In this day and age of technology, every female vocalist must come to the realization that there is a human being behind them that makes them a diva. Without the music, the production and the beats, no one would be dancing to their acapella. I hate to be so blunt, but I see to many young ladies who can sing and think that is all that is required of them to be rich and famous. They feel because they have placed their vocals & lyrics on top of a track that people should bow before them. This is just non-sense. The music is just as important as the vocals. The drums, melody and rhythm helps give the listener a better feel of the emotions being expressed. It is the mixing of the two elements from both parties that create the magic of the track.
The vocalist that only sings and maybe writes lyrics get off easy. The hard part is the creation of the track, the production of the track and the mix down of the track with the vocals. Most of the time you must use auto tuning software on the vocalist to repair their mistakes. What makes most of the vocalists sound so great is the recipe of effects the producer uses on their voices.
If it wasn’t for the producers there would be no divas. Sure Gloria Gaynor brought something unique to the disco classic “I Will Survive”, but the music in this track is an emotional roller coaster. She could not have expressed such great heart & soul without such an emotional track under her.
Sometime in mid 2006’ I met a young lady after I had posted a message online looking for a female vocalist to appear on some tracks. When we first met she was very humble. She was happy to be getting the chance to sing on some tracks. I agreed with her that any profit that comes from the music projects we collaborate on together I would split with her.
We began to make tracks together. The power between us was amazing. The first two tracks were very good. The creative power together was amazing. I would write a beat with the basic melody and send it to her over the Internet in mp3 format. She would then write a song to this beat I created. Then she would record her vocals for me as I would work on the track getting it ready for vocals. After she sent me her vocals, I would mix them into our song.
The process was complicated because I was not in a studio with her to direct her on how I wanted her to sing; it was very hard doing this online.
When we first started working together and I saw the power between us, I warned her of what I call fiends. A fiend is basically a hater except a fiend will want what you have that they hate on. They will then conspire to take or ruin what you have so they can have it. Just like a dope fiend. If a fiend wants something you have, they will get it one way or another. I knew that there would be jealous producers that would try to step in between us.
Once we had completed a few tracks, I began to create product and promote us. Everything I did for us was out my personal pocket. Never once did she offer to help with any of the costs. If anything she only expected money. I pressed a CD and 2 records. I also promoted our work. I spent over $3000 dollars on product and promotion of our projects. The total revenue from this investment is about $1200 dollars. This is not even half of what I invested into our work.
The tone with my vocalist began to change after the 3rd solid track we created. She began accusing me of stealing from her. She told me that others were telling her what I was really making from her. Today I laugh because what I warned her about happened. She was listening to other producers who were not in my shoes, judging me. Of course they will bad mouth me if it means you will sing with them.
Shortly after this she began working with other producers. I will not lie, I felt betrayed. I enjoyed the magic we had and I saw no reason why she needed to work with other producers. If she was trying to gain fame then more power to her. I will not stand in her way. It just blows what I thought we were doing together, even though I did all the work and paid out all the expenses.
I figured these new producers were the ones she was talking to behind my back. The same ones that were filling her head with thoughts that I was getting rich off of her. Even today I laugh at that. In this business, it is possible to hit it with one track, but in most cases artists and bands can take 10 years of hard work to make a name for them selves. That is a lot of commitment that most who try do not have. At this point in my career, I had been producing for 7 years. I had showed my commitment and heart. She had only been singing on tracks a few months. She was getting an easy ride, but as in most cases it was not good enough for the diva.
Eventually her attitude pushed me away from her. I began to get tired of her moaning all the time about how I wasn’t making her a star fast enough. She had become demanding, expecting me to send her money when she wanted it. I could not help her. There was no money. I did agree to split the profits, but this includes losses too. The revenue is still in the negative compared to costs. There is no money to give her.
This was not good enough for the diva so I let her go. I figured maybe she will appreciate it more if she has to work herself for it. What I had done for her was much more than beyond the call of duty. What I was doing for her was something I only wish someone would have done for me when I was only one year into the scene. You would think that a rational human being would be grateful for what has been done for them, especially when someone spent over $3000 dollars on them out of their personal pocket. Let us not forget about the time invested, the opportunity presented and the exposure. How could you not be grateful for these things?
After I let go of her, she began spreading her vocals from tracks we created together to other producers all over the Internet. Still as of now, I have no idea why. I have seen way too many remixes of tracks that we wrote together. The best part is none of these kids give credit to me for writing the original version.
When the vocalist and I made our first or any song together, we created what is called a joint work. Since we had no contract, copyright law would hold that both of us each own an undivided interest in the whole of the copyright. This means in essence that we each own 50% and you can each exploit the entire work so long as you account and pay royalties to the other. What she is doing is copyright infringement and exposes herself, the remixer / producer who changed the works and any website exploiting those works without my permission to legal action and damages.
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