ABSTRACT
This chapter explores several facets of authorship: principally, the historical path leading to the widespread phenomenon of the "multitasker". It also explores the tensions between the solitary composer and collective authorship, and between the constructed divided status of band members versus session players. While the impact of success and the disparity in the perception of musicians' roles often results in a bias leading to the atomization of the composing leader over and above that of the democratic unit, the opposite can also occur. Within academia, the authenticity paradigm has been challenged and deconstructed, but its close link to the concept of authorship, has largely remained implicit. The politics of creativity and accreditation shed a great deal of light upon shifting perceptions of authorship. Authorship has been shown to shed light on so many aspects: class, ethnicity, genre, Englishness, interpersonal relationships, commercialism, guest musicians and longevity.
