In contemporary music, the recorded track is the musical object that listeners encounter the most. Some philosophers, like Theodore Gracyk and Andrew Kania, have taken this to mean that the track is the work of art in contemporary music. Evidence for this is the importance that many musicians put on production of the track. So much so that producers become important contributors to the musical product.
Other philosophers, like Dan Burkett, Chris Bartel, and myself, have argued that song and performance are also works worthy of aesthetic attention. So there’s a plurality of works associated with every particular record.
In a recent interview with Rick Beato, the pioneering producer Todd Rundgren reflected on the importance of the track.1 He doesn’t side either with the track-centric view or with open-ended pluralism.
This is the thing that a lot of people who make records don’t realize. Like, you fret about maybe the amount of reverb or something like that… From an audience standpoint, it doesn’t matter. Cause when they hear it for the first time, they think that’s exactly how it’s supposed to sound, right? You know, they don’t think, “Oh, that that’s too much reverb.” No, they don’t think that. They think that’s the way it’s supposed to sound, you know. And in that sense, I’ve always had… a priority thing… in terms of what’s most important in making the record. And the sound is… way at the bottom…
I mean, why would Louis Louie be such a classic? You can’t even understand what he’s singing, right?
You know, but it’s the song. People don’t want to hear a great sounding version of a crappy song. They want a good song. They want somebody to play it with some enthusiasm or commitment, you know, and the very last thing they care about is a sound because they think that’s what it’s supposed to sound like.
In short, Rundgren says that there’s a hierarchy: The song is most important, performance is second, and production is the least important.
Too much, I think, but a nice counterpoint to the musicians who have held the track to be primary (like the ones offered by Gracyk as evidence for his position).
- You can watch the full interview. This bit is around the 59:21 mark. Beato also posted this bit excerpted as a short.