Credit: James Blake

James Blake claims that “95% of the work” he’s done as a producer has been unpaid

Sun 15 March 2026 9:57, UK

James Blake continues to open up about the unfairness of the music industry, claiming that around 95% of the work he has done as a producer has been unpaid.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the singer-songwriter was asked to explain the process of a producer being roped into a new musical project, when he made the claim, “I’d say 99, not 99… 95 percent of the work I’ve done was unpaid.”

When asked to elaborate, Blake 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.”

However, Blake was quick to add that this was “not even a complaint,” rather, “it’s just the way the industry is that producers don’t get paid by the hour.”

Blake explained that the creative direction of a project can change, so many hours of work are lost: “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.”

Turning the eye on himself, he added, “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.”

As such, the 37-year-old deemed it 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 just dropped his seventh studio album, Trying Times. In a four-star review of the project, Far Out observed, “Blake may not have fulfilled the prophecy of becoming the ‘future of electronic music’ as we expected, but through a steadfast commitment to becoming a jack of multiple trades, he’s made a record that expertly showcases more sides to his artistry than we’ve ever been privy to before.”

The star has also recently announced a run of UK and European tour dates in support of the work.