Atlantic Records Under Fire For Underpaying Producers by Retitling Albums as ‘Mixtapes’

Earlier this week, Atlantic Records was accused of allegedly underpaying producers by retitling albums as ‘mixtapes.’

According to Wiz Khalifa’s frequent producer, E. Dan – who makes one-third of the production trio, ID Labs – exposed the record label in an interview with BeatStars stating that Atlantic Records underpays producers by retitling rappers’ albums as “mixtapes,” “street albums,” or “compilation albums.”

Producing the records “Lit” featuring Ty Dola $ign, “Elevated,” and “iSay” featuring Juicy J to name a few off Wiz Khalifa‘s 2016 project Khalifa, E. Dan went into detail about the payment he received from Atlantic, explaining that the label paid him half than what he would normally charge for production.

The Khalifa album, I don’t know what they called it, a ‘street album?’ They came up with some really clever name that essentially meant, ‘Everyone involved, you’re going to get paid half what you normally do.’ I’ve seen it happen often over the last few years. Anything to save a buck for these labels.

Though he received a pay cut, E. Dans clarified in an open letter to DJ Booth that he knew what he was getting himself into:

I was happy to get paid what I did for the project. While not ideal, half of my usual rate for working on a Wiz Khalifa album is still a much better rate than I would get from a developing or indie artist’s album. I knew what I was getting into before it was put together and was literally given the choice to take less because that’s what the budget allowed or I could personally shut the project down if I was unhappy about the compensation because frankly, this was an album of mostly B-sides that no one was sure they wanted to release anyway.

BeatStars on Twitter: “.@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 / Twitter”

@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

Sonny on Twitter: “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 / Twitter”

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.

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