IT IS EASIER THAN EVER TO RELEASE MUSIC, BUT ISIN'T IT AS HARD TO GET NOTICED?
The growing popularity of streaming services, Spotify in
particular, is no secret since the augmenting “Do It
Yourself” (DIY) artist community has gained significant ground
in recent years, and it is rapidly expanding to reach the
title of "billion dollar industry"
Therefore, it is safe to assume that this new trend is
becoming an inherent part of the process of starting a music
career.
Without a doubt, it is nowadays easier than ever to self-
release music, however as smooth as it may be to begin the
music journey, it turns out to be just as difficult to become
noticed.
For some years now, DIY artists from various levels and
backgrounds have been able to self-release their songs quickly
and affordably through a distributor, without necessarily being
signed. The distributor will already have a deal in place with
the online stores rather than having the stores sign a contract
with each artist.
All artists need to do nowadays is open an online account and
upload their songs (which need to meet certain audio quality
criteria), and the mission is accomplished: the material could
be streamable worldwide in a matter of hours. It is worth
mentioning that in most cases, these new types of deals allow
artists to retain the full percentage of the streaming
royalties.
For instance, the company Distrokid - which I, personally, use
regularly, allows unlimited distribution not only to all major
online stores, such as Spotify, Amazon, Apple or Google, but
to more than fifteen others, and this for a yearly fee as little
as £19.99.
However, the question remains, especially for starting DIY
artists, as to how to market their music to become noticed
and create a following audience on a platform that uploads
some 40,000 tracks per day, considering that
in the vast majority of cases there isn’t enough marketing
budget available.
There seems to be a misconception that publishing your music
on the internet is all you have to do to get known out there,
or possibly be discovered by a sponsor that will make you
famous.
But uploading songs to the formidable cloud of digital
platforms alone is not enough to create a community of
following fans or become a hit; it is crucial to attend relevant
events, play live shows, as well as be present on other social
media platforms.
A detailed, well-planned strategy needs to accompany your
product for it to have a chance to work. The artist needs to
start changing the way they feel about their music and start
seeing it from a business point of view. An efficient marketing
strategy is undoubtedly achievable on a low budget.
“While music is an art, it is also a serious business”.
In the digital era, streaming services like Spotify have now
become the equivalent of manufacturing and selling physical
CDs. Even the term ‘mechanical royalties’ referring to album
sales has remained unchanged and extends to streaming
royalties.
This new system has revolutionised the recording music
industry to become the DIY culture of today.
The expansion of Spotify is indisputable, however, there is
more to it than meets the eye. In addition to recorded music,
Spotify is stepping into new terrains, incorporating more options
such as podcasts, videos, and live
concerts.
If it continues in this fashion, it would be logical to
assume that soon enough it will become an omnipotent
streaming platform, if it hasn't already. Indeed, Spotify is
starting to behave like any powerful major label and is quickly
transforming into the closest thing to the Netflix of the music
industry.
As mentioned previously, Spotify is now allowing artists to
distribute their music directly, enabling them to cut out the
middleman when promoting their work. Understandably,
major labels are not quite happy with this motion,
not so much because emerging artists can
now upload their songs unrestrictedly, (which probably does
not reflect on their numbers at all), but rather because out of
convenience, more and more famous musicians turn to self-
releasing their music, simply choosing to quit working with
major companies like Universal, Sony, Warner or Merlin, which
up until 2017 which still but decreasingly control much of the
steaming material.
Thus, it appears that major labels are gradually losing their
power and influence on some levels, while the artist is gaining
more control. However, on the downside, it seems that the
workload and the ensuing responsibilities weigh heavier than
ever on the artist's shoulder and can burden the surrounding
team. It certainly takes a lot of hard work for a new artist to
set their career in motion, but once a certain amount of work
has been invested, the major label can help accelerate and
expand the process.
We have to admit that the growing popularity of Spotify is
understandable: it is quite convenient to be able to listen to
whatever music we want, whenever we want, wherever we
want, as long as we want, thanks to the practicality of a
mobile phone. Also, it can be exciting, as a music lover, to be
able to discover new artists from every corner of the planet,
as long as they have laptops to create music and an internet
connection to be able to upload it.
