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Music

Resident Advisor Editor Will Lynch Opines About Authorship in Electronic Music

"I find it worrying that authorship is such a fuzzy concept in dance music," writes Lynch.

A couple of days ago, Resident Advisor editor Will Lynch posted an op-ed on the RA site in which he tries to make a case against DJs who pay others to produce their albums (often with little or no credit) and DJs who do actually double as producers of their own. Should their be a clearer delineation between the two. To Lynch, the answer is absolutely.

In "Electronic Artists Should Make Their Own Music" Lynch brings to light what he calls the "DJ/producer dilemma," in which DJs seeking to get gigs through records, and having little time or skill to make them on their own, enlist the help of others to make records that are often released as solo efforts. And this, Lynch feels, isn't right.

"I find it worrying that authorship is such a fuzzy concept in dance music," writes Lynch. "To conceal that you've worked with a paid collaborator is more than a white lie. It's dishonest to your audience, and it distorts the reality of the scene. As a critic, it's troubling to think I may have given too much credit to some producers and not enough to others.

"More importantly," he continues, "this practice creates an atmosphere of uncertainty, or even distrust. I hate the steady stream of rumors that "so-and-so doesn't make his/her own tracks," doubly so because, with virtually any DJ/producer you can name, they're basically plausible. And it's worth pointing out that, at least in my experience, these rumors disproportionately target female producers."

Read the whole article here.