Music Creator Interviews — PB ‘The Plug’ (Music Producer) Part 1
Josh: So PB, thanks for making the time to discuss. Let’s get right into it! First question: how did you get started in music?
PB: Yeah, so it’s kinda cliche. I grew up in church as a drummer playing music with you (Josh) in church for many years. This was during my secondary school days; one day I just remember coming into my music lesson and saw that the school had acquired brand new iMacs installed with Logic Pro (A DAW — Digital Audio Workstation). I would use lesson time to just play around with it and what helped was that I have older brothers who have been producing longer than I have and used to watch them use Logic so I caught on quite quickly.
College is where I realised that I was quite good at this, although I was initially inconsistent in actually creating beats what kept me going was that I found what I was doing as fun. At University, I bought my first home speakers and it was at that point I realised, “yeah this is what I want to do” even though I was still studying full time. During one of my years at uni, I met a guy called Jesse (now my business partner and fellow producer) and at the time I was looking for somewhere to live for the academic year and randomly hit him up to see if he was interested in living together and the rest is history. We recently just set up our first ever studio together called — Questions Studios
I’ve been independent since I started my journey and two things that have really helped me succeed is: 1.) God 2.) Building healthy networks with producers, artists, and managers. Collaboration is so key — as the saying goes “two heads are better than one.”
Josh: That’s really great to hear bro! Proud of your journey so far.
PB: Thanks bro, means a lot!
Josh: Okay, question two: Could you talk about some of the challenges you’ve experienced/ had to overcome so far in your career?
PB: A lot! I’d say not knowing what’s next was the biggest challenge amongst others. In the music industry, the way it usually works is that an artist would have an idea of what they want or sometimes they might not fully know, they’ll either get sent beats or might find one themselves and be in contact with the beat-maker/producer and then they get together in the studio, work on whatever project it may be — EP, single, album etc and then the music is released. (There are other things that generally happen in between that I’ve missed out)
With all that being said, the key element is that me getting a job is down to when the artist wants to release the next music. I had to keep working hard even when no jobs were coming. There are a lot of ‘closed doors’ in the music industry. It’s always business regardless of the relationship. People need to remember that.
Josh: That’s a very important thing you’ve mentioned about it being business first
PB: It’s quite easy to forget especially when you develop good relationships with an artist, their management etc. At the end of the day, we’re all working professionals so I try my best to maintain relationships professionally regardless of if it organically develops into a personal one or not
Josh: Makes sense! Onto the third question which is twofold, How have you developed yourself as a brand as well as your knowledge of the music industry?
PB: So PB is short for Producer Boy but my boys were bantering me about my social media handle since I’m no longer a boy lol so I shortened it to @pbtheplug. To be fair, I’ve always focused on production and just making sure its good. I’ve held (and still hold) myself to a high standard and that’s ensured that people know me for good quality music production.
I also studied Psychology at University so it helps me to not only be able to read the room and relate with other creatives I work with but has helped develop my creativity and enhance my critical thinking which I’d like to think is all apart of my brand.
In terms of developing my knowledge of the music industry, I was fortunate enough to do a placement at a record label where I picked up a lot of different things. One of the things that was vague to me was how finance worked in the industry in terms of advances, royalties, points etc.
Josh: So what’s the payment process between the label as the payer you the producer as a payee for example?
PB: So each label has their own payment system, it varies from label to label. I should note that this is different from PRS (Performing Right Society) who handle rights management, royalties, points etc. These payment systems have to do more with advances. They will create a purchase order and you send them an invoice attached with the purchase order. This is where things get tricky *laughs* — some labels get you your money in 5 days, some a week or longer, others take several months. This is why I always have the finance conversation prior to any music being released or it just falls to the bottom of the list.
Josh: Interesting! So you were a co-producer on Track 7: ‘Mainstream’ on Headie One’s #1 album — Edna. The track has over 1.5M streams on Spotify which is impressive. Talk us through how that came about?
PB: So that all actually happened during the first lockdown, there were no sessions happening at the time. My friend sent him (Headie One) a pack of beats, some of which I had made by myself, some I made with friends and he chose the Mainstream beat. Later down the line, leading up to the album, formalities were all done and yeah man the rest is history.
Josh: Okay, final question now: What do you see the music industry as now vs what it could become tomorrow?
PB: To be totally honest with you, the industry today is built on nepotism. It’s who you know and not what you know. That’s why there’s are a lot of artists who aren’t good but they’re exposed to great opportunities. I feel like Creditz is another avenue to getting what you want and need quicker. I can find an artist, message them without going through unnecessary gatekeepers. I really see it as a huge part of the future of the evolving music ecosystem.
There are a lot of projections in the music industry about other artists, producers and creators which unfortunately can sometimes hurt a creatives reputations especially if its coming from credible people in the industry. This is something I really hope changes but it’s not as likely anytime soon.
Josh: Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the industry. Creditz really aims to solve some of the problems creators face and we’re quite confident that our platform will provide value to creators who aren’t as visible or want to take their career to the next stage.
Well PB, thank you for your time today! It’s much appreciated. We definitely need to have a part two to this interview
PB: Anytime bro and yes most definitely for sure! Looking forward to it!
