Drediting those that help you write or produce your music doesn't hurt you.On the contrary, I believe it actually helps you.
In the way many of us are taught about music, we learn about, quote, the masters, these creative geniuses like Mozart or Beethoven, and there’s almost a mythology that develops around them, so much so that even in death, they’re outperforming today’s living composers.
And they deserve it.
They really are masters, but I think it plants the sort of toxic idea that composers are supposed to do everything by themselves, which is neither healthy nor true nor, frankly, realistic.
Still, the myth persists.
Take Hollywood, for example.
I think the average person would be surprised to find that film composers like John Williams or Hans Zimmer have large teams of people helping them. Orchestrators, MIDI editors, copyists, production assistants, agents, and so on. Does that fact make them any less genius? Of course not.
My point is, crediting those that help you write or produce your music doesn’t hurt you.
On the contrary, I believe it actually helps you.
For one thing, in an industry that is notoriously stingy with its credits, recognizing the contributions of others will make them appreciate you more.
It also can have the effect of raising your own profile because your music is then more likely to be seen by their followers as well, not to mention the fact that surrounding yourself with amazing, talented people is one way for you yourself to be perceived as amazing and talented.
But the most important reason you should give credit is simply that they deserve it.
It’s the right thing to do.
It takes maybe 30 seconds to type in their name, but it makes a big difference.

Garrett Breeze
Garrett Breeze, host of Selling Sheet Music, is a Nashville-based composer best known for his catalog of more than 1,500 choral arrangements of popular music, including more than 1,000 written for competitive show choir.
Visit garrettbreeze.com for more information or to book Garrett for a commission or other event.