I have been looking at starting a record label as a side business. But it would be designed mostly to make money from Music Streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube and others.
I am thinking of using CD Baby for distribution of the music.
Streaming services are not explicitly open about how much they pay per stream.
I understand that the failure rate is high just like startups and movies.
But I also realised that a hit song can accrue 500 million streams or even 1 Billion streams of its a big hit.
My question is, how much interms of range should one expect to make incase they make such numbers.
Is anyone here making money through streaming music? What's your estimated earning per stream across Spotify, Apple Music, & YouTube?
Also, any other tips of how to run the project or improve odds of success or learning/reading resources would be very much appreciated.
Record labels aren't quite what they used to be now that we have distrokid, tunecore, soundcloud, etc as independent artists can get their music on streaming services themselves. You say you want to be a label, what are you bringing to the table? Do you have any connections in the music industry? These days the only way to make money off a song streaming is if it gets picked up by the big playlists, but guess what? Those are mostly curated by the big labels and you have to have connections to get on them. You can try and get your music on smaller curated lists by blasting out to popular blogs and reading lists as well. Use social media, hope you get lucky on tiktok. Google how to get your music viral as a social media influencer. The real answer here is there is no actual formula but by putting yourself out there on a ton of platforms and hopefully something sticks and it goes viral. At the end of the day is the music has to actually be good (read: something sticky even if its pop drivel) for people to spread it. As a musician and independent producer, this post irks me a little bit as you're basically signaling you want to simply make money from music rather than doing it for the love of the art. If that's not the case I wish you the best.
To above: you knocked it out of the park with “what do you bring to the table?”. This is what labels do. This is what labels are for. Calling out the questionable motives - only the bold and determined survive the music business. If you aren’t in it for the passion, you will fail.
I have one album of my music on Bandcamp. From that album I've received a total of US$50.
On spotify that represents 15k streams. On apple music, 5k streams (*) These are numbers totally out of reach. But because 7 people liked the album enough, I still made enough for a modest meal out with my wife.
Fuck this streaming shit. So tired of young musicians telling me that streaming is where the audience is. If you really believe that somehow you're going to become a superstar, by all means keep playing that game. But if you want to make money without becoming a superstar, focusing on people who actually pay for music is where it's at.
(*) https://producerhive.com/music-marketing-tips/streaming-roya...
As odd as it sounds, in music-as-a-business, the mentality needs to be that the music you're putting out is marketing for the actual product, which is the musician themselves. Because it's fans of the musician who do things like buy physical records, go to shows when they're on tour, or buy merchandise, which are the things that actually generate revenue.
It’s actually the other way around. The music is the product. The musicians are replaceable.
Every “music-as-a-business” has shaken up lineups and replaced musicians, front men, dancers, roadies, publicists, managers, everyone.
I would assume they found it through Bandcamp's discovery services if the user is not putting their music on streaming services.
No idea. Should I care?
> As odd as it sounds, in music-as-a-business, the mentality needs to be that the music you're putting out is marketing for the actual product
I fundamentally disagree with this.
I’m only a music consumer, not a producer, but I found some of my favorite artists (small, less than 20k monthly listeners) via streaming and bought their merch and tickets to live shows. So these young artists aren’t exactly wrong in my opinion.
The question is where is the paying audience ? The answer to that is a bit less clear.
Also, given how many musicians and music fans appear to NOT know about Bandcamp, it's tricky to gauge the extent to which that model is an alternative or not.
I don't expect huge money from streaming, but I do like people to be able to find my music on their preferred service if they search for it.
> Maison Kitsuné was founded in 2002 as a record label by Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki in Paris. The founders first met in Loaëc's record shop in Paris where house music lovers, including Kuroki, Daft Punk, and others, frequented. After a trip to Japan for a music video together, they came up with the idea of launching a lifestyle brand not confined to one discipline. The result was Maison Kitsuné, which blends music and fashion as a multi-faceted Paris-meets-Tokyo brand. The pair promoted the brand by performing DJ sets, which was followed by the release of the first t-shirt, shirt, dress, and eventually a full fledged ready-to-wear collection in 2005 that represents 90 percent of its revenue today.
The lesson here is: whatever niche interest or community you are involved in, try to combine it with your record label project. This is more unique and has a better chance of success than just a generic label.
As for new music; I don't see what a "side business" label could offer an artist that they couldn't do themselves with distrokid. Unless you had the capital to develop, build, and market artists I think it would be very difficult to generate a return.
Also: Please correct me if I’m wrong but I would guess that quite a few owners of indie labels also have other sources of income in order to make a living…? I.e. a dayjob.
The money she made off music was pitiful though. She didn't just own her own label, she toured and wrote music every weekday. She gave it everything, more than most people have to offer, and in the end she got a salary most people would call "unlivable". The recent recession and COVID situation pushed her into a Starbucks job to pay rent.
So... do what you want. I just want people to know that you could be one of the most talented self-made musicians in the world, and still go destitute despite owning your own label.