Music producers play a vital role in the final sound of an artists’ record, no question, but how much money do you think these studio wizards should make?

There are a number of different ways in which producers may be paid. As Digital Music News point out, it can be apart of the point system, where basically a producer receives anywhere between 1 and 5 points, which stands for percentage of royalties.

In addition to this, some producers offer a sort of “loan” of their skills and receive anything from 20% to 50% later down the track from royalties. One of the most common practices is to simply be paid a fair wage up front and that’s it, nothing further with royalties.

After a recent airing of the Foo Fighter’s HBO mini-series, worldclass producer Steve Albini who produced Nirvana’s In Utero, shed some very interesting light on the topic, taking a stab at unethical producers.

The comments made the 52-year old are as follows, “Normally bands would be paying a royalty to the producer. From an ethical standpoint I think it’s an untenable position for me to say to a band that I’m going to work for you for a couple of weeks and then for the rest of your fucking lives you’re going to pay me a tribute.”

Using a genius analogy, he continued on his belief that royalties should not be paid to producers, “It’s totally normal if you’re a fucking plumber or carpenter. You spend X number of hours working on a house, you get paid for your time. Not ‘oh look the house is still standing in 20 years! Maybe I should get a little bonus for that eh?’.”

It is particularly interesting for someone such as Steve Albini to approach his business in such an ethical manner.

After all, he does wield a particularly rare production-prowess and a very distinct grimy-raw sound that has drastically impacted the final result of records such as Nirvana’s In Utero, Pixies Surfa Rosa and PJ Harvey’s Rid Of Me.

Without the studio legend, these records may not have achieved the iconic status they have today. In this, one could definitely argue that Albini’s unique creativity is present on these albums, much like the artists themselves, so why shouldn’t he receive royalties?

What’s made obvious by these comments is the production-pro’s respect for musicians and their work, had he pushed for an on-going royalty cut he’d be swimming in a much deeper pool of cash.

Is it unethical for a producer to receive royalties on a record that they’ve worked tirelessly and bled their own unique sound and style into? Or should royalties be strictly reserved for the creatives who are performing on the records themselves?

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