Do you mind if singers don't write their own songs?
 

Do you mind if singers don't write their own songs? It doesn't bother me, as I think an artist's voice gives emotion and life to a song and makes the song his/her own.

I'm with you there. I don't mind who wrote it so long as it connects to me.

Yes. They're essentially getting famous off of someone else's work and the writer of a super popular song normally never gets the credit for it.

Nah, that'd be like getting angry at a local band for playing a cover.
Singers are just musicians playing an instrument. It just so happens that their instrument is their voice.

Every musician in an orchestra didn't write their own part in the symphony, and we're not upset at them for that.
Same thing.

Not at all. If the singer does justice to the material, then I'm happy.

But if that writer can't sing but still wants to hear it as he envisioned it...?

I'm not as impressed by them as I would be if they both wrote and performed, but I'm not going to not listen to them over it.

Yeah, if I hear a song that's equally as "good" as another song, but singer #1 wrote their song vs. singer #2 who did not... singer #1 is more impressive in my book, but that takes away nothing from the song itself or its delivery.

No, we would not have Elvis if that was the case. The Beatles revolutionized it and many other on both sides of the pond only started writing their own material in the early to mid 1960s'.I prefer the musical talent be more rounded and they produce a majority of their own, however if the talent of legitimately playing an instrument or simply singing is good enough then it is good enough for me.

Follow up questions for people who've said yes:

Where do you stand on Covers?
Or samples?

Both are perfectly fine imo. Covers can add a fun new take on a song. Sometimes its just fun to listen to someone else taking a shot at a song. Samples are fine too, just look at the Beastie Boys and how much they did with samples

No problem
 

It's no problem. But probably, those who are extremely anti-commercial think so.

I love covers, but it always feels cheap if that ends up being the group's first big hit. If I were in a band and found success, I'd hope it was by my own songs and not for covering someone else's work.

Also, it generally doesn't work out when the first hit is a cover. Alien Ant Farm, Out of Your Mouth...

Leave Britney alone!

Who? <Guardians of the Galaxy reference>

Is that sarcasm or you really don't get my reference?

I used to know who she was, but I overwrote those memory cells in favor of memorizing lyrics to all of Taylor Swift's songs.

I don't see it as any issue as long as the artist don't claim to have written it.

Lots of comic artists that don't write scripts.

Beatles
 

People have written own songs a long time before the Beatles.