Okay, this afternoon, I poked through the playlist of my local alternative station, and came across something that caught me completely off-guard.

Look, I have no problems with Santana continuing to make music. His career has pretty much always been his guitar soloing, anyway. Just watch the footage of his set at Woodstock - his biggest hit, "Black Magic Woman", has some other guy playing and singing while he noodles a guitar solo. Not unlike 1999's "Smooth".

But Santana with P.O.D.?!? You have to be kidding me. Next thing, you'll be telling me that he's the new guitar player for Limp Bizkit.

Clive Davis is a genius. It was a brilliant idea to load an album with name talent, stick a Santana solo on each song, and sell it as a Santana record. It was more like a soundtrack without a movie, and pop music buyers bought it for the same reasons they bought those Now compilations.

But, to me, it's emblematic of one of the big PR moves (and biggest mistakes) of modern-day pop music: the "co-writer" credit.

Granted, Santana's not one of the worst offenders in this category. I don't know much about his music history, but you can't release as many records as he has without having some kind of songwriting involvement.

But in the last couple of years, we've started to see a surge in pop stars claiming "co-writing" credits on their records. And it's not because they're such lasting, creative songwriters. It's more for that elusive "artistic" angle that typically belongs with the word "artist". They don't want to be seen as the "performers" that they are, they want to be "artists", and a "co-writer" credit is an easy way to fake a little credibility.

During the peak of boy-band / overprotected-girl mania, we regularly saw "stars" taking said co-writing credits. From Justin Timberlake on N'Sync records to Britney Spears, each laid claim to "co-writing" a song or two on their biggest records. And now, we're seeing nu-pop-stars like Avril Lavigne claiming co-writing status for every song on their albums.

Were they deeply involved in the songwriting on their records? I seriously doubt it.

Why am I so skeptical? Because the word "co-writer" is meaningless. I could sit down and write an entire song lyrically and musically, then have Justin come in and change two words in the second verse, and Justin could claim a co-writing credit. (For sake of full disclosure, he wouldn't even have to do that. I could give him a co-writing credit without him doing anything at all. But that would be slightly dishonest, wouldn't it?)

I'll pick on Lavigne, since she's the "hot thing" of the moment. Her fans are lining up around the block, proclaiming how "amazing" it is that a seventeen-year-old writes such "deep music". But it's all a facade, proven with one glance at her album's liner notes. (Okay, I don't have the album, and haven't seen the actual liner notes. My info comes from All Music Guide.) Note that Lavigne didn't single-handedly write a single song on her record. Every one of them has at least one co-writer, mostly either musician Clif Magness or the production team The Matrix.

Here are the details about "production teams". When you bring them in, they write the songs, and you add your stuff on top. At best, they'll hear what you bring in, and work it into their design. If you hire the Neptunes to work on your material, it's going to sound like the Neptunes, not like "you".

Rap artists are heavy into such producer-driven music because it gives them less to worry about. All most rap artists want is good music to rap over; let them focus on the words. To them, the words are the most important part of the music, anyway.

But when you enter the realm of producer-driven pop or rock music, it gets much murkier. The involvement of the "artist" becomes much more difficult to determine, since their involvement becomes virtually unnecessary. They only need to contribute enough to justify putting their name on the cover.

Let's go the other route. Butch Vig produced Nirvana's Nevermind. But Vig didn't take co-writing credit for the album. Why? Because Nirvana wrote all of the material. Vig (and mixer Andy Wallace) defined the album's sound, but did not have any involvement in the songwriting process. And that's the case to be made: if songs are written in their entirety, even just vocals and guitar, there typically isn't need to dole out further writing credits.

Producers often make suggestions and alterations in how the songs are presented. Heck, it's not uncommon for producers to play an instrument or two on the albums they're recording. But in the circumstances where a producer completely alters the form of a song, he or she will typically at best be given an "arranged by" credit, not a "co-writing" credit. "Co-writing" typically tells you that the producer helped craft the song from the very beginning.

Look at it like this: if Lavigne were the brilliant songwriter that her fans make her out to be, there would be at least one song on her record that was written by her and her alone. Even in the most generous light, if the producers simply "enhanced" the music she'd already written, it wouldn't have needed enough "tweaks" to earn someone else a songwriting credit. And it's particularly suspect that her handlers didn't feel comfortable enough to give her that one track on the album, even just to say that she was solely responsible for one song on her album.

Anyway, like I said, I'm only picking on Lavigne because she's the "hot thing" at this moment in time. There are definitely far worse offenders in this market. Justin Timberlake, for one. If he really did have involvement creatively in his record, he's still got a long way to go before he earns the "songwriter" tag. (Give most of the "credit" for his record to the teams of producers he brought together.) And don't get me started on Britney.

Truthfully? I have no intention of sitting here bashing producer-driven material as bad music. This model can lead to some very good songs. If you like this kind of music, enjoy it - that's why it's here.

My main point is this: save the discussions about "brilliant songwriters" for those who don't have to lean so heavily on others to create their "masterpieces". Give performers the chance to earn their "songwriter" status on their own.

Okay, honestly, this Musing had very little to do with Santana. His "co- writing" is done for an entirely different reason - to earn credibility from specific audiences.

But, seriously, Santana with P.O.D.? Are you kidding me?