I recently spoke with Hannah Boothby from Soundreef about several parts of the music business, including licensing, distribution, radio and how technology is changing the opportunities available to independent artists.
Syntax Creative had only been working with Soundreef for a short time, but we were already seeing results from a relatively small portion of our catalog.
That relationship also illustrates something I think artists often miss: selling music directly to fans is only one way music can generate revenue.
One Placement Can Change Everything
We learned that lesson firsthand around 2000, when one of our songs landed in a major film.
We had already been making and selling music, but that placement changed how I thought about the business. A band can spend an entire year touring, promoting and selling records. Then one well-placed license can generate more money than all of that activity combined.
That realization helped push us into publishing and licensing. We began looking beyond our own songs for writers and catalogs we could represent.
Companies such as Soundreef can create revenue from music in places many artists never think to look.
As I told Soundreef, selling music to fans can be “the toughest way to make money on music.”
The Barrier to Entry Is Much Lower
Technology has also changed who gets to participate.
When I started making records in the ’90s, launching an artist required considerably more money and infrastructure. Recording was expensive. Manufacturing was expensive. National distribution usually required a powerful partner willing to put money behind the project.
That is no longer necessarily true.
An artist can now buy inexpensive recording equipment, make a song at home and use a distributor to get it into digital stores relatively quickly.
That does not mean building a sustainable career is easy. It does mean the gate is wider.
Independent artists who understand social media, audience development and basic business can sometimes build enough of a platform to support themselves without the kind of large partner that once seemed mandatory.
More Access Does Not Mean Nobody Controls the Gate
Traditional radio still has enormous influence over what people hear.
Large radio companies can program music across many markets, which means a relatively small number of decision-makers can have an outsized effect on what becomes familiar to listeners.
That kind of concentration can also make genres begin to sound increasingly similar.
At the same time, listeners now have alternatives. Satellite radio, MP3 players, smartphones and digital services give people more control over what they hear.
Instead of relying entirely on a radio programmer, listeners can increasingly become their own programmers.
Digital Music Is Bringing Tastemakers Back
I also see something encouraging happening inside digital stores.
The music business can become highly centralized whenever companies figure out how to scale something. But digital platforms have also created new opportunities for individual editors and tastemakers.
A great song from an independent artist can reach an editor who genuinely likes it. That person may then feature the track and expose it to listeners who otherwise would never have encountered it.
In some ways, that feels closer to an earlier era of regional DJs discovering records because they liked the music rather than because every market followed the same corporate playlist.
The technology is new, but the idea is old: a good song can still persuade the right person.
Physical Distribution Gets Records on Shelves, Not Off Them
Physical distribution is another area artists often misunderstand.
A distributor can get a record into stores. That is what distribution does.
The distributor cannot guarantee that anyone will buy it.
Artists and labels sometimes believe signing a distribution agreement means sales will simply begin. When the records do not move, they may assume the distributor has failed or is withholding money.
In reality, the distributor may have already spent money manufacturing, shipping, warehousing and placing inventory that customers never purchased.
Getting a product onto the shelf and creating enough demand to get it off the shelf are different jobs.
The artist and label still have to market the music, build an audience and give people a reason to buy.
The Business Is Still the Business
Technology has made many parts of releasing music faster and more efficient, but the basic work is surprisingly familiar.
Artists still need good music. Labels still need a plan. Distributors still need products people want. Someone still has to connect the song with an audience.
What has changed is the number of ways we can do that.
Film and television licensing, publishing, digital distribution and new forms of discovery have created opportunities that did not exist in the same way when I started.
For artists willing to understand the business around their music, that is a good thing.
Read the full first installment of my interview with Soundreef.