We're talking about if the artist has written three songs herself, those will probably be in the album. That's the obvious. Then you would have maybe two equally good songs, and one songwriter is the artist's friend, the other an unknown. I don't think politics is involved, because, after all, we are in this business of trying to sell records and being successful. If by cronyism we endanger the record's success, that's not right.
Nobody does that.
We're all there for one journey, to make the project successful. There's so much emphasis placed on demo production for new songwriter. If I hear just a piano and a vocal, that would be enough for me, because I don't want to be influenced. Some people would like the song to be presented on a platter. And that means that the songwriter would like the song to be done that way, that maybe that's the most maximized way.