The career that I have chosen to research is becoming a music producer for other artists looking to get their songs recorded and created to a professional standard, ready to be released.
A music producer “is responsible for overseeing and managing the production and recording of songs or albums” (Avid, 2024) and aims to make the artist’s vision, whether that is their own or someone else’s, come to fruition. This includes finding and working with other musicians and artists that may be relevant and helpful in eventually creating the final mix.
The qualifications that are necessary to do well in this career path are not academic and are instead entirely based on how well you can perform when working and your skills in the industry as a whole. This includes having “a strong understanding of audio engineering, including how to use mixing tools, equalization, and audio effects.” (Peresta, 2024) This, however, is only one side of the requirements as in person experience and physical proof of what you are capable of is the cornerstone of obtaining work in the industry. This is what is called as having a career portfolio in which you show a “collection of materials that showcase your work experience and skills to potential clients and employers.” (Radhika Basuthakur, 2024) This can include work you have done for other people as well as yourself, as long as it shows your skills and is a good demonstration of what you are capable of as this is what employers will see when looking to hire you. When creating this portfolio, you will have to find people to work with who will not know who you are, which can be difficult during the early stages of your career as everyone wants the best at what they do. This is where volunteering and doing work for free can become a realistic option to make yourself known and to create material that is worth putting in your portfolio. (Peresta, 2024) Doing this also helps to create good working relationships with those in the industry. Having a good reputation can be more important than what you can do as it “can be what helps someone determine whether they will work with you in the first place or again.” (Leesa, 2023) Due to this, being friendly, encouraging and easy to work with becomes vital if you plan on making it far in the industry. This could also include learning how to take rejection as certain ideas that you may put forward during the composition stage of production may not be received very well, so being able to take criticism and adhere to the needs of the artist are a must.
In this profession, you oversee most of the entire process of the creation of a piece of music. This mainly involves a lot of scheduling and planning with many different people to obtain all the necessary components of the song that you need. This often takes place in the studio in which other audio engineers are often found and collaborated with, however this is not essential and it is often very useful to know how to run a studio yourself, especially earlier on in your career as it may be a way to cut costs when money might be tight. Musicians are often contacted during this stage to record each induvial part which is once again up to the producer to choose and organise which musicians would be best suited for the sound of the song. Once all the material is recorded, it is the producer’s job to put it all together and work with the artist help them “achieve the sounds they’re striving for” (Hayward, 2019) in the final piece and make sure that they are happy with it. This is often where they put their own mark on the song as many producers have their own specific styles or input their own ideas whilst composing.
Becoming a successful producer can be difficult, especially in the early stages of your career due to the sheer amount of money than is needed to create a song. This is due to many different sources such as studio equipment like “a DAW, computer, audio interface, microphone(s), headphones and monitors, MIDI controller, and mic cables and mic stands” (Stein, 2022) which can be available for around “$1000” (Stein, 2022), however, this is only possible with low quality equipment and prices will very quickly rise as you look into more specific and high quality equipment that may be more suited for the type of music you produce. Along with this, session musicians can also create a large cut in your funds as a standard session costs £130 in accordance with the agreed rates set by the Musicians’ Union and BPI (British Recorded Music Industry). All this is in regard to the creation of the music, however, many issues often arise after the music is released and money starts being earned through royalties. A producer will obtain the Master Rights to a song along with the artist and is the owner of the sound recording unless it is given away by the producer. Due to this, “between 15% to 25% of the artist’s royalties go to the producer” (Curveroyaltysystems.com, 2024). Along with this, the producer may also receive a co-writing credit “if the artist and producer built a song from scratch” (Herstand, 2019) which results in another revenue stream being allocated. Though these may seem very small with little money being made early on, once enough songs have been made that are successful, these different streams of revenue will stack up and a considerable amount of money will be earned. This can then be funnelled back into the equipment that you are using as a producer, which may then assist you in creating better quality recordings. Despite this, being a music producer does not result in a consistent pay check and is largely influenced by their “geographical location, whether they’re employed or work on a freelance basis, and whether they create their own music or work with other artists” (Indeed Career Guide, 2024) which often results in times where less money is being earned than others, which can become a struggle especially when trying to keep up to date with better equipment.
