Whats up with "featuring"?

[Guest158]

Been watching videos on VH1 of a morning as I hate the A.M. news programs.
Seems like every other video is some group or artist "featuring" some one else.
What's up with that ?

 

[tybrad]

I have wondered the same thing since I first saw it 5-6 years ago in music- I have not seen videos with it, but why not?. "feat." Really?

 

[N8Nagel]

I guess it means you're not officially in the band, just visiting? (I dunno)

Sometimes it gets blurry though, e.g. Mark Lanegan has been playing with QOTSA for over a decade but he's still not officially "in"

 

[Guest158]

I guess it's so they get their paycheck & everyone knows their name lol.

 

[winters860]

I guess it's so they get their paycheck & everyone knows their name lol.

Yep. In modern Pop, a "featured" credit is important to both the primary artist and featured artist to cross-pollinate audiences. If the featured artist is established, he or she was probably paid a contracted fee. If the featured artist was a rapper, it's likely that he or she was paid by the line and may not have even heard the song graced by his or her contribution.

Sometimes, the featured artist will be critical to song; sometimes it feels crassly tacked-on.

I'm all for collaboration between artists, and what you're seeing is the mass-market commercialization of that phenomenon. Not good or bad, just is.

 

[tybrad]

Why is this a new phenomenon?

 

[leesonic]

Why is this a new phenomenon?

Yeah, right, why is this new? I heard that term back in 1987/88 on the cover version of "Say A Little Prayer", which was listed as "Bomb the Bass featuring Maureen". No idea who Maureen was, but she Has a good voice on this track, and it's an interesting cover of the Aretha Franklin classic, being slower in tempo.

I guess nowadays, "featuring" is all about massaging the already over-inflated egos of the "star" in question.

What's more interesting (to me anyway) is finding hidden people that guested on tracks. For example, it was only by reading the record label that I found out Gwen Guthrie was the guest vocalist on the track "Say Yeah" by a Dutch band called "The Limit". All the videos I could find on YouTube, I don't think they actually show Gwen singing though.

Lee.

 

[tybrad]

It may not be 'new' but it is prominent and not uncommon nowadays

 

[Guest158]

Great replies guys. I don't really listen to much pop music - would have never noticed the amount of this had I not been watching VH1. Don't really hear names on radio - its usually just background at work. I know its been happening for quite sometime-I kinda liked the Run DMC- Aerosmith Walk This Way.
Just seems a lot more common now- maybe there are more superstars than ever. Even though I haven't heard of half of them. Not knocking pop music here- just my observation.