@Fourfive Hxllxw yo just being honest here, no one in the industry works for free. No serious artist in the industry expects an engineer, or producer to work for free. When some one does work for you, it is helping you achieve your sonic goals and depending on how good they are, that's exactly why you would pay them their rate. Engineers and producers spend thousands on the craft, from equipment, to tools, to education, mentorship ect. Why would anyone who'd invest in themselves like that trade all that time and money for the promise of exposure. You were right in this thread to say you definitely need good music to succeed in the industry, but what you didn't say is that too succeed in this industry you have to invest in yourself, even if that means paying people to do the good work that makes the record shine, the producer, the mixing engineer, the mastering engineer, the marketing team, the videographer, the distributor...everyone. The ones who dont make it are the ones that try to convince others that exposure alone will pay there bills. And in my experience no body at a high level wants to work with those types of people. Just my 2 cents.