James Blake has claimed that “95 per cent” of the work he has done as a music producer has been unpaid.
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The Grammy-winning artist released his seventh studio album ‘Trying Times’ on Friday (March 13), his first since 2023’s ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’ and the first since he went independent and split from Republic Records. He has described it as “my favourite record I’ve ever made”.
In addition to his solo work, Blake is also a highly regarded producer, having worked on projects including Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’, Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’, Jay-Z‘s ‘4:44’ and Rosalía’s ‘Motomami’.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, he opened up about his experiences behind the producer’s desk, saying: “I’d say 99, not 99… 95 per cent of the work I’ve done was unpaid.”
When asked why, he continued: “Well, because as a producer, you’re just throwing paint, you’re throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks.”
“I’d say the 10,000 hours that we talk about arriving at some kind of mastery of something, I probably spent that just doing things that never came out, which is nuts really.”
He clarified that he was not complaining, but stressed that it is “just the way the industry is that producers don’t get paid by the hour. So you can spend a lot of hours on a piece of music, and then the direction of a record can change.”
“And that can happen with me too. I can just wake up one day and just realize, ‘Oh shit, we’ve been going in the wrong direction.’ And then five to 10 songs just disappear.”
Blake concluded by saying it is an “unusual industry for sure in terms of the way things are re-enumerated, the way time is rewarded. I think to come up against that kind of numbers game, I think you have to have a really true obsession with create, making music.”
Blake has announced a UK and European tour for later this year, kicking off with a headline performance at the O2 Academy Brixton in London on September 29. See the full list of dates here, while tickets go on general sale at 10am local time on Friday (March 20) – you’ll be able to buy yours here. Alternatively, fans can access a pre-sale at 11am on Tuesday (March 17) by signing up here.
Blake is also set to tour in North America this year to showcase ‘Trying Times’ (find any remaining tickets here). He’ll also make an appearance at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland in May.