Study: 71% Of UK Music Producers & Engineers Have Done Free Work


Thursday, October 3rd, 2019 |

A new report shows the extent of that music producers and sound engineers in the UK work for free. According to the Working on Spec report, authored by the Music Producers Guild (MPG), 71% of producers and engineers have worked for free over the past three years. 88% say they were asked to work for free over the course of their careers.

While this sounds like the sky is falling, there are is a somewhat valid reason for some of the free work. 50% respondents say they were doing a genuine favor for a friend. However, the good news stops there.

20% said they felt pressured to do a favor for an existing client. Who they did work for is also interesting.

77% of respondents say they did work for free for self-funding artists. This number drops down to 34% for independent labels and a whopping 17% said they did free work for a major label, which is incredibly worrisome since the majors should have the most money to pay producers and engineers.

Olga FitzRoy, MPG executive director, said via M-Magazine: “I knew unpaid work was a problem in our industry, but I didn’t realize how endemic it was. Of course, people will do favors for friends, but it’s completely unacceptable for record labels and commercial studios to exploit professionals in this way. We don’t employ someone to put in a new bathroom and then decide to pay them if we feel like it.”

The average amount of unpaid work was estimated to be £4,000 per person, with the numbers ranging from a few hundred pounds to a shocking £40,000.

“I find it shocking that assistant engineers are being expected to work for a month for free in commercial studios before having the chance of a paid position,” continues FitzRoy. “Nobody wins if our pool of talent is reduced to those with a bank of mum and dad to rely on. This is one of the reasons why we are launching an assistant engineer membership to try and support those at the beginning of their careers.”


Get the latest news and updates.


Subscribe

Testimonials

If you want to know about our industry from the people that make it happen then go to WMC. It’s an accelerated masterclass in all things dance music.


Carl Cox

DJ/Intec Records

The Winter Music Conference represents a chance for Beatport to connect directly with our customer community. Having a strong conference means we have a platform to embrace the entire spectrum of electronic music culture. We are proud to support the resurgence of this great event.


Jonas Tempel

Beatport, Co-Founder

Winter Music Conference is my ground zero. It has always provided the perfect storm of opportunity and excitement for up and coming artists, including myself back in 2003, where I first caught a glimpse of how it felt to have an audience respond to my work. Over the years, I’ve always made it a point to have WMC in my calendar because that’s the spot where everyone congregates and you can feel it in the air. Creativity, brother and sisterhood, FUN and most of all the chance to come together as a community and celebrate the reason we are all here—the music.”


Kaskade

DJ/Producer

I feel fortunate to have been part of the first-ever WMC. Over the 35 years, it has grown to give us an international forum where we exchange music and ideas. As an attendee and host of many of the award shows, I am proud each time I see new young talent emerge and then become world-renowned. We all have so many Winter Music Conference moments of hearing a seminal breakthrough record for the first time as well as a new DJ with star quality. Magical moments in my career.


Daniel Glass

Glassnote Records

WMC is and has always been the lifeblood of the dance music scene. Never missed a year since ’96, I can’t imagine Amsterdam Dance Event or Ibiza Music Summit existing without the blueprint that WMC originated. Seeing this revived is absolutely essential to reunifying the North American scene surrounding electronic music and its fringes.


Tommie Sunshine

Producer/DJ/Activist/Netflix Host