Genre guides R&B
R&B · how it gets madeR&B lives on the voice and the writer room. The record usually starts with a producer and a topliner in the same session, and the money question shows up earlier than in most genres because a co-write is a split from the first hum. This page is about getting that part right.
Builds the track and often does vocal production too. Owns the master until the deal says otherwise. Split on the master, sometimes on the composition if they wrote.
Writes the melody and the lyric over the track. A writer on the composition, paid by split, by fee, or both. Often also the demo vocalist.
Sings the record. May or may not be a writer on it. Owns the performance; the master ownership follows the deal.
Comps, tunes, stacks and mixes. Per song with a revision count, or per hour in the room.
Keys, bass, guitar, horns. Per session or per track, and usually not on the split unless they wrote a part.
Most of the friction is in the handoffs, so this is the order the handoffs happen.
A track exists, or gets built in the room. The topliner writes to it. Whoever is in the room writing is a writer.
Before the demo leaves the room, the writers agree the composition split and the producer confirms the master split. Write it down that day.
The artist cuts the vocal. Comping and tuning is its own job; agree who does it and what it costs.
The mixer gets the trackout, the vocal stack consolidated from bar 1 with the tuning printed on a separate pass, and a reference.
Features are a fee or a split with a delivery date, a credit line and one approval of the final mix.
The split sheet gets signed before the release date is set, not after.
Producers deliver a trackout for the mix. Vocal producers deliver the comped lead, doubles and harmonies as full-length WAVs from bar 1, dry and with the tuning printed as separate files. Name everything with the song title, the part and the BPM and key.
Topliners price per song, by split, or a fee plus a split. Producers price the track as a licence, an exclusive or a custom fee. Vocal production and mixing price per song with a revision count. Session players price per session or per track. Ranges for 2026 are in the pricing guide and the rates posts below.
Every writer in the room is on the composition. The producer is on the master. A feature gets the credit line agreed before the verse is cut. The US default when nobody agrees anything is equal shares among writers, which is rarely what anyone meant, so agree it.
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