Artists, however, are feeling the downside of this, as earnings
from paid royalties are insignificant, even when talking about
a few thousand streams. For example, Spotify, despite being
one of the largest platforms of today, is one of the lowest
payouts for royalties, along with Youtube.
For instance, last year, the company Napster was found to
have paid the highest royalties of all digital stores. Over
74,000 streams are required to earn the equivalent of the US
minimum wage, which is around $1472. One might think this
can easily be achievable, however, to put matters in
perspective, to earn the equivalent of the minimum wage
from YouTube, 5,257,143 streams are needed, while Spotify
requires 336,842 streams for that same amount.
Some of these figures might vary to some extent or not be
completely accurate, and the numbers might be different
today, but this statement is meant to give an idea of how
challenging it can be for an artist to make a living out of
music streaming; it must be noted that only after a few
several million streams do things start to become interesting
for a self-promoted musician.
In brief, what exactly does it mean to be a DIY artist?
Essentially it means, among other things, not having the
advantage of the initial funding necessary to kickstart one's
career as an artist.
Thus, the biggest and most recurring challenge that upcoming
artists in the DIY culture are facing is the lack of financial
backup. Ultimately a music band is a business, a marketable
product, which, like any other business on the planet, needs
an initial and ongoing investment for it to become sustainable
and eventually generate revenue.
Undoubtedly, the funding issue is the largest obstacle that
emerging DIY artists are facing today. The limitation of not
having sufficient resources leads to not being able to hire a
professional team, unless the artist is lucky enough to find
sponsors or professionals that are willing to invest and assist
unconditionally. In reality though, who is willing to do all the
work with no immediate compensation? On the other hand, if
an artist had the resources to hire a professional team to
assist with all the technical aspects, they would not need to
be concerned with all these details themselves but focus
instead on the creative process.
In many cases, however, having limited financial resources can
stimulate motivation and creativity. Many starting musicians,
even though they might not have the money, do possess a
great deal of talent and refreshing sense of creativity which
will give them a fighting chance. If an artist is inspired and
comes up with the most original songs of the moment, there is
a strong possibility that they will find sponsorship sooner or
later; until they do, the existing budget needs spending as
wisely and as effectively as possible.
If you are an artist in 2021 trying to establish a sustainable
career, you need to possess three types of personality to earn
a place in the music industry of today, according to Felix
Bechtolsheimer from the band Curse of Lono.
The first type refers to the creative side: you need an
authentic, unique, solid product to make it easy and
achievable for the other two types of personalities to be able
to go out there and sell it. The second type touches on the
business aspect: you need a key negotiator, a manager, ideally
somebody that you can trust. The third type involves the
social aspect, in other words, you need somebody who is
outgoing and does the networking, establishing relevant
connections and possibly managing the social media sector,
unless you have the assistance of somebody specialised in the
digital world. Personalities two and three can be strongly
related for a start, one person can take care of both aspects,
until there is enough budget to hire specialists in both fields.
It is very seldom that an artist will embody all these three
personality types; in most cases, the artist will only possess
one or two of the qualities required to convert their art into a
lucrative business. In this case, the artist needs to surround
themselves with people who do possess the type of
personality that they are lacking, create an efficient team,
and take it from there.
Very importantly, “Everyone has to be on the same page and
doing a good job for you to be successful,
that is all members of the team need to jump on the
same boat and navigate the ship together towards the shores
of success.
The artists of today function very differently compared to
previous years. To give an example from personal experience,
some years ago, musicians playing live shows (myself
included) used to sell physical copies of their albums at gigs,
along with other merchandise, (I suppose some still do,
because some music lovers, again myself included, like the
artisanal nostalgic idea of owning a physical token of a band
that you appreciate).
As years passed, I remember bands
switching to selling USB sticks, while nowadays most bands
simply use online stores to promote their music. Certainly,
artists can still sell other merchandise at their live shows
which can contribute to a large portion of the band’s income.
