Mike Will Made It Inks A Label Deal With Interscope

@MikeWiLLMadeIt
Label Deal | Interscope Records at brunch. Salute to my manager fakeworksince1978 and Jimmy Iovine…

How Mike Will Really Made It Via Forbes:

If you’ve listened to a top 40 hit in the past year you have probably heard producer Michael Williams’ trademark soundbite – a female voice echoing “Mike WiLL Made-It” – at the start of the track. Styling the sounds of Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, Ciara and Kanye West among others, there is no doubt 2013 has been the year Mike Will made it, earning upwards of $1.1 million in the last 12 months, FORBES estimates.

“When I do music I don’t think about urban music, pop or country, I just think about a good song,” says Williams, 24, who has been responsible for over $9.8 million worth of singles sold this year alone.

Since producing for Southern rappers 2 Chainz, Future and Gucci Gucci Mane, Williams has stepped into the mainstream, recording eight songs on Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz, which has shifted over 500,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

“Right now, I don’t feel this generation is thinking about ‘this is too urban,’” said Williams over the phone from Atlanta. “It’s either cool or not; it’s not in a category, it’s not about any of that.”

Williams has the record sales to prove it. Though he might not have a signature production sound – the syncopated drums and heavy synths of Timbaland or the cabasa-coated beats of Pharrell – with his production team EarDrummers Entertainment, he has sold more than 8.4 million singles in 2013 releases through the success of B.O.B’s “We Still In This Bitch”; Ciara’s “Body Party”; Rihanna’s “Pour It Up”; Lil Wayne’ “Love Me”; Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” and Mike Will’s own “23.”

Signed to Interscope, Mike Will’s debut album of collaborations is slated for release next year. It will be a DJ Khaled-style bonanza of guest verses and vocalists, “like a Now! [that's what I call music] collection of hits,” says Williams.

Most producers make money in three ways: earning advances (upwards of $75,000 per song for producers like Will, even low six figures for Swizz Beatz); receiving 3-4% of royalties per track (about 5 cents a song) and half the $0.091 publishing royalties per copy, which are split between songwriter and producer (around $0.045 for each single sold). For his debut album, Williams will receive 4.5% of the royalties assigned to each song, on top of publishing royalties.

Though Williams grew up listening to hip-hop, as a teenager he began educating himself on country and pop. “It started off with me being all the way influenced by Atlanta and southern music but I knew my sound had to grow – I started learning melodies.”

Williams’ crossover appeal resonates in Miley Cyrus’ anthemic “We Can’t Stop,” which has sold over 2.9 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Originally pegged as a hit for Rihanna, Will was pitching the song as a mature version of Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.” After a fortuitous meeting with RCA executives in early 2013, Cyrus heard the track.

“She said she connected with it because it reminded her of some parties she’d been to,” said Williams. “Her album was pretty much done but I felt there was a whole catalogue for what me and this girl could do.” He ended up executive producing Bangerz.

“Then I had “23” on my computer and as soon as she heard it she was like ‘I think I can pull it off.’”

Williams remains a staunch defender of Cyrus, 21, who has raised critics’ eyebrows this year by embracing – some say appropriating – aspects of hip-hop culture.

“It’s not like she’s done urban records that are trash,” Williams points out. “She rapped on [23], she delivered and she swagged on it – why would anybody not want to hear this?”

Williams, who first started dabbling in beatmaking aged 14, was soon using a Korg ES1 gifted from his father to make and sell hip-hop backing tracks for $50. He eventually saved up enough for an Akai MPC 500 and a Korg Trident keyboard, and got his break when Gucci Mane offered him $1,000 for a beat. Though the track didn’t work out, Mike Will quickly produced 20 songs for the rapper and by 2007 was working with 2 Chainz, then known unceremoniously as Tity Boi. He dropped out of Georgia State and met up-and-coming rapper Future in 2010.

“I really believed in 2 Chainz, I really believed in Future, and I was going to the studio with them every single day,” recalls Williams. It wasn’t a glamorous time – flitting from the north and southside of Atlanta, Williams worried about having enough gas to get around. But he was knocking out a song a day, and come 2011 landed his first spot (no. 31) on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip Hop songs with the Meek Mill and Rick Ross fronted “Tupac Back.”

Since then, Williams’ ability to adapt his production to the style of the artists he’s working with – and to bring his influence to their vocal performance – has helped him approach the league of elite producers that includes Dr. Luke, who has co-written or co-produced more than thirty top ten singles since 2004, according to the New Yorker. For all his chameleon-like qualities, Williams’ signature “Mike Will Made It” ensures every song carries his audible stamp.

“My bad to keep talking your head off,” says Williams. We’ve been on the phone for over 40 minutes and he still hasn’t finished telling me about codirecting the video for “23” and collaborating with John Legend and Lebron James in a new Nike commercial.

“I’m just trying to bring the sound from Atlanta over to the mainstream radio in a way that everybody can enjoy.”




Interview By @natrobe



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