A Thank-you Note to Mark Burnett

Dear Mr. Burnett,

I hope you and your family enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving.  I thought you’d like to know that at our Thanksgiving table, The Voice was the subject of a great after-dinner conversation.  As we shared our enthusiasm for the talent that remains, we couldn’t help but add our dismay about those who had left the competition. For a few minutes, we could put ourselves in the coaches’ chairs. 

So this open letter is first and foremost a big thank you for bringing us The Voice.  Not only are you breathing new life into television’s great musical/variety tradition, you are doing it in an enormously positive way.  As I think you mentioned in your interview with Oprah Winfrey, the difference with The Voice is that contestants are there not to be judged, but to be supported.  The distinction you’ve offered between coaching and judging is an enormous one, and it’s a great model.

One small request, however, and it means extending the embrace of The Voice just a bit. I think you would be doing an enormous service for music education – especially for your younger singers and audience members – if you could somehow include a credit to the songwriters. 

I was thrilled to see your recent announcement about signing Ryan Tedder as a producer and songwriter for The Voice, so I know you’re aware of the enormous contribution songwriters make.  I’ve written a few things (including some posts you’ll find at the right) about how the world of digital music downloads has minimized the contributions of songwriters simply due to the fact that they aren’t being credited routinely.  Think back to the labels that existed on LPs or cassette just 20 years ago, and CD inserts after that which always included the names of songwriters.  There is no standard for crediting on downloaded music (even from The Voice, I’m sorry to say).  As a result, consumers – and even music professionals like your coaches – too frequently refer to a song as ‘belonging’ to the artist.

While my earlier posts can add some detail, I’ll give you just a few recent examples that spun my head around. A few weeks ago, Matthew Schuler sang Hallelujah written by Leonard Cohen, but which Christina identified as ‘Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah’.  Yes, Jeff Buckley did have a bit hit with the song, but over 300 artists have recorded Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, and crediting it to Mr. Buckley is actually misleading the viewers.

My other example is a bit closer to home for me, since in my early years in music publishing, I was with the company that published Harry Nilsson’s songs.  Yes, Without You is strongly identified with Harry Nilsson, as it should be.  But it’s the record that is Harry Nilsson’s Without You, not the song.  In that context, you could also describe it as Mariah Carey’s Without You – or any of the 150+ other artists who have also recorded it.  But the song belongs to Pete Ham and Tom Evans of the group Badfinger, who first recorded it in 1970.  (Trust me, it will still a sore point with the management of the publishing company I worked for that Harry Nilsson’s biggest hit was for a song he didn’t write.)

I realize it may be hard for your coaches to get over the habit of referring to songs by the recording artist. (Even the recent song list graphics posted to Twitter and Facebook by The Voice credit only the artists who recorded the songs.) But I think you could do a huge service to music education by adding a simple Chiron credit to the writers. I think your editors currently put the song title on the screen when you’re transitioning from the rehearsal/coaching footage to the performance.  Adding the name of the songwriter there would be a huge step in the right direction. 

I’ll be looking forward to these closing weeks of The Voice, and I hope you realize that you’re adding a wonderful element to our holiday season.  Many thanks to you and your colleague for that!

All the best to you,

Jeanne McCafferty

Jeanne McCafferty is an editor, writer and book designer.  

You can see samples of her work and learn how to contact her at www.jeannemccafferty.com.  
She is on Twitter @IrishCabrini.