Are solo artists technically just frontpersons of uncredited bands?

[sakurasanta86]

I don't really understand how solo artists work and this has been bothering me for a while now xD

To clarify, I'm talking about artists who claim to write their own songs, not ones who sing someone else's music. Off the top of my head, someone like Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift, I'm pretty sure they play one or two instruments at the most. So they write the lyrics and the melody. But what about the other instruments in a song? You can't really write a drum section if you don't play drums or a guitar riff if you don't play guitar, can you? So someone else writes it then. But then how are they different from someone like Chris? Doesn't he do the same thing?

 

And I don't mean uncredited as in never mentioned, I know their names are probably included on the album. But uncredited as in the public has no idea about their contribution at all and as far as I know, they don't really profit from how big the song gets unlike the main artist?

 

And it's not like the other musicians 'guest feature' on just a tiny bit like Noel in Up and up, they actually help flesh out the whole song. How does this work exactly? Or are these other musicians fine with being unnoticed and it's all just based on whether the artist is comfortable enough being on stage alone or not? I'm so confused lol xD

 

Sorry if this is a stupid question :3 I'm a complete noob when it comes to all this xD

[Xyloband_99]

I think they are dreaming the whole song. You don't need to play drums to think about the beat you want in the song. So they're thinking, planning the song and telling it to drummer or another instrumentalists and they play.

[onlylove]

Sorry to be cynical but I feel it's a way to not have to share as much in salary or deal with band politics. Much easier to deal with musicians for hire than a full steady band (even tho I bet a lot of solo acts have some repeat players).

[LambreXMusic]

Well I think the difference is, Coldplay make rock music and the two you mention don't. He wanted to write rock music so he started a band, which is the logical thing. Also I think J,G,W make an actual contribution to the song, unlike a solo artists "band" who are just session musicians.