Keith Negus' Organic Vs. Synthetic

Negus' theory:

The Organic artist vs. the Synthetic artists

The Organic Artist

The Synthetic artist

Sir Elton Hercules John CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin as his songwriter partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.

In his five-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in the history of the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100.[2][3] He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has received six Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.[4]

Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actress and singer. In 2006, she was established as a teen idol with the success of the Hannah Montana franchise, a former Disney Channel sitcom in which she portrayed the role of Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana. The series focuses on a girl who lives a double life as an average teenage school girl named Miley Stewart by day and a famous pop singer named Hannah Montana by night, concealing her real identity from the public, other than her close friends and family. Cyrus can be classified as a Synthetic artist becuase we was sculpted and shaped to fit the cookie cutter image of wat a teenage popstar woudl need to be like to sell to Disney Channels target audience. The image of Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana has been sold a million times in thousands of different ways; through card games, costumes, video games, party decorations, DVDs, CDs, Disney even releasing a Hannah Montana Movie.

Though Cyrus was able to break out of the 'Hannah Montana' figugre, her fame and success have significanly decreased since the end of her contract with Disney. Hannah Montana/Miley cyrus was constructed and specifically devised to sell to her target audience - young female teenagers.

At the age of 15, with the help of his mother and stepfather, Reginald Dwight became a weekend pianist at a nearby pub, the Northwood Hills Hotel, playing Thursday to Sunday nights for £35 a week and tips. Known simply as "Reggie", he played a range of popular standards, including songs by Jim Reeves and Ray Charles, as well as songs he had written himself A stint w.th a short-lived group called the Corvettes rounded out his time.

John has written with his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin since 1967 when he answered an advertisement for talent placed in the popular UK music publication, New Musical Express, by Liberty records A&R man Ray Williams. The pair have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date

Hannah Montana has been sold and resold to appeal Miley's target audience. Therefore, when Cyrus broke out as a solo artist she already had a pre-constructed fan base to follow her. It is for these reasons that she canbe described as a Synthetic artist.

Because Elton plays an instrument, an audience subconsciously already gives him more respect than another artist and assumes that he likewise writes his own songs.

Keith Negus

Keith Negus, director and coordinating editor of the 'Popular research Unit' at Cambridge University developed a theory about the publication and identification of the musical artist. In his theory, Negus states, 'What I am looking for is the working act. The act that will give you a career.' He believes that there are two polar elements that can define a musician.

The first, a SYNTHETIC artist consists of a musician who has been sculpted to create an image through music that is purley aimed at selling. This artist is usually a 'one hit wonder' or someone who is only there for the 'short run' ( in many ways similar to the way the movie industry front loads a movie if they fear it will do badly in the long run but should sell if one markets it well enough.) Likewise, record lables create artists who serve the mere purpose of 'filling a gap' - being manipulated and constructed so that he or she fits the desire of the audeince. Some examples of this would be '500 miles' by The Proclaimers.

Contrarily, Negus argues that the second archetype of a musician is the ORGANIC artist. The Organic artists is an artist who is in the race for the long hall. He or she produces works that are sold not just because they have a catchy tune, but because they produce fundamentally solid and well written pieces of art.

In both cases, there is room to brake free from the preconceived identification of being either a Synthetic or an Organic Artist. An example of an artist who began her career as a Synthetic artis and has since then developed into a worldwide and highly acclaimed organic artist is singer/songwriter Beyonce Knowles. Beginning with a career as a 'Destiney child star' this popular musician even acts as her own manager and today is one of the most famous artist in the world. Other examples of both Synthetic and Organic Artists would be Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) and Elton John.