Some songwriters are left in the dark
NEW YORK — For Grammywinning producer-songwriter Alexander Shuckburgh, the Academy Awards are so close and yet so far.
Shuckburgh should be celebrating as an Oscar nominee since a song he co-wrote — “All the Stars” from the “Black Panther” soundtrack — is competing for best original song at Sunday’s show.
But he isn’t.
That’s because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences limits the number of nominees in the best original song category to four, forcing one of the song’s five writers to take a backseat. Shuckburgh, also known as Al Shux, shares writing credit for “All the Stars” with rapper Kendrick Lamar; R&B singer SZA; Anthony Tiffith, the CEO of Top Dawg Entertainment, whose roster includes Lamar and SZA; and Mark Spears, the producersongwriter known as Sounwav who has worked closely with Lamar for a decade.
Some feel strongly that Shuckburgh should be able to call himself “an Oscar-nominated songwriter.”
“It is important that in keeping with the times, all credited songwriters be recognized when a song is being considered for an award. If the PROs (performing rights organizations) have a writer listed and that writer is receiving royalties from them for the song, there is no question that the writer be acknowledged along with the others,” Linda Moran, the president and CEO of Songwriters Hall of Fame, said in a statement to The Associated Press.
“Who decides and what method is used to determine which writer or writers over the allowable maximum does not qualify for the award? It is definitely not fair to limit the number of writers,” Moran continued. “In order for an organization to be relevant, it is important that it be flexible and willing to move forward.”
Shuckburgh declined to be interviewed for this story and representatives for Shuckburgh and Lamar didn’t reply to emails seeking clarity on how the “All the Stars” songwriters decided who would be left off the Oscars ballot. The academy said it couldn’t disclose that information when asked by the AP.
Although big-name acts like Eminem, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder have won the best original song Oscar, the last few years have seen more and more pop stars earn nominations for songs that hit big on radio, from Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” to the Weeknd’s “Earned It.” And those songs, which range from rap to pop to R&B to dance, tend to feature a large number of songwriters.
The Top 10 songs on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart, for example, includes songs written by three people (Marshmello & Bastille’s “Happier”) to 12 (Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode”). And last year’s Grammy for song of the year — a songwriter’s award — went to eight people for the first time when Bruno Mars’ “That’s What I Like” won the prize.
Shuckburgh, who won a Grammy for co-writing Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” earned a nomination for best original song at the Golden Globes for “All the Stars”; he also received three nods at this year’s Grammys for his work on the track, including record of the year, song of the year and best song written for visual media.
Like Shuckburgh, Che “Rhymefest” Smith earned credit from the Grammys for his songwriting work on Common and John Legend’s “Glory,” but not at the Oscars.