[x] 'Featuring'

Is 'featuring' an allowable collaborative join? That is does the band name "A featuring B" allow a collaboration to be established? I'm pretty sure it does. As a follow up - does the connectivity decision then follow normal rules?

All the immediate cases I can think of (um, only one), the "featuring" is usually a marketing ploy to highlight the celebrity status of one of the members of the band, cf. The Graeme Edge Band Featuring Adrian Gurvitz (still awaiting entry). Gurvitz was a member of TGEB but (despite Edge's membership of the fairly high-profile Moody Blues), it was decided (AFAIK) as a marketing decision to "feature" Gurvitz on the cover to generate more sales. (I believe it didn't work too well in this instance.)

Sorry, there was no reason not to give the example I was thinking of. Where in rock music I think 'featuring' might usually imply membership, in dance I think it implies collaboration - I was thinking 'The Beatmasters featuring Betty Boo'. That style of 'band featuring singer' is very common - the question is does the singer become a guest of the group or do they collaborate? This was the lovely Miss Boo's first recording and would thus become a collaboration with connectivity. I was just checking that's what it is.

It seems to me we need to treat "Featuring" on a case-by-case basis just as we're currently doing with "With". "With" with some bands indicates a collaboration and with others it doesn't. From recent jazz submissions, we have "Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk" (collaboration) and "Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane" (not a collaboration, so "With John Coltrane" is dropped from the band name). If "Featuring" carries some extra suggestion of collaboration in dance music genres, then it should be judged accordingly.

(I'm proud of stringing together four consecutive with's in the above paragraph.)

I agree with BG's accessment in that:

1) Take on a case by case basis.
2) Default to not a collaboration, but marketing tool.
3) If can be proved that the "featured" artist is not a member of the band, set up as a collaboration
4) If (3) is proved then go with proper collaboration measurement to determine if it connectivity is appropriate.

That sounds like what everyone was getting at here.


Kevin