You’ve probably never heard of Ashley Wallbridge, but you’ve almost certainly heard his work.
As one of electronic dance music’s biggest ghost producers, Wallbridge has charted a number of tracks on Beatport, but according to the ways ghost production is addressed in EDM, he won’t be getting any credit for his work.
“Ghost production means you sign an NDA [a non-disclosure agreement], and you can never mention your part in the record, and you will never receive any credit. You don’t build a discography, you don’t build a reputation… you’re a ghost.” 
However, Wallbridge has finally stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight alongside Gareth Emery with their newest project, CVNT5. DJ Mag had the opportunity to interview the “newly minted” artist and get his opinion on the dirty underbelly of ghost production and what his new endeavor is all about.
Started as the result of a drunken pub conversation, CVNT5 is portrayed to be a pair of talentless wannabes all too ready to pay their way to the top. But what started as one “for the hell of it” video, has now turned into a real prospect.
“We didn’t make any statement about ghost producing, we just made what we thought was a funny as fuck video that was a satire of a lot of the clichés in dance culture today.”
While we’re all aware of ghost producing running rampant in dance music, the biggest problem is how far it goes, and the dishonest final product that ends up getting served to loyal fans.
“The uncredited NDA bullshit should stop. It’s also really unauthentic; you are selling the fans something totally fake. All these young kids thinking you’re a hot shot producer when actually you can’t even make a basic demo.”
But what was the final straw for Ashley Wallbridge? Here’s his response. We can only imagine who the ego-inflated artists could be…
“Seeing tracks I have created change people’s careers, watching them earn a fuck ton, talk about how they made the record/their production skills, lying to the fans, etc., just felt so fucking wrong. Add to that the ego that also grows with the success… they would come back to me for another #1 and speak to me like I was serving a Big Mac at McDonald’s. No respect whatsoever and I’m done with it.”
For the full interview, click here.
H/T DJ Mag
