Composers and Musicians

I've been listening to a classical music station on the way to work in the mornings.  I like to have some sound, but don't want the blaring yakking that is morning talk shows, or the energetic music that I often listen to.  As I listen to the smooth-toned announcer, I realized that he focuses more on the composer rather than those who play (or direct) the music.  Sure, he always mentions the musician or orchestra, and he always mentions who conducted the piece, but the person who is highlighted is the composer.

I wish that other radio stations did that.  Did you know that Madonna, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and P!nk co-wrote most of their own music?  Did you know that Lionel Ritchey is one of the most prolific songwriters of the modern age?  Did you know that Tina Turner did not write most of her own music? 
If you didn't know one of those things, then I prove my point.  Writing music is also a skill and art form, as is singing it.  I think background singers and back-up bands should get more credit, too.  I'd like it if the person (or people) who created the melody were given more attention, and I'd love if those who wrote the lyrics were highlighted as much as the singers!  For me, music is as much about what is said as about how it is sounds.  Sometimes more so. 

I posted a blip of this thought on FB.  One of my Friends noted how some melodies today are created not just on computers, but by computes.  This, of course, throws a wrench into my wish.  It would be odd to highlight the singer (Rihanna), the lyric-writing (Puff Daddy), and the melody-writer (Musicality Software V. 4.2).

Even so, I'd still like to know.  Sure, I can look at the liner notes for my new albums.  And then try to remember what I read.  Or look online for every song that I hear.  But for radio stations, the ones that still have DJ's, I'd much rather have the DJ tell me who sang it and who wrote the lyrics.  The backup sings, band, and melody-writer would be nice, too, but not as important to me.  I'd love lyrics to get more attention, and the poets who write them to get some of the accolades that the singers, with their computer-modified voices, are getting now.