
Collaboration or Feature? Decoding Music Industry Terms for Success
Music collaborations and features are often confused, but they have distinct meanings. That’s why you read our blog: to gain clear insights on industry terms and avoid making blunders. If you haven’t guessed by now, features are not collaborations, in this post, we will break down the distinction between a feature and a collaboration.
COLLABORATIONS
To collaborate is to work together; in a music collaboration, two or more artists come together to create a piece of music. Collaborations are level-based contributions, with each party expected to bring an aspect of their unique talent, style, or technique. Whether through songwriting, performing, producing, or arranging, each collaborator plays equal or assigned parts in creating the music project. The result of a collaboration is a co-created work where all parties have significant input, and it can involve artists in similar or different genres.
Key Aspects of Music Collaboration
1. Creative Input
Every collaborator has a say in the creative direction of the project. This could involve co-writing lyrics, composing melodies, or producing the beats.
2. Shared Credit
The music is a co-created work, therefore all contributing artists share credit for the final product. The project might be released under a joint project name, or the collaborators’ names may appear as the primary artists on the track or album. Whatever the case, credit is always given to whom credit is due, ideally.
3. Equal Partnership
Collaborations are equal by nature and often denote a partnership of equal efforts. If successful, collaborations can lead to long-term professional relationships, with artists continuing to work together on multiple projects over time.
4. Genre Fusion
Collaborations could be a fusion of genres, styles, and influences, creating a unique sound that might not have been possible if the artists worked independently.
Examples of Music Collaboration
1. Wizkid & Tems – “Essence” (2020)
Widely credited with helping to bring Afrobeat to a broader international audience, “Essence” became a global hit that topped charts worldwide, earning multiple award nominations. It was the first Nigerian song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and was later remixed with Justin Bieber, further boosting its popularity.
2. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper – “Shallow” (2018)
A duet from the soundtrack of the film “A Star is Born”, the song won the Academy Awards for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe, and several Grammy Awards. Becoming arguably more popular than the movie, the song was one of the best-selling digital singles of 2018. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper contributed vocals and creative input, creating a song that captured the emotional intensity of the film’s storyline.
3. Kanye West & Jay-Z – Watch the Throne (Album) (2011)
“Watch the Throne” is a collaborative studio album by Kanye West and Jay-Z. The album blended both artists’ styles and included contributions from a few producers and guest artists. The album spawned several hit singles and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. It was considered a landmark album in hip-hop, showcasing the synergy between two of the genre’s biggest names.
Collaborations are more popular than people realize. There is no doubt that the right collaborations can change the trajectory of an artist’s career. Working with other artists can inspire new ideas, and help one push creative boundaries. Even well-known artists collaborate from time to time with other artists. Beyond creating innovative music, collaborators can pool their resources to create a stronger product. Whether from past projects or potential partners for future projects, collaborations provide the right opportunity to build and expand professional networks. It promotes the exchange of ideas and the appreciation of others’ techniques and allows artists to improve their skill sets. Collaborations birth ingenuity; the song is created by combining two or more ideas, styles, and influences. It is lucrative as it allows an artist to reach a wider audience, by tapping into each other’s fanbases and potentially gaining new listeners.
MUSIC FEATURE
A music feature is an invitation by one artist to another artist to contribute to their song. It is the inclusion of a guest artist on a track, and the contribution could be a verse, chorus, or bridge. Compared to a full collaboration, the featured artist’s role is usually more limited, providing a complementary element to the main artist’s work.
Key Aspects of a Music Feature
1. Limited Contribution:
Contributions are limited to specific sections of the song. The featured artist typically contributes a verse or hook, rather than being involved in the entire creative process. The song is usually credited to the main artist, with the featured artist’s name listed as “feat.” or “featuring.”
2. Strategic Marketing Tool:
Features are often used strategically to tap into the guest artist’s fanbase. With the featured artist adding an extra layer of appeal, the song could have a wider reach and an enhanced commercial appeal. Features are common across genres and are often used as a strategic marketing tool.
3. Creative Flexibility:
The focus is 100% on the primary artist, so they retain creative control over the song, with the featured artist following the lead or fitting into the existing framework.
Examples of Music Features
1. Fireboy DML Feat. Ed Sheeran — “Peru” (2021)
“Peru” was initially released by Nigerian artist Fireboy DML in July 2021. The track quickly gained popularity across Nigeria and other parts of Africa. In December 2021, a remix of “Peru” featuring Ed Sheeran was released. Ed Sheeran added his own verse and vocal style to the track, creating a unique blend of Afrobeat and pop that appealed to a global audience. It peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The remix garnered millions of streams on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.
2. Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk” (2014)
The track was a standout pop anthem that featured Bruno Mars’ energetic vocals over a retro-inspired beat. The song topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and held the number-one spot for 14 consecutive weeks. It also topped charts in multiple countries, won a Grammy for Record of the Year, and became one of the best-selling singles of all time.
3. Travis Scott feat. Drake – “Sicko Mode” (2018)
As part of the Astroworld album, the track features Drake, with a verse at the beginning of the song before Travis Scott takes over with his verses. The track witnessed massive commercial success, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on the chart for a significant amount of time becoming one of the most popular tracks of 2018. It was also nominated for several awards including the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song.
Music features allow artists to blend their styles and reach new audiences without the full commitment of a ‘collaboration’. With collaborations, ownership of projects is often split based on individual contributions. With a feature, ownership is not split though credit is accorded for the contribution. The featured artist gets paid a fee and may have limited influence over the overall direction of the song. Some songs are like gold, refined through the course of multiple remixes. Artists have constantly used features to experiment with how best to complement their already-released songs.
Conclusion
Collaborations and features allow artists to blend their talents and reach new audiences. Both are tactics geared toward promoting artists’ influence to extend beyond their fanbase in an industry driven by technology where streaming is a measure of success. Music producers collaborate with artists to provide vocals; rappers feature vocalists for their songs, and vice versa. Sometimes these collaborations extend to songwriters, producers, and so on.
Beyond the craft, music is a business, surrounding it with the right buzz and exposure is vital to gaining the attention that translates to album sales and sold-out concerts.