THE "TIMBALAND"-IZATION OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Let me start off by saying that I am a HUGE Timbaland fan.  I was there from the beginning, way back in the Missy/Ginuwine/Aaliyah/Magoo days.  Ever since hearing the first 'bumpity' beat I knew that Timbo was doing something different.  The beats just seemed to go in unexpected directions and would just flow and bounce SO WELL.  It was pure originality and I would always highly anticipate the next song produced by him.

Now, in 2008, Timbaland is perched at the top, having enjoyed a highly successful resurgence into the music industry.  He's always been here, mainly residing in the genres that made him: hip hop and R&B.  But then something happened.  The tipping point occurred when he collaborated with two artists: Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake. 

BOOM.

Suddenly, Timbaland was everywhere.  Not just behind the scenes but he was also appearing more and more in the videos and coming more into center stage.  He had also changed his image by shedding more than 100 lbs and appearing more like a beefed up bodyguard for his fellow artists.  Next followed with his own solo album debut, and his career went into the next gear.

Timbaland now was being approached by artists outside of his usual genre.  Madonna, Duran Duran and Bjork all came calling.  And this is where I come to my point.

Timbaland has a distinct sound.  If you've listened to the music he's made you can probably tell it was made by him.  A slight sample here, a familiar sound there.  Even though he comes up with new material, he definitely has certain sounds that he comes back too.  And that's fine because that's all a part of the 'timbaland style'.

The issue I want to raise is that after listening to the new Madonna and Duran Duran, two hugely successful 80s artists, whose music is it that we're listening too?

If you hear an old Madonna song, you can instantly tell thats a 'Madonna' song.  Now is this because we've been listening to these songs for ages and that just how we see them.  Or does Madonna have her own sound?

Its different because the hip hop and R&B genre is quite interchangable by nature.  The beats and the vocals are on separate tracks.  In fact, EPs even come with 'Instrumental' and 'Acapella' versions of the tracks so to encourage people to combine songs into their own versions.  What this does is make the beatmaker have a distinct voice in the industry.  You can tell who made a certain track if you've listen to enough songs by them.

Rock, by comparison, cannot do this.  The guitars and drums and vocals can't be separated as easily.  Can you really separate a U2 or a Rolling Stones track into pieces?

Pop, on the other hand, skirts the line and walks on the edge of the fence.  Pop can sometimes lean more towards a "Rock" sound or sometimes a more "R&B" sound.  Its a big muddled 'gray-zone' kind of a genre.  Whatever can't be distinctly defined gets lumped into 'Pop'.

So now that I've listened to Madonna's first single, I can say that I like it.  But it sounds like a Timbaland song. 

So who's song is this really?

I'm glad to see Timbaland's success and that he is crossing over more into the mainstream, but it also raises the concern of music in general.  Once a person becomes a bonefide 'hitmaker' everyone wants a piece of the action.  But if everyone is going to the same well for water then eventually will all the music start sounding the same?