Keith Negus identifies two ideologies of creativity in the music industry: organic and synthetic. The organic approach nurtures artists naturally over the long-term, emphasizing album sales and cultivating older audiences. Synthetic acts have constructed images aimed at younger audiences, prioritizing single sales and short-term profits. While labels want a balance, synthetic artists dominate due to their ability to fund organic development. Both approaches involve some construction by labels to appeal to audiences.

1. Organic vs. Synthetic
Keith Negus - Producing Pop
The organic ideology of creativity &
The synthetic ideology of creativity

2. Negus & His Theories
Keith Negus is well-known for being a record company
executive and known for managing many acts. He has many
theories and ideologies regarding the music industry and the
way in which it creates not just it’s music but its artists and the
way they are perceived by the public.
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His ideas towards the ideologies of creativity spread into two
categories: The organic ideology of creativity & The synthetic
ideology of creativity. This basically refers to organic being
natural and synthetic being made from scratch in order to
reach their target audience.

3. The Organic Ideology of
Creativity: 1
The organic ideology means that their is a
‘naturalistic’ approach to the artists.
The record company ‘nurture’ the artist,
like they would a seed and let them
explore and grow with their music and
gain success due to this factor.
They are seen to be less enhanced in their
image compared to more synthetic acts.
Examples of ‘organic’ artists include: Ed
Sheeran, Eliza Doolittle and Ben Howard.

4. The Organic Ideology of
Creativity: 2
The organic acts tend to be a
strategy as in the long run they tend
to have profits generated over a
longer period.
Emphasis is given to album sales and
the construction of a successful back
catalogue.
Usually the audiences are older or
more sophisticated.

5. The Synthetic Ideology of
Creativity: 1
The synthetic approach refers to a
combined effort to artists and
material as executives attempt to
construct successful acts out of the
artists and the songs at their disposal.
The image of the artist is often
constructed to what the record label
think audiences will appeal to.
Unlike the organic artists, they only
have a short time to prove their
success before their tired out.
Examples of this include, One
Direction, Miley Cyrus and Britney
Spears.

6. The Synthetic Ideology of
Creativity: 2
Emphasis is given to single sales and
into promoting first albums.
The audience tends to be younger,
less sophisticated.
Profits generated by this kind of artist
tend to be part of an immediate,
short term strategy by the record
company.
Also to be noted, especially with
female acts there tends to be an
apparent contrast as they get older
sometimes the label will purposely
change their image. E.g Britney
Spears, Miley Cyrus and Lindsay
Lohan.

7. Balance Between the Two
The success of the synthetic acts should mean that it enables the
record companies to fund the development of the organic acts.
Most big labels will want to balance their roster with a combination
of the two categories as they want to ensure they can target mass
audiences and gain profits.
However, even if the act is ‘organic’ they still have elements of
being modelled by the label to a certain extent as their ‘authenticity’
could be the main USP of the artist and the label could play that
area up as being an ‘unconstructed’ act.
Synthetic artists are usually sold on their looks or personalities and
often appear more in the public eye and attend social events
(generally speaking).