OK so you want to find out how much money does a music producer make? First, there are two types of producers:
a.) Superstar/Hotshot producer hired by a label or artist to produce recordings.
b.) A typical independent or beginning producer.
Let’s discuss how each one of them can earn money or charge their clients.
Music Producer hired to produce recordings
The label or an artist would be looking for a producer with the required creative vision to record and complete the master recording for an artist album or singles. Once they decide on the producer that would be handling the recording project; the producer would then be contacted if he/she is interested.
Then it follows some negotiations and talks that will be formalized in an producer-artist agreement:https://www.audiorecording.me/recording-producer-and-artist-guide-on-legal-agreements.html initiated by the label or the artist themselves. This agreement stipulates all terms regarding the recording project that the producer would be handling. The first money that would discussed during the negotiation would be the producer advance payment. A producer with proven track record (e.g. successful album releases, multi-platinum producer) can command a higher advance fee during the negotiation.
Golden LP
Photo credits: Andreas Thum
Successful producers can receive between $5000 and $20,000 as an advance payment. But new producers might be receiving less than $5000 for their first project. For small labels or even just an artist hiring a producer to produce her/his album, an advance of $100 to $2000 is typical.
Some record producers would not even ask for an advance or royalty based on record units sold but would only ask for a one-time/flat fee to produce either a single song or an entire album. This cost would now be inclusive of studio rental fee, other session players’ fee, etc.
For example Steve Albini was hired by Nirvana to produce their last studio album “In Utero”. He refused to receive any royalties based on album sales. He simply asks for $100,000 flat payment for all the services rendered (Source: Steve Albini on SOS). But Steve Albini would have earned around $500,000 total if he agrees to received royalties based on album sales.
This implies that how much money a producer can make strongly depends on his/her business ethics and principles. Some producer takes a cut from every records sold in terms of royalties, so they have a potential to earn a lot. Some producers like Steve Albini view this concept wrong and greedy. They refuse to accept any royalties except for a one time payment.
The label or artist does not have the ability to produce professional recordings themselves but they only have talent and songs. The record producer is hired to transform these songs and performances into professional recordings so that it can be marketed and distributed for sale. It is why the artist/label would be willing to spend some money on hiring a producer.
For most recording label projects; the producer can even earn royalties (depending on agreement). This is a percent of the entire album sales. How much money is involved varies entirely on the producer background and experience, see some simple assumptions below:
Producer royalty for each record sold: $0.10
Producer advance: $1000
Assuming the entire album sells 50,000 copies
The total royalties would be: 50,000 x $0.10 = $5000
Since the producer already received $1000 as the advance then the balance would be $4000.
If the album royalties total would still below $1000, then the balance is negative. The producer won’t be receiving any royalties until the total royalties earned would exceed the advance.
Hotshot producers can command higher % royalty rates (5% or even more). If the album sold very well, the advance is easily recouped.
A Beginning Producer
Things are very different for beginning producers. It might be possible that the record producer won’t be receiving any royalties at all except for a one-time payment to produce the recordings.
This one-time payment can be very low as it depends entirely on the budget of the artist or independent labels. Bear in mind that big recording labels would not likely hire a beginner producer. They prefer to hire successful/experienced record producer with proven track record. This can be quite expensive but major labels can afford.
If you are a new producer, then I would suggest that the record producer fee should cover the basic cost as follows:
Beginner record producer fee = (Total studio rental cost + services fee)
This would be an advantage for a record producer that owns a recording studio because the rental cost factor would be very low (except for the electricity cost, etc). Thus the resulting producer fee is more affordable and attractive to prospective clients.
Example:
Supposing you have a recording studio and you are a new producer excited to bring projects to a reality. You want to help artist transform their songs into professional recordings. The services fee and studio rental fee per song based on your assumption goes well around $100. Therefore the record producer fee per song (flat, one-time payment and no royalties involved) would be: $100.
If you are hired to record the entire album of 12 songs, you will be receiving $1200 as a payment for the project. Bear in mind that this will be entirely up to you in deciding the service charge. Make sure that your client is happy with your rates.
Take note that as a producer, you would still be hiring a mixing engineer or mastering engineer as well other crews needed. This is assuming you won’t be mixing or mastering the projects yourself or does not have enough manpower to complete the job. Make sure you factor this cost when deciding how much you can charge.
Content last updated on July 28, 2012