Major labels are increasingly being affected by this new
culture, as even popular artists start to realise that they don't
need a big label to function as they would normally do. On
the other hand, as a result of this new music business model,
artists have now more or full control over the creative
process.
Managers and promoters are being affected as well, in the
sense that everybody has to do a lot more work before even
thinking about looking for a major.
It is not only the business aspect of it that has changed but
also the creative process. “It's all about throwing out
content, especially with the new generations where everything needs
to be accessible on the phone screen, otherwise it is
inexistent.
Artists nowadays, partly because of lack of means at the
beginning, can now write, record, mix, master, and distribute
their work from home. I wouldn't be surprised some time
soon, somebody comes up with the idea of playing live shows
straight from their home environment WITH OR WITHOUT
A PANDEMIC.
There is no way of getting away with writing about the DIY
music business culture without mentioning the crucial role of
social media. Artists now can promote themselves to kickstart
their careers and do not have to wait on the good will of
their record label to start publicising
their art.
Social media networks are still important, powerful tools
today, as they are the main channel for musicians to promote
their products. However, unlike some years ago, all major
social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, or
YouTube, have started charging substantial fees to promote an
artist's content, with the cost per click system that they use
being not quite affordable.
The average cost per click on Facebook adds in all industries
is $1.72, so if we do the math, if one thousand
people (which wouldn't make a big difference in any industry,
let alone in music) clicked on your add, you would need to
pay around $1700.
Therefore, a substantial amount of money
would need to be injected into promotion to make an impact,
as these corporate giants also keep changing their algorithms
to their convenience simply because they can, due to the
incredible amount of power that they have. In conclusion,
unfortunately, it all comes down to the budget. On the
contrary, if there is enough budget for marketing, but the
content is not relevant or amateur-looking, perhaps some
investment should be made in the content first.
Thanks to the ever-evolving human inventiveness combined
with the need for survival, there are alternative ways for an
artist to generate income. One of them is the crowdfunding
system, but unless the artist has already established a solid
fan base, this method can be destined to fail. Thus, without a
loyal army of following fans, there is not much point in
attempting to crowdfund your career. In best-case scenarios,
however, this method can help some artists to some extent;
even though I have never used the service myself, I am well
aware that it is helping a lot of upcoming artists to kick-fund
their careers.
There are many success stories of bands achieving their goals
however, there are also a fair number of failures. This can
happen for two reasons: either they didn't plan their strategy
correctly, or they set unrealistic goals for themselves.
Also, communication with the fan community is crucial for the
success of a band and must not be overlooked. If you are
ready to try and crowdfund your career, you need to be
genuine and show your contributors the best version of
yourself, communicate with them and show gratitude,
because, in addition to their love for your music, your fans
want to feel close to their favourite artist, and that might
just be the reason for their generosity.
To conclude, indeed it is easier than ever to make your
content available online at any time and place, however, it is
very hard, if not harder than ever before, to stand out. The
reason is obvious: everyone can release songs nowadays,
which means that online platforms get flooded with millions
of new artists and tracks every year. However, I am confident
to say that even if an artist has the talent, the inspiration and
the budget to release a good quality product, there is still no
guarantee that their art with resonate with certain audiences,
as it is the public who ultimately decides whether they will be
successful or not.
Recently I saw a video in which the singer of Metallica, James
Hetfield, said that an artist cannot stop being an artist; if you
are genuinely an artist, then you will not cease creating just
because you are not making a living out of it; if you are a true
artist then your art is the one hobby that you will never quit.
The key to success is to never give up, if you strongly believe
in your product. An unwavering confidence is crucial, and it is
of great importance and relevance to take the stage and
impress audiences with amazing live performances, which
should not be underestimated; because many artists can
release material online, but few can deliver an incredible,
memorable live performance. The music industry might be
hard to hack into nowadays, but certainly not impossible to
conquer. As artists, we have a duty towards our creative
nature: all we have to do is express it, be true to ourselves
and keep reaching out for the starts, What have we got to
lose?