What to Know About Paying Your Music Producer

What to Know About Paying Your Music ProducerWhat to Know About Paying Your Music ProducerHaving the right music producer can have a huge impact on an bewegungsknstlers album, and it can make a big impact on your budget as well. Most producers want to help make your songs the best they can be, but a bad deal with a producer can haunt you for a long time. The best way to prevent a nightmarish scenario is to understand how producers are compensated for their work so you can accurately evaluate the deal thats on the table. Get a handle on what advances, royalties, and recording fees all mean. What Record Producers Do The first step in the production process is listening to the artists material and picking the best songs. A producer is looking for both commercial tracks- the elusive hit song- and album tracks. The artist and producer will go through the songs and hammer out arrangement ideas. Theyll look for areas where instrument parts are clashing, and for ways to make a song mora memorable or catchy. Each track is an instrument- theres a track for a vocal, and there are others for guitar, bass, or kick drum. Overdubs are added, usually vocal tracks or guitars. The next step is mixing- adjusting volumes and effects on each track and producing a stereo mix. This mix is then taken to the mastering house, where its sweetened so its less harsh. Compression is added to glue the mix together. How Do Music Producers Get Paid? Music producers contract terms can vary considerably. Everything from the genre of the music to the bargaining power of the producer determines what kind of money they can demand. There are some generalities, however. Producers have two main streams of income advances and royalties. Advances A producer whos new to the business might receive no advance at all and work solely for the purpose of building a portfolio. Other producers get a per-song fee, based on their experience and success, the artists level of success, and the number of s ongs to be recorded. The fee also can be influenced by whether the label is local or national, independent, or a major record company. Some producersforgo advances and charge an artist a flat fee. This is a good way for new producers and new artists to work together in acost-efficient way that helps both their careers. Recording Fees The advance might include the actual recording cost when producers own their own studios. This is sometimes called a fund deal. Its up to the producer to make it clear in the contract what percentage of the funds go to the advance and how much is considered a recording fee. Recording fees arent generally recoupable against producer royalties, but advances should be recoupable or subtracted from royalties ultimately paid to the producer, just as the name suggests. Its advance money that will technically be earned later. Royalties Many producers receive a percentage of an artists royalties earned on an album. unterstellung percentages are also cal led points. One point equals 1%. Traditionally, the royalty is based on how the artist was paid, which is typically a percentage of the records sales price multiplied by the number of CDs or downloads sold. The record royalty to the artist is around 15% to 16% of the sales price of the audio product. The record royalty for a music producer is usually between 3% and 4% of the records sales price, or 20% to 25% of the artists royalties. Determining Sales Price The sales price used to calculate royalties can take one of two forms the suggested retail list price (SRLP) or the published price to dealers (PPD). PPD is based on what distributors charge to dealers. Its effectively the wholesale price- which, of course, is less than retail. SRLP is based more on what the record store or website charges to the consumer. Record One Royalties Producers are typically paid record one royalties. Theyre paid for every album sold, unlike artists who only receive royalties after recording cos ts have been recouped. Most producer contracts specify retroactive to record one clauses to make that clearer. The artist doesnt owe the producer any royalties until they or their label recoups their recording costs. The producer is owed royalties on everything sold going back to that first record, however, after the costs are recouped. The Bottom Line Never sign a deal you dont understand, and dont shy away from negotiating or getting a lawyer to negotiate a deal for you. Move on to another producer if you cant come to an agreement on advances, fees, and royalties.