Digital distribution: a day in the life of…

Zimbalam

Previously, we brought you guest columns from labels (Fat Cat, Holy Roar) and publishers (Sentric Music). And in the latest in the series, we’ve got some words right here from digital distribution meisters Believe Digital and Zimbalam.

Traditionally the recording industry has always focused on two facets: (i) providing services to artists who require creative support and (ii) selling CDs.

Over the past ten years, the increasing availability of cheap recording facilities, home studios and mastering software has facilitated the emergence of a new type of artist; the DIY musician. These artists do not need the creative support of a record label as they have access to many of the same facilities from home. They have the ability to create and finance their own music without the need for a third party and as such, they want to keep their creative freedom.

Five years ago, I founded Believe Digital with a view to offer these artists a collection of artist-centric services tailored for the digital world.

In my mind, this meant building up an entirely new model where the artist, as a client, is at the very center of everything we do. As such, we offered a new, more flexible, contractual relationship away from the stringent model of the traditional multi-album, multi-year recording contracts of days gone by, transparency and honesty in royalty reporting and all other aspects of the business, and crucially; higher revenues to the artists.

As well as all this, we needed something further as these artists are used to being able to ‘fend for themselves’ and a service without value-added extras that claims to target independent musicians is not a viable business model. This meant we needed to build a range of services tailored towards the current digital landscape because promoting an artist in the digital world requires a very different set of skills than selling CDs.

These are the factors that have helped make Believe Digital grow into the leading digital label in Europe with a market share rivaling that of many major labels, but catering for independent musicians.

Today we aim these services to help artists promote and sell their music successfully in the digital world:

1.       Digital distribution: with Believe Digital there is one deal and artists are a partner, therefore they benefit from a centralised digital platform, the largest network of digital stores and most importantly this results in higher rates than they would be able to negotiate on their own to sell their music through mainstream digital outlets.

2.       Digital marketing: DIY has its limits when it comes to promoting a release successfully. Marketing to a large audience requires the skill and experiences of digital music marketing professionals to conceive and drive a release strategy and monitor investments in web, radio and TV marketing and promotion. With almost twenty number 1 album and single digital sales across Europe over the past two years, Believe Digital has built up an unparalleled expertise in that regard.

3.     Sales Promotion: Through our established network and industry credibility we have an excellent ability to generate store-front coverage for our artists leading to increased sales and recognition.

Zimbalam, our most recent service, is once again a direct response to the needs expressed by artists. In the past year alone, Believe Digital received more than 50,000 requests for digital distribution from individual artists. Because of Believe Digital’s focus on extensive individual marketing and promotion, we have had to decline most of these requests, many from talented artists deserving to have their music available for sale through the major digital music stores.

Unsatisfied with this situation, we built Zimbalam, in direct response to the needs of artists to sell their music through all major stores worldwide (iTunes, Amazon, eMusic…) as well the leading UK-only stores and similar stores in European territories. Uniquely, we also cover the major mobile carriers such as T-Mobile, Orange, O2… all under the same royalty rate of 90% and a very flexible contract.

This is the first step for any developing artist wanting to get his music in the stores and when the time is right, we will be here to offer marketing and promotion services to help artists go to the next step. Our aim is to put the artist first and by adapting to both the changes in the industry and the needs of artists we are able to cater for a market like no other company.

No related posts.