Timbaland: Producer or Reproducer?

Timbaland re-tunes artists with the popular sound of the day. His influence helps artists who are struggling to keep cool with their tired song styles. Although, manufacturing a pop star is old news to the music industry, its even a public phenomenon. American Idol has is entering its sixth season. Except, American Idol forms new stars from the roots up. Timbaland uses existing high profile stars that are still within the public eye but need to move along faster to keep with the times. Highly mediated artists like Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake are such artists. They boast numerous number one hits but need to move beyond 'I'm like a Bird' and 'Bye Bye Bye'. Nelly Furtado's second album crashed. The folky Pourtegese world-music sound of 'Folklore' just wasn't cool enough. Timberlake never really lost fame but entered risky territory as he adopted a hip hop flavour. His reputation with N Sync might have lost him credibility as a rapper. But beyond Timbaland's studio, Furtado's new album Loose was a smash as with Timberlake whose new hip hop inspired album was accepted and praised. Timbaland rekindled their fame. His work with the famous proves that he isn't a producer who markets the unknown, rather he reproduces and remediates. He is a reproducer not a producer.