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Originally Posted by CaliTone Are you saying that if you wrote the beat, then you should have producer credits?? In my book (and many others) we call that the songwriter, not the producer. There's many great producers in this world that can't play a lick of anything, or even touch a fader or knob. How do you define a producer?? Now, don't get me wrong, I know there's producer's out there that write, perform, and PRODUCE albums. I just think that in the Hip Hop world, we're giving credit where it isn't due.
For example, if I'm working with an artist, I sit with him/her figure out which direction we want to go with the album. We listen and pick out the best beats from a number of different writers. Some were my originals, and some were not. We happen to pick one of your beats for the album. You send us the Pro Tools files, the artist has already written the lyrics for it. I tell him to rewrite a couple of lines because I don't condone bitch slapping or any abuse towards women. I make some suggestions regarding the arrangement, maybe write a new melodic keyboard part for the hook, have someone come in to lay some killer backing vocals, I work some harmony parts out for the vocalist. I'm in the studio bringin out the best in the rapper, making suggestions on what kind of voice/personality to use on the song. Making recommendations as to where to lay some adlibs. Maybe the artist is a little off on the 2nd verse, and I make him/her do it until it's PERFECT. Gotta be in the pocket baby! Let it flow! We finally capture a performance that we both agree is killer and move on to the next song. (repeat these steps until you have an album worth releasing).
So my question is. Should you get credit for producing the album, or should I???
Not hating, just making a statement.  |
This is an important statement. I had to fire my lawyer over this topic... He's from the school of rock and couldn't conjure up a contract in which I was both the songwriter and producer... In those instances I do everything that you just mentioned plus make the beats.
Sometimes people just buy beats and record vocals elsewhere, in which case I push for "Produced by Paul David and Joe producer" Cuz hey, I produced the music and Joe produced/engineered the vox. Nowadays producer and "beatmaker" seem synonymous in hip hop... It's odd to me but whatever works. Plus I like producer's fees, points, and mechanics better than a songwriter's advance. YMMV