I'm not sure where you got the idea that a producer doesn't charge for his or her work because that simply isn't the case. While a Producer who is seeking new acts to produce that he or she might try and shop to a label or sign to their production company may not charge and artist up front costs, rest assured you will be paying in the end. Dependent upon the type of deal you work out with the Producer they may be simply producing your music where you release and promote the music yourself. In situations like that the producer will charge a production fee and may require "points" on the record as well. A well known Producer with Grammy's would certainly cost upward of $50,000 to as much as a million dollars and would take points on the record.

Contrary to what many people believe well known producers do look for new acts all the time that they can groom and try to market. The chance of the producer finding an act that will actually yield financial windfalls from record sales is less than your chance of winning Lotto. In the music industry your chance of making more money from flipping a hamburger than selling records is quite high. Sad but very true.