New York Office

Kew Gardens, Queens

☎ +1-347-851-6215

Head A&R, C.E.O

Christina Lynn Forbes

☎ +1-718-451-6052

Marketing Director

D'ron Forbes

☎ +1-504-329-0884

© 2019 by Forbes Music Entertainment.

Understanding Record Label Services

As one of the top providers of record label services - and the top ranked brand on google for hip hop management and hip hop radio promotions worldwide; Forbes Music Entertainment has dedicated our brand to the education of young labels and independent recording artists. We believe it's our responsibility to educate the upcoming generation of artists about their rights and career options. Today we want to talk about 3 key secrets to record label services that will help you retain your rights and publishing; and help you make more money.

"The key thing to remember is you don't need major label distribution, you just need artist marketing & promotions."

1. You Don't Need Major Label Distribution

Most independent artist's and labels are seeking record label services because they need better marketing for their products and automatically relate that to having major label distribution. The first key to keep in mind is that you don't need the major label distribution you just need the artist marketing and promotions. You can easily get distribution from a company like Tunecore.


This places you in full control of your music sales, publishing, licensing, YouTube advertising, reproduction and mechanical revenue. Artists like the late Nipsey Hussle, Russ  and Ed Sheeran were all tunecore users before they signed their major deals later on in their careers, after selling millions of albums.

5 Easy Steps to releasing your next record.

  1. Sign up for

  2. Get Tunecore publishing and YouTube revenue deal.

  3. Distribute your first single to stores.

  4. Hire a great marketing agency.

  5. Repeat to build your fan base and audience.

Record label services are present to give independent artists and labels the benefit of reaching the masses without signing a record deal. If you do choose to sign a record deal later on in your career you will have more leverage for having built your fan base ahead of time. This is why it is essential to not give up your rights early on, build a catalog independently and everything else will come to you.

2. Reaching The Majority is All That Matters

The goal of a great marketing team is to have your music being listened to by the majority. When it's all said and done all of your business starts with a single music impression. You start by just getting yourself in front of your target audience and racking up on subscribers from the ones who decide to listen. As people listen, records are being sold and as people subscribe, this paves the way for future success.

5 Facts You Didn't Know about Streaming

  1. 98% of YouTube channels have less than 20K subs.

  2. 300K to 500K views in a single day and you're one of the top 500 artists in the world.

  3. 500K streams would break the Spotify US charts.

  4. 2% of the artists make 90 % of the money.

  5. 15% of the market is all you need for major success.

The more people you can get to listen to your music the more people will want to do business with you. Artists will want to do features, clubs will want to book shows and companies will want do sign endorsement deals; and they will all be willing to pay you for your time.


This is the end game for record label services, but it doesn't have to end there for you. As a somewhat celebrity artist you can move on to acting, public speaking and many other things. Just remember that the real money is in retaining the rights to your masters and publishing.

3. You Can Make More Money Than Major Artists

Most of the major artists you know don't have nearly as much money as you think they have. They only receive about 11% of everything they make because they do not own the masters or the publishing to their recorded music. As an independent recording artist you may have to pay for your own marketing but you keep 100% of everything you make minus small small distribution and collection fees.

Companies like Tunecore have changed the business by allowing artists to self-distribute singles and albums to stores and now even distribute music to Pandora. This means you can get music out to stores, hire a marketing team to make it popular and never have to split your income with anyone. A major artist that sells 1 million records would only see close to $100K in revenue but an independent artist would see over $800K or more.

How to make more money that a major artist?

  1. Start your own label.

  2. Save up a budget.

  3. Distribute your own music.

  4. Hire a great marketing agency.

  5. Keep releases coming.

In Conclusion

I hope that we were able to help you see things more clear, not only as to how record label services work in the music industry but also how you can beat the system by taking charge of your own revenue. Please be sure to follow Forbes Music Entertainment on Social Media. If you already have distribution with Tunecore, CD Baby Pro or any other distributor and you want to get your marketing up to speed, send us your music below.

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PLEASE NOTE: Forbes Music Entertainment will only offer our professional marketing services to the most talented artists. Send us a link to your best single. All of our marketing is organic, so if the music is not quality it won't work well with what we do as a company. We will call if the music is a fit.