You should pay me for stuff. Honestly, you should. You get all this content on this site for free. You should pay me for my music at the very least.

The same principle applies to record labels. You should pay me if you want me to do work for you. This all reminds me of an incident in 2019. A sub-label of one of the majors – I’m not saying who – offered me a remix opportunity. It was for an up and coming artist, they said. There was going to be quite a big publicity drive for the artist and having my name associated would be a good thing.

It probably would, yes. So I asked how much money they were prepared to pay me for my work. None, came back the answer. It was all for exposure and potential paid work would be available if the song performed well.

I turned it down flat. Why? Because I can confidently state that everyone else working on that record was getting paid. I bet the artists are getting paid. I bet the singer was paid. I bet the mastering engineer is getting paid. I bet the studio are getting paid. Why should I not get paid?

Like I said, you should pay me for things. If you can pay me, you’re going to. End of discussion. The exact amount is negotiable – I don’t even think I’m expensive, for heaven’s sake – but you are going to pay me something for my work and my time.

Would you tell a binman at the end of his shift that he wasn’t getting paid? Would you expect your barber to give you free haircuts? Of course you wouldn’t. Working for payment in the currency of exposure is frankly insulting. Exposure doesn’t pay for food in the supermarket. Exposure doesn’t pay the bills.

Money? Now that does.