Music making can be hard work and staying at the top of your game requires talent, commitment, and inevitably in this day and age, a pretty thick skin too… So it comes as no surprise to find that Calvin Harris has just – politely – put a Twitter follower in their place for – perhaps – casting shade on Harris’ ability to make bank.
Twitter user @Brace_yoself took to the platform to ask “I always wonder how DJs like Khaled and Calvin Harris make bread. Like all of their songs are other artists. Just production revenue?”
I always wonder how DJs like Khaled and Calvin Harris make bread. Like all of their songs are other artists. Just production revenue?August 26, 2022
It’s doubtless a question that’s been inspired by the ‘cast of thousands’ Harris was able to draft in to contribute to his current hit album Funk Wav Bounces Volume 2 (coming six years after Volume 1) which features an incredible 23 different world-class artists scatter gunned across 14 songs.
It’s an interesting question and we’re certain that @Brace_yoself is merely expressing concern that the multi-millionaire isn’t going to be homeless any time soon, but it is one which appears to ignore Harris’ input into his own hits and sells the Grammy winning artist, DJ, producer, writer and musician somewhat short…
Thus Harris himself penned his reply: “Because I write, produce, mix, play every instrument and sometimes vocal. We found love, Summer, Feel so close for example 100% publishing because I did everything. Only reason I got Frank Ocean feature was he told me we found love was one of his favorite songs. I wrote that song”.
Because I write, produce, mix, play every instrument and sometimes vocal. We found love, Summer, Feel so close for example 100% publishing because I did everything. Only reason I got Frank Ocean feature was he told me we found love was one of his favorite songs. I wrote that song https://t.co/aIc0WktscbAugust 26, 2022
So next time you’re listening to a multi-artist track and musing that the vocalist gets all the money and the big name producer is merely riding on their coat-tails happy to sweep up the scraps, rest easy knowing that at no point does the DAW program itself or instruments play themselves. Neither do tracks produce themselves and that someone somewhere always had to write the song in the first place.
And next time you’re doing it on Twitter, spare a thought for who might be looking in.
