Record labels Archives

5 Signs Your Record Label Needs NFTs As A Music Distribution Differentiator

Anyone that buys or sells music has discovered that COVID-19 brought upon us all a new set of consumer expectations. Companies using outdated pre-COVID-19 music sales strategies will not survive in a post-COVID-19 world. If you are distributing music in a traditional way, such as streaming, and your sales strategies are similar to a few years ago chances are that those distribution methods are outdated which means that you may be unconsciously losing fanbase market share.

I recognize the pain points and that everyone has anxiety due to recent market shifts, and might be afraid or fearful about cryptocurrency, stock market concerns, economic unrest, and the like, but donât put this off because the rough spots in the market will pass, however, you cannot afford to not use NFTs as a true distribution source for music. NFTs are a differentiator for your record label. This is guaranteed and if you do not innovate others will pass you by.

Passing You By Due To Lack Of Innovation

I was working for one of the world's largest gaming companies, negotiating Influencer and streetwear licensing deals, when the pandemic hit and it was an overnight shift in how we saw buying. We use microtransactions for gamers' avatar vanity capsules, however, after COVID-19 the gamers began gaming differently, and music artists began broadcasting concerts in the gaming vertical on Twitch. Consumers started to communicate how they wanted to be contacted, how they wanted to buy, which platform, when, and how they made their own decisions. They were becoming a different type of consumer and this directly empowered them.

Itâs been painful to observe record labels struggling with artist music releases, where rollout plans have horribly failed for large artists, and where labels have failed to engage fans as they are not paying attention to new consumer patterns of buying and they keep doing the status quo.

Those who have tuned in to see where fans are hanging out like in Discord NFT rooms and Twitter rooms, community collaboration events with other music and NFT peers, and are open to experimenting with cryptocurrency, have shared insights of who will be able to differentiate or who will be successful.

From the cryptocurrency, Web3 conversations, which can be overwhelming and confusing as the market shifts, sometimes can provide a looking glass into the future.

Still, navigating the space will prove to be the key for successful labels, and without adoption of new strategies, it may also just be the grounds for early disqualification by fans. Especially for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, embracing NFTs as a form of distribution is beneficial for the artist fans and the labels and will be profitable for all.

5 Signs That Your Record Label Needs NFTs As A Music Distribution Differentiator And Is Begging For Leadership To Engage

Your consumers are picking cheaper subscription music service models from a competitor.
Your A&Rs, artist and label partnership managers, and C-suite executives appear to not be active in virtual spaces, AR spaces, engaging in crypto discussions, and designing record deals that included advances in cryptocurrency and address NFT procurement & distribution in major label deals.
A well-planned teaching initiative for fans, educating the audience in NFT/cryptocurrency basics, where the fans foster demand organically and achieve scalability. Effective planning to counter the learning gap for fans to buy NFTs must be closed and it must be constantly cultivated for ease of purchasing NFTs.
The artist marketing efforts are focused on traditional music distribution models rather than on educating on NFTS and creating demand for your artist's music in new platforms and innovative spaces like NFTs.
Buying new music from you is a hassle without an easy way to use cryptocurrency on the label website, where the labels provide links to Coinbase wallet, Opensea, and more. This helps fans understand the process for executing an NFT purchase.

What has been your experience with the modernization of the sales process and engaging modern buyers? I would love to get your perspective.

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5 Signs Your Record Label Needs NFTs …

Why Record Labels Still (And Will Always) Matter

I’m guilty of fighting for the underdog in all circumstances especially when it comes to music. This may be a product of my upbringing, as my mother was known for being an incredibly kind, caring individual, treating my siblings and me exceptionally equally in all matters of life. This early pattern has served me well today as we see huge culture shifts in the music industry emerging, where indie artists are able to survive, maybe not thrive, but survive. This is inspiring to me.

However, I will always be a fan of major label achievements as well, with a focus on social media platforms like TikTok for talent scouting and metaverse concerts now moving into a mainstream position. Even with independent musicians gaining newfound revenue on brand deals, NFT opportunities, increased distribution partnerships, and touring revenue, I still worry about the impact of not having major label support. I have learned from working with music tech companies and gaming companies that having label support is essential to sustain a robust career in music. You may be discovered on TikTok but how do we know if you can maintain the heat?

As a professional signed music artist, your job is to make hot records. It’s nothing personal.

Success always comes down to a hit song and without it you're climbing a serious uphill battle. To me, having the connections of decades of music work where studio sessions, producer connections, and collaborations thrive in the major label system, provides serious insight into why major record labels thrive. Do I believe that there are exceptions to hit songs where an indie artist can create a banger? Well yes. Yes, I do. But economies of scale and history of voluminous impactful hit records in multiples have always resided in houses built by Sony, Warner & Universal. Let’s explore further why major labels have success-breaking music artists on a scale that is undeniable.

Artist Leveraging

I've seen a greater ratio of success with a larger volume of artists under one roof, where leveraging leading music artists helps smaller less established ones. Majors are able to execute proven roadmaps to break artists, for less money, more efficiently at a faster rate. And why shouldn’t they? They’ve actually put in the work.

To do this, they:

Leverage decades of work where they've had the opportunity to test many different types of distribution
Experiment in many different forms of social media ad placements for release strategies like hiring TikTok influencers to twerk to a Tyga song or rolling out an ad campaign for Dua Lipa that geographically targets her fanbase
Not to mention huge success with peers on the label that succeed in the touring with each other

Business Acumen That’s Exceptional

For example, with Universal Music group going public and reporting today a 21.6 quarterly revenue increase to 2.32 billion dollars, their portfolio style approach has shown us what a leader UMG is in the space. The growth across multiple business units is incredible and with their diversified artist roster, songwriters, retail merchandising, publishing and emerging metaverse projects in new markets is an incredible achievement. I’m excited as I have a feeling that UMG is just getting started. The teams at UMG are exceptional, enough said.

Marketing Buys & Ad Promotions

We cannot deny that when your company is making billions of dollars there may be a correlation to artist marketing success. (An understatement). However, the benchmarks from years of taking the risks and investing in huge music artists have provided the roadmap. Majors have invaluable, incredible statistics and analytical data assisting in maximizing dollars helping to make streaming ad buy decisions and spends for marketing dollars with an almost guaranteed success for releases.

Although I will always root for indie artist street hustle on the daily, I value and appreciate what labels are accomplishing as we make a huge culture shift. If you're considering a career in music, building a strategy for gaining label exposure is essential and fighting for that major label deal is crucial and definitely worth the effort.

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