When first trying to get into the industry, you may struggle to get work as people do not know who you are yet, or what skills you have. This is where approaching people and offering to do work for them either for free or with a lower cost can be an effective strategy to get your foot in the door. Along with this, creating “a professional website with information about your services, contact details, and a professional look” (jimottewill, 2023) is a great way to show exactly what you are capable of doing whilst also giving you a space for people to explore and delve into what kind of producer you are. It can work almost like a business card, in which you give to other people for them to do their own research on you. Social media is also one of the biggest and most successful spaces that has been used to promote businesses due to the “possibility of billions of potential customers using various platforms daily” (Boyarsky, 2022). This can be utilised by creating accounts on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube where you show previous projects you have contributed to, making it function similar to the career portfolio as mentioned previously. The best method that has been found to promote yourself in this field is by creating short form content “to quickly get your product or service to the right audience” (Boyarsky, 2022). Finally, finding work by word of mouth is possibly the best form of advertising that you could have as it “encourages consumers to share positive experiences with a product or service” (Shopify, 2022) which means that people you have previously worked with have been happy enough with your service that they are recommending you to other people. This also allows you to get your business to more people in the industry which creates a bigger chance that more successful people will become aware of your service. This is where collaboration becomes incredibly beneficial, especially for smaller producers.
Some personal challenges that may be faced in this profession can occur when working with friends and family on a piece of music as “It can either forge a stronger team and relationship, or it can blow up the team and the relationship” (Mmmth.co.uk, 2024). This often happens when a larger amount of money starts being made and there has not been an agreement previously set in place as to how the money will get split, which can cause rifts and arguments in personal relationships. This is where signing contracts early on can prevent many issues that may arise later, even if it may seem irrelevant at the time as it sets a boundary and baseline agreement that you can work towards without any confusion or misconceptions as to what each party is getting out of the collaboration. Along with this, many friends often assume that they will work well together, however, many groups work “without giving much thought to worst-case scenarios” (Mmmth.co.uk, 2024), so it is vital that every step is planned out beforehand in order to prevent these worst-case scenarios from happening in the first place.
When progressing in this line of work, there are many subcategories that are available to specialise in, including becoming a mix engineer, audio engineer, sound designer, live sound engineer, etc. These mainly become split between live sound and recorded sound. When specialising in one of these paths, it becomes possible to start working on bigger projects such as films and multi-media entertainment, rather than only producing songs. For example, a sound designer is often sought after to “create recorded or live sound effects for use across a range of productions and multimedia performances”. Along with this “they carefully select and produce everything from spot effects (such as explosions) to atmosphere effects (such as traffic sounds) and help place them in the final edit” (ICMP, 2021) which may be vastly different from other producers’ previous work but working in large projects such as films and TV series’ will bring in much more money than independent projects.
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Leesa (2023). Is reputation important in the music industry? | Blog. [online] Vampr. Available at: https://www.vampr.me/blog/is-reputation-important-in-the-music-industry/. [Accessed 4 Jan. 2025]
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Musicians Union (2023). TV, Film, Radio Rates & Agreements for Session Musicians | The MU – Musicians’ Union. [online] Musiciansunion.org.uk. Available at: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/working-performing/recording-and-broadcasting/recording-agreements-rates-of-pay-and-consent-forms/bpi-agreement-and-consent-forms. [Accessed 4 Jan. 2025]
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Mmmth.co.uk. (2024). Risks and Rewards of Working with Friends. [online] Available at: https://www.mmmth.co.uk/news/the-risks-and-rewards-of-working-with-friends [Accessed 5 Jan. 2025].
ICMP. (2021). Music Production | 10 Top Jobs in Music Production. [online] Available at: https://www.icmp.ac.uk/blog/10-top-jobs-music-production.
