How Much Money do Hip Hop Producers ACTUALLY Make?

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It seems like in order to be a rapper youre required to own a fortune worth of expensive jewelry, cars and clothes. The image of a rapper is fundamentally dependent on the idea that rapping is a high paid career - they put on a persona like they’re so rich they don’t have to work at all. But the truth is, behind the scenes, rich and famous rappers don’t exist without countless hours of work from all the different people on their teams to turn their persona into a profitable brand. Video directors, photographers, social media managers, booking agents, stylists, audio engineers and writers are all important jobs that can turn a rap career from a dreams to reality - and there is no part of an artist’s team more important than the producer.

Having a producer that knows your sound and can build beats around your strengths as a rapper as well as elevate your sound with their own unique style is what separates amateur artists rapping over $30 YouTube from cutting edge, forward thinking musical pioneers. Producers are so essential that there simply is no such thing as a great rap song without good production while I think we can all see that good rapping isnt necessary at all to make a song go viral. And with rappers seemingly making so much money from their songs, it’s only logical to think that their producers, who provide 50% of the DNA of a rap song, would also be raking in piles of cash at the same time. But it turns out that being a hip hop producer is much more of a thankless job than you might think.

00:00 Intro
01:52 How do producers make money?
06:32 the top money making producers
08:00 Outro

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#volksgeist #producers #hiphop #popmusic #musicessay

[Volksgeist]

Producers feel free to share stories on how you first made money!

[Bartholomule]

Definitely why it's pretty common to have producer tags.

You hear the same tag on a number of songs you really like and then you look them up and they become a producer you know

[e_bak]

Recently Spotify started putting a "credits" section that you can look at when you tap the three dots next to a song, and it lists the artists, writers, and producers of the track. Certainly a good thing for producer recognition, and opened my eyes to how prevalent songwriting was among popular artists.

[Zin_]

I'm a producer in a country that doesn't even use trap beats or listen to deeper roots of rap other than mainstream radio hits. Thanks to videos like this - I keep grinding

[prodbyiof]

Deals are usually like this:
Fee (fully/partly/non recoupable)
Master/ Net song royalty % (paid by label every 6-9 months)
Publishing % (pretty standard 50 goes to music 50 to lyrics, paid by PRO's by ASCAP, BMI etc)

So it's not you either get paid upfront OR you get royalties. Usually it's both and terms are always negotiable so both sides are happy.

[prodnikos]

I just want to clarify on the 30$ beat for Lil Nas X. The producer behind it actually got paid way more.

The 30$ dollar beat is a license by Beatstars - the beat was actually still 100% owned by the producer. Later on a different deal was negotiated.

But the point you are proving is still there. As a producer myself - I've seen people in the community who have been ripped off - one example was ASAP Ferg Plain Jane - the beat was sold exclusively for 200$ and I'm sure the producer probably didn't get paid anything more...

[benlebeh]

I think OZ is a good example for a successful and famous producer. Through his production for Drake plus the work he does for German artists like Shindy, he became one of the biggest names in German rap.

[henrylam]

Producers will always have the short stick in this business especially when working with the big labels. They will steal your beat and reverse engineer it if you don’t come to an agreement. My friends have produced for a lot of up and coming artists’ debut albums. Often times not get paid and when the album pops off then the team is trying to lowball them knowing they have leverage. Want to take it to court? They will try to drag it out until you go broke. So most producers don’t have the money or connections to get a good lawyer to represent them so instead they will take the small payment. Music industry is just shady in general and about every producer who signs to a label regrets it. It’s best to stay independent and have your own studio. This way you get to charge studio time as well. Protect your art and integrity, don’t let money dictate you and keep pressing.

Little tip for aspiring producers, if you want to work with a famous or up and coming artist. Make friends with the sound engineer. Even become a sound engineer and apply yourself at one of the studios. You have constant cash flow and in the free time you get to use the studio. Meantime you get to network. Networking is the key and just stay true to yourself. Don’t try to pretend and you will find a circle

[TomekZylMusic]

I've been living full time off music for 5 years now, leasing and selling exclusive rights to artists/labels makes an income but isn't sustainable long term. Like stated in the video, the royalties are just pocket money compared to the upfront fee. Unfortunately this isn't sustainable long term so need to figure out how to tilt the scales as artists who used my beats are buying new cars, houses etc whilst I'm renting a roof over my head and just got food in the fridge. I'm grateful for being in such a position but there are levels to this that don't add up for what we as producers bring to the table.

[tome]

Looking forward! Super interesting content as always. You're like the mate I never had, to talk about music in it's complete detail and also see whats behind...
Keep it up :)

[ScottThePisces]

Scott Storch should defo have been mentioned, as he's a generally well known producer for all the hits he made in the 00s

[edner]

As producer you should expand your production make music for commercial, movies, different genres of music besides hiphop .

[tiarastreetfilms]

Just listened, I’m a music producer that placed records with major artist. When you place a record you still get your producer fee and and still get points. You do what’s a called a producer deck and then the producer agreement

[danielbastron]

6:12 it's not completely right, every producer has the decision to sell their beats with whatever rights they want to, also selling non exclusive beats to top tier artists like with juicy J and takeoff who both used the same beat by buddabless. It's essentially the same with people do artworks, they can also not sell their rights to the Cover and capitalise on the popularity by selling Prints for example

[eddieescobar]

DAMN PHILIP!

I really LOVED this video dude, for real. Everything you said is the shit that I think about almost every day, it’s kind of crazy.
Let me explain.

I’m a 16 year old producer, and nobody where I’m from really know what that is, or is really INVESTED into music as much as I am. The processes you explained, the things you said, are perfect because they helped me find a way to describe what’s actually going on, to somebody who has no clue what all this is.

So from creator to creator, thank for your poetic and simple qualities. Much love from IDAHO,

Eddie Escobar

[jazzylamel]

As a G in the game the bottom line is this: own your masters and you will never be broke for the rest of your life.

[nikostephen]

this is an amazing video, thank you for this insight. producing is so much more than making beats to be successful, you have to be privy to what works for the artist, and once you find the set of people you want to work with ((without making sacrifices of what you want to make)), you're set.

but that takes so much more time and dedication to do so.

[danielbastron]

Im just wondering. OZ (drake producer from Switzerland since like 2016) said in an 2016 interview that he charges a six figure fee for a Beat + 50% off the royalties, Taz Taylor also said he sold single beats for 100k. Pvlace also said in a workshop that Producer and Songwriter/Artists split everything 50/50 in the US (Not meaning every producer get the same cut, bit it adds up to 50%). I'm just curious cause the way pvlace says it does not include no Labels. I also remember Hitboy talking about getting around 2% of a track. It's just so weird for me that even producers at the top of the industry seemingly vary so much in their payment

[fredirie]

A lot of young producers selling beats online make more than billboard producers. The future for producers is bright

[kenjitheshadow]

Didn't expexct it, but since I'm a producer I really need it. Big thanks 🙏