Whether you’re an artist or aspire to work in music, it’s not always easy to understand all the complexities that make up the music industry cheap plays sound cloud. The music industry is made up of a large number of different agents that intervene in all phases of the production process of a single, an EP or an album.
To try to understand how the music industry works, we are going to identify all the stages that separate the creation of a work from its commercialization:
1. Creation and production
Creation corresponds to the embodiment of the artist’s musical work . It is the moment in which the musical work is born, in which the lyrics are written (if there are any) and in which the melody is composed.
Production corresponds to the recording of the work created in advance. A (phonographic) producer intervenes. It is the producer who has the means of production and, therefore, who produces the album (and pays for it): he creates the “phonogram” and becomes its owner. He receives the profits from the sales of the object he has produced. He then pays royalties to the artist. Of course, the producer and the artist can be the same person.
From that moment on, a music editor can come into play . Your objective will be to generate copyrights from this musical work (and control them): you will try to distribute the song as widely as possible (radio and tunes, for example). They also help the artist develop his music. For this reason, the editor receives remuneration in the form of publishing shares (a percentage of the copyright that the artist will receive: it can reach 50%).
2. Marketing
The commercialization of a project links the producer with the consumers: it is the set of actions that will allow the project to be sold . It includes everything from the design of the music videos to the album cover, including merchandising, etc.
This phase is usually managed by record labels, which are responsible for associating the product with their image , defending a musical project in the market and helping the artist develop their musical career (labels can help shape the artist’s image and in these cases they are usually in charge of the artistic direction). This is an essential phase because it determines the commercial success of the project.
3. Distribution
The distribution sector (previously dominated by giants such as FNAC and Virgin) has changed considerably in the last 20 years. The arrival of the Internet and then streaming have considerably reduced distribution costs and barriers to entry (it was not possible to distribute in stores without belonging to a record label, for example). The creation in 1998 of CD Baby, which initially focused on large-scale distribution of physical records and which, a few years later, turned to streaming platforms, allowed all artists to distribute their music internationally at very low prices. low cost.
The distributor, of course, took a percentage of the artist’s sales in exchange for the service provided. Today this is no longer the case: companies like TuneCore and Distrokid allow all artists to distribute while retaining 100% of their copyright.
4. Music promotion
This is the last stage, and without a doubt the most important if you want to bring your music out of the shadows . The goal of music promotion is to make your project known as widely as possible so that it generates the greatest number of sales/streams. This means contacting the media (television/radio, press, web press), contacting playlists, gaining visibility on social media and trying to get your music spread and heard as widely as possible.
And the good news is that artists can take care of promoting their music themselves , a process that is now much easier thanks to social networks and music promotion platforms like Groover , which allow artists to directly contact media outlets, playlists, radio stations and music professionals , with the guarantee of being heard and receiving a response in less than 7 days.