Why aren’t producers credited on streaming services?

Image: Truelove’s STL Studios

As the debateover streaming and digital royalties continues, and as US publishers push for revisionson decades-old consent decree agreements, there’s a horde of essential industry figures fighting just to be recognised.

TMN has been made aware of a Facebook post by local producer Sonny Truelove who asks: “How do we get credit for the work we have done on a record in this day of digital media?”

“Gone are the days of the physical copies where our hard work is credited physically, on a piece of paper where people can hold it and read it,” the post reads.

Truelove has produced, engineered and mixed records by Amity Affliction, Young Lions and Before Their Eyes (USA) at his STL Studios in Sydney.

The Facebook post inspired US producer Brian D. Hood to pen an op-ed blog entryabout the issue.

“If you’re not an A-list producer/studio, good luck getting proper credit where credit is due,” he wrote.

Hood, who has worked with The Devil Wears Prada, Memphis May Fire and Sworn In, among others, called out iTunes, Spotify and YouTube as the three major players and offenders.

“The problem here is that NONE of these three places include,” Hood added. “Where, then, are we supposed to be credited for our hard work? Where can someone go to learn who produced/mixed/mastered their favourite songs?

“The ‘middle class’ of the studio world is getting shafted, and it’s time to change that.”

TMN understands that all distributors collect information regarding songwriters, producers, engineers and mixers, and deliver that information to streaming services.

Some streaming services do collect the aforementioned data, like Spotify, and some don’t.

TMN reached out to Apple, Spotify, Pandora and YouTube – all who fail to credit producers and engineers – for comment.

Apple told TMN thatApple Music does not credit producers, writers and engineers.

Spotify said in a statement: “We don’t currently offer this level of information but that it’s an area we’re looking into.”

Should Spotify begin crediting the players behind singles and albums it will add another major drawcard to its platform – but it won’t be the only one.

Jay Z’s artist-owned streaming service Tidal not only offers additional information on producers, writers, mixers and engineers, it also includes art direction, sample clearance, creative director, photography, mixing assistant and A&R credits.

Tidal

Tidal

Jake Challenor, CEO of digital agency Jaden Social and co-founder of Social Family Records, told TMN:

“Almost all labels and distributors request this data, but, unfortunately, the major streaming platforms either don’t collect or don’t publish these credits – yet.

“The exception is artist-owned Tidal,” he added, “who offer subscribers all label copy, including producer and engineer info right through to A&R credits.”

In regards to YouTube, both Challenor and Hood have advised behind-the-scenes industry figures to require artists to credit them in the description field.

“One thing I’ve started doing is requiring all bands to credit me on their YouTube description,” Hood wrote on his blog. “Ideally, this is brought up in advance, before the deposit has been sent to you.”

Challenor told TMN: “It’s best practice for labels or artists to use the description field for credits and even lyrics – which not only gives music fans more to consume, but helps with search engines rankings.”

Perhaps what is most shocking about the lack of credits on streaming services is how potentially simple it would be to introduce. If the information is included digitally using an API (application programming interface), we could interact with tracks and albums in much the same way we do with physical releases. Only with the splendour of digital, the liner notes, credits, contacts and lyrics could link to the appropriate web pages and artists’ ’thanks’ could be video recordings.

“Ideally, I’d like to see the major streaming services implement sections within their platforms that have full artist, producer, mixer, and writer credits, with links to their relevant social media/contact pages,” Truelove told TMN.