In former ages artists understood that their work of art’s effectiveness was significantly enhanced if audiences were kept in the dark as to the process of its creation, not unlike magicians, who refuse to explain to the audience how they made the bunny disappear from the hat.

People who have no talent for music are rather quick to assign the term ‘genius’ to anyone who does, both from a pagan compulsion to idolatry and also as a means of assuaging a sense of inferiority: viewing a talent as a gift from God, and the artist, by extension, as a divine being, enables one to reflect: “With someone so blessed, I do not need to compete.” People who do not understand the creative process generally assume that it cannot be understood. They find it magical, and use terms like divine inspiration.

To have such an attitude towards the creative process is understandable if you are a layman, but if you work in a record company’s A‘n’R department and your job is to scout and develop its most successful results, it is inexcusable. Nevertheless, nowadays, anyone who works in the music business has just such a metaphysical outlook on the artist and his creative endeavours. They freely admit to it: spend a day in record company offices and you will hear a number of people sighing that nobody in the industry really knows what makes a hit. And yet: this is their job!

In the early days, A and R departments were made up of seasoned musicians, composers and arrangers, again: highly skilled individuals, who had been in the business for years and who knew how to spot a talented singer and knew a well crafted song when they heard one. They applied their knowledge, experience and taste, and habitually scored hits.

I sometimes ask present day A’n’R managers in which key their current favourite record was recorded. They always know how to look at me as if I had lost my mind, but as for an answer to my question…

The full extent of the malaise, however, is this: in our age, even artists seem to be under the impression that knowledge of the creative process inhibits creativity. They worry that analysing the process will kill inspiration. Nowadays, the term ‘trained artist’ even strikes us as a contradiction in terms, especially with regards to pop.