Production mogul to potentially work exclusively with Sony

A few songs that you might or might not have heard on the radio in the last year: “Till the World Ends,” “Blow,” “Price Tag,” “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” and basically every other Katy Perry hit to dominate airplay.

So what do these songs have in common? They are all mainstream, pop, Top 40 material for sure, but they also all share the same producer.

Lukasz Gottwald, better known by his production name Dr. Luke, has been creating those massive radio hits we all love and grow to hate since he gained mainstream exposure on Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” and “Behind These Hazel Eyes.”

Besides being the producer of Katy Perry’s newest No.1-contending single “The One That Got Away,” Dr. Luke is also in the news due to a contract instituted between the producer and Sony/BMG.

In Sony’s quest to become the largest, most powerful record company of them all, the firm has offered Gottwald his own label under the Sony umbrella, Kemosabe Records. This wold essentially render Gottwald an in-house producer for the company, a practice that has generally been left by the wayside these days as artists like to explore different producers and sounds.

But here’s the kicker — Dr. Luke will only be allowed to produce Sony artists.

So, what’s the big deal?

There’s no issue for Ke$ha, a Dr. Luke favorite, since she falls in the Sony domain. Even Beyonce may be able to tap into Gottwald’s radio magic — although it seems she’s happy staying on the funkier side of pop music.

Looking at Katy Perry’s latest record, Teenage Dream, Gottwald produced five of the six singles on the album. However, Perry is signed under Capitol Records, a division of EMI. She will no longer be able to seek the services of Dr. Luke, whom, for better or worse, molded her into the massive superstar that she is now. Can she survive without her hit-maker?