A controversy has popped up on the internet earlier this week after an interview between Eric “E. Dan” Dan of ID Labs and BeatStars was released recently where the producer claimed that Atlantic Records was labeling albums as mixtapes as a way to underpay producers (watch the clip below).
.@WizKhalifa's producer E. Dan (@IdlabsMusic) explains how record labels avoid paying producers + how Wiz' loyalty got him beat placements
Exclusive interview with @DJPain1 + @BeatStars
pic.twitter.com/qAgm430dE5 — BeatStars (@BeatStars) January 2, 2018
A lot of producers since then have come out and spoken on the situation and shared their own sh*tty experiences with different labels. Sonny Digital said that it was unfair to single out Atlantic when all other labels were adopting the same exact method.
If you gonna call out Atlantic then you might as well call out all the labels because they all doing the same thing. Shit cash money was dropping actual albums and wasnt even paying the producers. You can’t just single out one party when all other parties doing the same. https://t.co/YaKPQfOgrn
— Sonny (@SonnyDigital) January 3, 2018
In that conversation, TM88 of Atlanta based production team 808 Mafia has made a startling revelation that he never got paid for producing Lil Uzi Vert’s chart topping hit ‘XO TOUR Llif3’. He let the info out on his Twitter while replying to a fan about how much he made off the contribution.
https://twitter.com/TM88/status/949354256250867713
It’s crazy to think that a song that peaked at the number 7 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 didn’t convert to any checks for the song’s producer. ‘XO TOUR Llif3’ is also certified 5x platinum in the U.S. and was largely responsible for shooting Uzi Vert to stardom over the Summer last year. Uzi is jointly signed to Generation Now, a label founded by Don Cannon & Leighton Morrison, and Atlantic Records.