News

Chris Cooke

The Music Producers Guild has today published a new Producer Deals Guide, which explains how the deals agreed between studio producers and artists and labels are structured and evolving. The MPG has worked with CMU and the Music Managers Forum on producing the guide, which was officially launched earlier today at The Great Escape.

Explaining the rationale for the guide, MPG Executive Director Cameron Craig says, “Over the years, I’ve seen how easily expectations on a project can drift if they’re not clearly defined from the outset. What exactly am I being asked to deliver? Am I co-writing? Am I just producing? Am I mentoring an artist through a process or executing a label’s vision?”

“Each of those scenarios carries different creative responsibilities and should carry different commercial terms too”, he continues. “That’s why clarity at the start of any project isn’t just helpful, it’s essential”.

The new guide, he goes on, “is a much-needed resource because it puts structure around conversations that have too often been informal, inconsistent or misunderstood. It breaks down the full scope of what producers actually do and, crucially, how that work translates into fair and transparent compensation”.

The way artists structure their deals with the labels and distributors they work with on their recordings has evolved a lot over the last two decades, with many more options now available. The MMF has previously worked with CMU to produce the Record Deals Guide, explaining the different options, and the pros and cons of each approach.

As artist deals have changed, that has also impacted on producers and how they work with artists and labels. Those changes, and how to deal with them, are all explained in the guide. There is no single template deal, but the guide sets out what producers and their managers need to discuss with artists, and their managers and labels, when it comes to fees, royalties, neighbouring rights and other revenue streams.

Craig explains, “The landscape we’re working in has changed dramatically. Independent artists have more control than ever over how their music is made and released. Labels and distributors operate in new ways. Revenue streams have diversified and, in some cases, fragmented”.

“As a result”, he concludes, “the traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ producer deal no longer applies, if it ever truly did. Today, every project demands a more tailored approach, built on open discussion and mutual understanding”.

The Producer Deals Guide is currently Free to download from the MPG website.