What Does a Music Producer Do?

November 9, 2011

If you look at the liner notes of any album you will see a music producer’s name, at awards shows artists often thank their producer, and popular entertainment often portrays these strange people as being deep in the parties with loads of money but you never see them on an album cover; so, just what does a music producer do? Well, the simplest answer is that a producer works as the interim between the artists and the executives at a record label. A music producer arranges the seemingly impossible task of simultaneously handling creative people and financial people. A producer is the line of defense between the realities of the record industry and the egos of the artists upon whose backs the industry is carried.

On a practical level, a music producer also works on the creation of an album with the musicians and the music engineer in the studio. The artists will often have a vision for how a song or album should sound and come together, the engineer knows the reality of how it can all work, and the producer is the one who makes sure that the final product is a single cohesive product. What a music producer does is ensure that an album will be a marketable product that will sell to as wide an audience as possible. The music industry is not a charity gig and tens of thousands of dollars are fronted by record labels for a studio album to be created; and this money is expected to be paid back many times over by the sales of the album made in the studio. The music producer is there to try to ensure that the wheels stay greased and that the product that comes out of the studio will be a successful commercial creation.

A music producer also does one final, important thing. A music producer does not try to be the star. The musicians are the stars, always. The engineer and producer may help create the final product, but neither of them will be out there for a year and a half touring the world to push that product. The music producer is not the star of the show. He or she works behind the scenes to make sure that the musicians will create something that people will buy and to help create a sound that people will want to hear live. What does a music producer do? Many things, but what a music producer must never do is to steal the spotlight from the artists, it is the producer’s job to make someone else look good.