This Just In: Musicians May Be A Bit Dishonest

A lengthy article about self-proclaimed singer-songwriters grabbing writing credit for songs that they may not have penned–sparked by the whole Avril Lavigne/Chantal Kreviazuk controversy from a couple of weeks back–hit the Associated Press today, and while it’s a fairly interesting–and damning!–look at how some artists may not be 100% honest (in the music business? Really?), there was one source that seemed a little bit, shall we say, less than reliable when it comes to the relationship between people on albums’ front covers and those whose billing is relegated to eight-point type inside:

Grammy-winning songwriter Dallas Austin says he’s had a manager rave about a song Austin wrote all by himself, and then tell him, “We wanna know if we can get a piece of the pie on it because (the artist) wants to feel like she has a part ownership on the song.

“And I’ll say, ‘In all fairness, no. … If you want to work with me at least sit here and put something into it, instead of coming after I’ve done everything and try and claim percentages on it.'”

Yes, that Dallas Austin. And really, when your subject’s use of the term “work with me” can mean, well, any number of things, it may just be best to leave that quote–no matter how juicy it might be–out of your story, even if he did produce “The Boy Is Mine.”

Singer-songwriters, or just singers? [AP via Yahoo]