Music Producers Making an Image

In the era of music streaming, virtually anyone can upload songs onto most platforms. While it may be easier to get content out there, it’s much harder to actually get your name recognized in such a big pool of up-and-coming musicians. Producers, though, have it even worse. In the rap genre, there are hundred of thousands of people who use FL studio and other programs to make beats, and its generally very accessible to do. With such a high accessibility, and very low variation to actual production sound in the trap industry, becoming someone well-known and recognizable is difficult. However, some famous figures have found clever ways to make sure they’re name and face stay relevant in an ever-changing

One way producers make themselves known to the public is with producer tags. Tags are essentially a producer’s motto (usually containing their name) that is inserted either at the beginning or end of a track. While they have been around since the early 2000s with Just Blaze and The Alchemist, tags have been popularized in recent years by Metro Boomin, London on da Track, Mike WILL Made-It, and others. The social media era has made tags almost a necessity for producers, as some of them have turned into very popular and trending memes and pop culture references. Generally speaking, the more creative the tag is, the more likely it is to be remembered by audiences. Similarly, if a tag is paired onto a song that blows up on the charts, the producer’s phrase is bound to become just as popular (for example, Jahlil Beats’ tag “Jahlil Beats, holla at me” became trendy solely off the wild success of his produced song ‘Hot ***** by Bobby Shmurda).

Another newer method of producers making themselves known to music audiences is through music videos. In 2016, Metro Boomin’ could be seen in Lil Uzi Vert’s video for “You Was Right“, one of the most viewed visuals of the year. It was a very groundbreaking and clever move by Metro, as many people began to recognize him by face after this promo. Other producers have caught on, too, with Murda Beatz being featured recently in the music video for 6ix9ine’s hit song “FEFE”. However, producers getting their faces recognized isn’t limited to videos, but actual album covers, too. Metro Boomin’ has been seen gracing the cover of multiple records, including Gucci Mane’s ‘DropTopWop’ and Big Sean’s ‘Double or Nothing’. In doing so, he’s managed to get his image onto many different forms of media, raising his brand as a producer.

With so many producers becoming more and more relevant in the public eye, it’s nice to see many of them beginning to get the credit they deserve for their work. Without their beats, many artists wouldn’t be nearly as popular as they are now, but many fans of these artists don’t realize that. Hopefully this networking by producers can make the business much more profitable in the near future, allowing for many other people to turn production into a career. With this, music even in the near future could improve greatly from it, which is a very exciting thing to imagine.