The Relationship Between a Musician

The Relationship Between a Musician and their Producer

If you have chosen to read this article, it is pretty obvious to assume you have an interest in music: finding new tracks, artists and songs that fit perfectly into that playlist you have been updating every month since you were fifteen. I bet you, like me, listen to music every single day. Your playlist is the soundtrack to your entire life, and the songs you played at specific points in your life are enough to transport you back to moments from yesteryear. Despite such huge portions of our lives revolving around music, we hardly ever scratch the surface of what actually goes into making the tracks we all know and love. We all have artists that we cling to, yet we don’t often acknowledge that without legions of workers, that artist and their music would cease to exist.

It is incredibly rare for a musician to go rogue and do it alone. The pandemic has given rise to ‘bedroom-pop’ artists writing, producing and releasing music entirely of their own accord (see Nina Nesbitt’s comedic Instagram series). Yet, as we slowly begin to regain normality, musicians return to a reliance on their teams, without whom they wouldn’t be able to achieve their success.

The artist, for examples sake, is like the idea. It has an outline and potential to be something beautiful. Yet it lacks resources; it needs various tools to bring it to fruition. An artist is just the surface of what goes into actually making a record. Behind every artist is a producer, creative directors, managers, entire record labels that go into creating a singular hit. The relationships between an artist and their team have the potential to be really beautiful, creative love affairs. Yet the power dynamics at play can often go sour when creative visions are in opposition.

The nurturing of musicians in the midst of their fame is imperative and at the crux of their journey as a creative. Knowledge of this is what lead London-based Jamie Oborne to create ‘Dirty Hit’ in 2009. At the top of his agenda was ‘a more inclusive music business’ dedicated to artist support. This controversially unorthodox approach is perhaps what has led Oborne to dominate the UK indie-music scene, with artists like the 1975, Wolf Alice, Pale Waves, The Japanese House and Rina Sawayama under his belt. His dedication to supporting his musicians is evident; after developing an opiate addiction in 2017, Matty Healy, of the 1975, checked himself into a rehab facility in Barbados with the full support of his label. Healy has now made it a year without anything harder than weed and is back to creating music and nurturing the musical acceleration of his proteges, No Rome and Beabadoobee.

Another match made in musical heaven was that of Amy Winehouse and Salaam Remi. Remi worked with Nas, Estelle, Fergie and Miguel to name a few; some of the biggest names of the early noughties. Amy and Remi first connected when she was an innocent young girl from Southgate, North London, just dipping her toe into the music industry. After working on her debut album ‘Frank’ (2003), they became firm friends and musical accomplices. Remi did for Winehouse what all producers should do for their artists: nurture their talent and hone their creativity, giving them room to flourish. Alas, it can be tricky to find the happy medium between artist guidance and the artist becoming purely a puppet. This can easily occur when already well-established producers work with lesser-known musicians; they are almost guaranteed their track will reach the charts, but it will not necessarily be their own work. For example, watch any festival performance with Mark Ronson in it, and you’ll see him - not the performing artist - dominate the coverage. Fame is a funny thing. Most people, given their chance, would do anything to attain it, or even sell themselves short. Often, fame-hungry, starry-eyed teenagers who are lucky enough to have the talent to get them noticed can be picked up and exploited by the music industry. Their vulnerability and innocent zest for life are used by companies put in place to nurture them. More often than not, they are left damaged. Yes, they have amassed great fortune for themselves and their producers and achieved worldwide success and notoriety, but often for more trouble than it was worth. Everyone remembers the summer of 2009 when you couldn’t turn on the radio, go into a shop or turn on any music channel without Kesha’s ‘Tik Tok’ blasting out of every orifice imaginable. Despite not having heard it in a good eight years, I can still sing every line without fail - that’s how often I heard that song. For all intents and purposes, Kesha made it. She was producing hit after hit after hit. This continued for a good few years- her albums ‘Animal’ (2010) and ‘Warrior’ (2012) were both issued in very quick succession, with multiple world tours, television appearances, festivals and award ceremonies. Kesha, who was only eighteen- younger than the majority of this article’s readership- literally did not stop for years. It is hardly surprising then, after her chaotic initiation into adulthood, that she went into a hiatus.

It came to light in 2014 that her producer Dr Luke “sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally abused her to the point where she nearly lost her life,” according to Rolling Stone. Dr Luke executively produced both of Kesha’s albums and her multiple singles. Kesha spoke of how he repeatedly told her to lose weight, calling her “the refrigerator”, which contributed to her admission into an eating disorder facility in 2013. Thankfully, she was able to gain enough courage to speak out against her abuser and file a lawsuit in October 2014.

The stories of Kesha and so many others are a testament to how the relationships between artists and their teams can be toxic, money-driven and hit-mechanisms. So much so that it can be forgotten that the artist is actually a human being. Yet, it is evident that when an artist is nurtured and their producers see them as equal, it can be a relationship of true beauty.

words by: Daisy Gaunt design by: May Collins