As new developments call for new business strategies, major labels have now invested in independent-facing alternatives to their traditional labels, widely known as Label Services.
hey Tochi, great read. enjoyed it. It’d have been great to also point out pros and cons of signing to these major-label backed platforms.
asides receiving valuable marketing support, what do the services get in return? are there also advances paid to these artists?
lastly, it’d be cool to explore if there have been situations where any of these services have moved to transition an artist from distribution to fully signed on “major label artist”. has that ever happened?
While the pros encompass the flexibility to be able to select the services that align with your career goals or business trajectory per time, I'm unable to think up a Con I consider worthy enough at this time.
Re: what the services get in return. They get a share of the royalty from the licensed records. Bad Bunny being one of the most streamed acts on Spotify and Apple Music, imagine how much The Orchard gets from that, even if it's just a crumb. And yes, advances are paid to artists/labels in some cases. Some Label Service companies are well known for issuing advances.
Re: artists transitioning from distribution to fully signed on “major label artist”. 21 Savage comes to mind - from being distributed by The Orchard to signing to Epic Records, one of the frontline labels under Sony. I'm not sure we've seen much of that in Nigeria as it's early days.
Rema would've been a fine case study following the successful partnership between Mavin and Virgin (formerly Caroline), if he transitioned into one of Universal's frontline labels
hey Tochi, great read. enjoyed it. It’d have been great to also point out pros and cons of signing to these major-label backed platforms.
asides receiving valuable marketing support, what do the services get in return? are there also advances paid to these artists?
lastly, it’d be cool to explore if there have been situations where any of these services have moved to transition an artist from distribution to fully signed on “major label artist”. has that ever happened?
Nice one Olabode!!
I'll just answer these directly
While the pros encompass the flexibility to be able to select the services that align with your career goals or business trajectory per time, I'm unable to think up a Con I consider worthy enough at this time.
Re: what the services get in return. They get a share of the royalty from the licensed records. Bad Bunny being one of the most streamed acts on Spotify and Apple Music, imagine how much The Orchard gets from that, even if it's just a crumb. And yes, advances are paid to artists/labels in some cases. Some Label Service companies are well known for issuing advances.
Re: artists transitioning from distribution to fully signed on “major label artist”. 21 Savage comes to mind - from being distributed by The Orchard to signing to Epic Records, one of the frontline labels under Sony. I'm not sure we've seen much of that in Nigeria as it's early days.
Rema would've been a fine case study following the successful partnership between Mavin and Virgin (formerly Caroline), if he transitioned into one of Universal's frontline labels