Music Industry

I’ve NEVER revealed this before

Today, we’re going to talk about something that I really live for and something that has been a huge part of my 2017 & 2018. It’s basically the changes in the music industry and what will happen in the future. What’s happening right now is incredibly amazing and I’m so excited for myself and for everyone else. We have an amazing opportunity for any content creator, musician, artists or anyone because it just never been so easy to create both music and content for this cost. All you need is a camera and your ideas. Just record your thing or ideas and put it out there then the world will consume it.

Nowadays, we are transitioning from the old physical format into the digital platform. The upside of this is we have different variety of music and things to consume. The downside is a bit complicated when it comes to how it actually works. It’s nothing new but the music industry has always been rigged. Basically, the music industry is owned by the major labels because they invest more money into marketing and placing their artist and the product in front of our eyes. The more you hear their songs, the more you tend to like it, hence, the popularity and charts. It’s always been like this, nothing has changed. BUT we have this massive change when it comes to the platform and this is something I cannot emphasize enough. This is an amazing opportunity, you need to take it and do it now because it’s still CHEAP and easy. Educate yourself more just to get your head around what’s going on.

If you are an artist, producer, or a small record label owner, there are two ways for you to make money, or for your songs to reach a bigger fan base or for your brand to grow. It’s about streaming, and you need to be in the right place in the food chain. If you are down in the food chain, you will not earn that much which is logical but don’t ever think that you don’t have the opportunity and the possibility to be higher in the food chain.

Now that we are leaving the physical format and entering the digital music where streaming is the future, the problem is how the payout system works. I wish more people have more knowledge about how this works so let me share some tips:

  1. What do you need to do? How does it work?

Back in the days when we had the physical sales, the whole system was just as rigged. People influence other people by playing their music on TV and radios. It has always been about the budget and marketing that you can do. With the transition from the physical format into the digital one, the payout system is a bit broken. People say that Spotify, Apple music, etc don’t pay money to the songwriters and artists BUT THEY DO! The difference between physical copies and streaming is the ownership. Once you buy the physical copies such as CDs, it’s yours forever while in streaming, you just lease the songs that’s why you need to pay subscription fees. But the pie is not divided equally at all; it depends on who owns the MASTERFILE which means who uploaded the file, and in many cases that is the record labels. You need to have bigger share on the Masterfile to earn some money; don’t release your music unless you have some kind of negotiation on your share.

  1. How to put yourself out there?

It has never been easier or cheaper to create contents, to make more videos, to start your fan base, and to engage more people. Build your own email list and start a Facebook page and Instagram account. This will give you leverage to the whole value when you release your music because you already built followers. It’s a marketing strategy without spending that much money.

Hope this helps! Leave a comment if you have questions/suggestions and let’s talk about them.

Best / Dejo
CEO, Eleven B Studios

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