I could see how a relationship like that could easily get sleazy. It's like the parents of the protégé have to give up all rights to their kid (if they're young enough) so the producer can make them a "star".
The photo is perfect to explain what I tried to. Those kinds of familiar smiles like he has in that picture shouldn’t even be happening between a married man and a very young (even adult) woman. The producer of the girl I know has photos of her and praises her all over his Twitter feed / IG feed. It’s slightly gross to me, even though he has a male singer he pushes too. It doesn’t seem as bad for the guy. It’s just unseemly.