Can one music artist be objectively better than another?

Info: Or is it only a subjective perception? For example, is David Bowie objectively better than Ed Sheeran?========================= Yes, artist can be objectively better than others. For example, who would compare Lil Pump’s “songs” to.. let’s say John Lennon’s? Clearly John’s songs are better, vocally and musically speaking. Oh and by the way...Ed Sheeran shouldn’t even be compared to David Bowie. David’s a legend, he’s iconic. He revolutionized everything. He’s one of the greatest singer/performer ever. Oh...how I miss David :( regret · 2 months ago 3Thumbs up 2Thumbs downReport AbuseComment Slade Cutter Whips Quiet Riot In the case of David Bowie vs. Ed Sheeran yes absolutely. Slade Cutter Whips Quiet Riot · 2 months ago 2Thumbs up 1Thumbs downReport AbuseComment Just another Y!A liar. What Bob said. Give him best answer. Just another Y!A liar. · 2 months ago 0Thumbs up 0Thumbs downReport AbuseComment Andrew Noselli After the death of God everything became relative and the idea of the existence of stable and universal truths guiding our ability for judgment, including the faculty for establishing a hierarchy of truth values, became devalued and epistemologically suspicious. However for some people, like myself, God is not dead and I have no compunctions about making the statement that David Bowie's music is more sophisticated and more enjoyable that Ed Sheeran's music. Andrew Noselli · 2 months ago 1Thumbs up 1Thumbs down EditComment The Lord Humungus. Of course, right after you agree to a set of objective measurements. For instance, many people claim album sales or concert sales objectively prove an artist's worth. The Lord Humungus. · 2 months ago 0Thumbs up 0Thumbs downReport Abuse2 comments Huh? Yes, I'm sure it is possible to state that one musician is objectively better than another by analysing things such as the complexity and sophistication of their music and/or lyrics, their instrument playing skills and abilities, technical proficiency, productivity, etc. It could not be precise as such measures can't be totally objective and questions of taste would certainly creep in, making it difficult to differentiate musicians of a fairly similar skill level. Can we safely say that Boyzone are objectively better or worse than *Nsync or 5ive, for example? In terms of the OP, I think we can safely say David Bowie was a better musician than Ed Sheeran is currently, although it's always possible Sheeran might develop in ways we can't yet predict. Huh? · 2 months ago 1Thumbs up 0Thumbs downReport AbuseComment tihsru I think it is mostly subjective to a persons taste but you can certainly distinguish one artist who is more talented than the other (has better music). I would bring it down to David Bowie because of how much more iconic and unique his music is. tihsru · 2 months ago 1Thumbs up 0Thumbs downReport AbuseComment Jimmy C If one of them had a degree from the Royal College of Music he would be objectively better, or if the other could not read and write music he would be objectively inferior, but judging the person by listening to the music can only be subjective, because we all have different opinions. Jimmy C · 2 months ago 0Thumbs up 1Thumbs downReport Abuse1 comment Bob Yes, sure. We can objectively say that a particular artist is better than another. If you compare a multi-instrumentalist and award-winning musician, such as Prince, to a popular artist such as Nicki Minaj, we can objectively state that Prince is a better musical artist than Nicki Minaj. This isn't about whether the music they make is better because that is always going to be subjective but as far as being a better musician, yes Prince wins hands down and that is objective fact. Bob · 2 months ago 2Thumbs up 0Thumbs downReport AbuseComment megalomaniac In Classical music they have a scoring system for formal judging (adjudication). So I think that means that in the Classical genre some people do indeed think that a piece of music or a performance can be objectively better than another, but I don't agree. It certainly doesn't hold up for rock or pop. It's hard to quantify emotion, and to me emotional content is more important than technical proficiency when it comes to music. So no, in my opinion, there is no objective measure to say whether one piece of music is "better" than another, one can only say you like it more or it gave you a deeper emotional experience.