Organic vs. Synthetic Keith Negus - Producing Pop

The organic ideology of creativity & The synthetic ideology of creativity

Negus & His TheoriesKeith Negus is well-known for being a record company executive and known for managing many acts. He has many theories and ideologies regarding the music industry and the way in which it creates not just it’s music but its artists and the way they are perceived by the public. !His ideas towards the ideologies of creativity spread into two categories: The organic ideology of creativity & The synthetic ideology of creativity. This basically refers to organic being natural and synthetic being made from scratch in order to reach their target audience.

The Organic Ideology of Creativity: 1

The organic ideology means that their is a ‘naturalistic’ approach to the artists.

The record company ‘nurture’ the artist, like they would a seed and let them explore and grow with their music and gain success due to this factor.

They are seen to be less enhanced in their image compared to more synthetic acts.

Examples of ‘organic’ artists include: Ed Sheeran, Eliza Doolittle and Ben Howard.

The Organic Ideology of Creativity: 2

The organic acts tend to be a strategy as in the long run they tend to have profits generated over a longer period.

Emphasis is given to album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue.

Usually the audiences are older or more sophisticated.

The Synthetic Ideology of Creativity: 1

The synthetic approach refers to a combined effort to artists and material as executives attempt to construct successful acts out of the artists and the songs at their disposal.

The image of the artist is often constructed to what the record label think audiences will appeal to.

Unlike the organic artists, they only have a short time to prove their success before their tired out.

Examples of this include, One Direction, Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears.

The Synthetic Ideology of Creativity: 2

Emphasis is given to single sales and into promoting first albums.

The audience tends to be younger, less sophisticated.

Profits generated by this kind of artist tend to be part of an immediate, short term strategy by the record company.

Also to be noted, especially with female acts there tends to be an apparent contrast as they get older sometimes the label will purposely change their image. E.g Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan.

Balance Between the TwoThe success of the synthetic acts should mean that it enables the record companies to fund the development of the organic acts.

Most big labels will want to balance their roster with a combination of the two categories as they want to ensure they can target mass audiences and gain profits.

However, even if the act is ‘organic’ they still have elements of being modelled by the label to a certain extent as their ‘authenticity’ could be the main USP of the artist and the label could play that area up as being an ‘unconstructed’ act.

Synthetic artists are usually sold on their looks or personalities and often appear more in the public eye and attend social events (generally speaking).