. I think Gaga's and Linda's interpretation are different because I think Gaga think of writing a song as a whole with melodies, lyrics, and emotions of a song rather than just lyrics like Linda's. That's why Linda said she only changed and added one sentence to the song, but as Diane said that she completely changed the mood of the song from being sad to being triumphant.

So I think that's why Gaga gave songwriting credits to her producers as an appreciation to their contributions to the songs.

[Noir 17,320]

No I love that she celebrates everybody's input. It's refreshing and at least we know who actually wrote it and isn't having ghost writers and claiming it as it her own (Iggy, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Justin)

[StrawberryBlond 14,862]

I wonder how many songs out there are credited to one writer but actually had multiple suggestions in it? And also, how many of those songs that had 8+ co-writers potentially had even more people who added suggestions but weren't included? Indeed, it does make Gaga look bad because people just see all those writers and think she only plays a small percentage of part when actually, it's the other way around. I've heard she even credits sound engineers. But at the end of the day, when stuff like what Gariaby says comes out, it makes her look good again. I think more people than ever know that she does write all her own stuff. Getting nominated for an Oscar for a song is certainly proof of that. Besides, it's not like the public really cares about who writes what. In the old days, it was accepted that all popstars songs got written for them and no one cared. Now, people do care more but not to the point where they would stop buying an artist's music if they didn't write.

[Alfonso 1,549]

5 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I wonder how many songs out there are credited to one writer but actually had multiple suggestions in it? And also, how many of those songs that had 8+ co-writers potentially had even more people who added suggestions but weren't included? Indeed, it does make Gaga look bad because people just see all those writers and think she only plays a small percentage of part when actually, it's the other way around. I've heard she even credits sound engineers. But at the end of the day, when stuff like what Gariaby says comes out, it makes her look good again. I think more people than ever know that she does write all her own stuff. Getting nominated for an Oscar for a song is certainly proof of that. Besides, it's not like the public really cares about who writes what. In the old days, it was accepted that all popstars songs got written for them and no one cared. Now, people do care more but not to the point where they would stop buying an artist's music if they didn't write.

This 

OT: Not really, maybe she should rather give credit to the ones who worked/added more to the lyrics (or only herself if someone suggested just a word) give the others special mentions on the booklet instead :v

Or state that she's the writer (lead one) and the other ones are co-writers (if that's possible) and it would be: Writer: Stefani G. Co-Writers: Fernando G., and so on...