✘ There has to be a better way: How to overcome music industry overload
And: How Pixar fosters collective creativity; Fan pages as marketing tools; Optimizing the constraint; Marketing music to a new generation; How to succeed in MrBeast production
Hi all,
We have another MUTEK take-over starting. Last year’s MUTEK contributions were absolutely fantastic, and there’s another great line-up of authors joining this time. We’re starting with a piece by Justin de Marco and Francis di Stasio from Mega Labs. Their piece below goes into some of the fundamental issues we face as an industry - the fragmentation of data. How can we help democratize access to understanding the great variety of data points generated across our digital music ecosystem?
Love, Maarten
Let’s face it. The way we work in music is broken. Talk to any artist, manager, or label executive. It’s the same story. “We’re spread too thin, across too many projects,” “We can’t keep up,” “Social media is the bane of my existence,” “It takes too much time to train new employees,” and on and on and on.
The challenges we face as artists, managers and label operatives are seemingly endless. There’s the never-ending need to feed algorithms with new and engaging content. There’s faster and faster release cycles, with new songs dropping every other week. There’s the increasing complexity of managing the digital product pipeline. It’s no longer enough to have artwork and a music video. Now you need short-form content, long-form content, sped up and slowed down versions, acoustic versions, lyric videos, Dolby Atmos, exclusives for every platform, Spotify Clips, Youtube Shorts, Apple Music Motion Artwork…and we haven’t even gotten to the suite of fan engagement tools that the music industry is seemingly betting its future on, and that rely almost entirely on new and exclusive content from the artist.
But it doesn’t end there. Managers and labels need to work with more artists than ever because of the decreasing size of streaming payouts. Labels are downsizing and merging functions to cut costs. Junior employees are getting thrown into the mix without proper training. Artists are now operating on a global scale from day one, which means more communication, with more partners, and more strain just to keep up. Meanwhile, managers are increasingly taking over responsibilities from what was traditionally the label’s domain. And while it’s great that artists have more options and more independence than ever before, we shouldn’t kid ourselves. That independence comes at a cost.
And while these all represent major challenges for industry operators in their own right, these issues are compounded by the fact that we don’t have the right tools or training at our disposal. How many of us are stuck jumping between email, Google Docs, Google Sheets and Apple notes? How many of us spend our days getting buzzed every 5 minutes, jumping between Slack, iMessage and Whatsapp? How much time is wasted trying to find Dropbox links in email threads 50 messages deep or copy-pasting the same info from one form to the next?
We’re all stuck in an endless sea of emails, text messages, lost links, long threads and overwhelming to-do lists that prevent us from working on the projects we’d like, in the way we’d like. The result? Long hours, missed opportunities, wasted time, frustrating tedious work, overwhelming stress and the impending threat of burnout.
There has to be a better way.
Some Solutions
As a music marketer and former artist manager who’s overseen hundreds of releases during my time at Red Light Management and Wavo, and now as the co-founder of artist and label services agency Mega Labs, I can certainly relate to these issues. They’ve been on my mind in some shape or form for the last half decade of my career in music. And while operational efficiency isn’t the reason any of us went into music, it’s essential to ensure we deliver results for the artists we work with. It’s something our team at Mega Labs strives for in our work with labels and artists, and while we don’t claim to have all the answers, we can certainly relate to the problem.
So without further ado, here are some proposed solutions to help address the operational challenges we face in the music industry.
1. Use project management software
While Google Docs is great, it doesn’t give you any kind of oversight into the status of a project. Music releases are incredibly complex, with a multitude of stakeholders and moving parts. There’s countless tasks to keep track of, work dependencies, important deadlines. The sheer scale and complexity of a given release makes it impossible for any of us to keep track of everything in our heads. And even if you do remember everything you and your team need to accomplish, the cognitive overload of keeping track of it all means there’s less room for the kind of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking that moves the needle.
So ditch the notes app and start using a project management tool. There’s Notion, Asana, Monday, Airtable, Jira, Trello. Just pick one, it doesn't matter. The important thing is to have structure around how you work. Build templates, track deadlines, and get your team involved.
At Mega Labs we use Notion to manage all of our releases. We built an entire custom system around it that includes templates, automations, integrations, and a lot more. It’s transformed the way we work. Our system works for us, but at the end of the day, these tools are fairly similar. What’s critical is that you get started and have something you can build on.
2. Learn about bottlenecks and do everything you can to mitigate them
One of the most eye-opening concepts I recently dove deeply on was “bottlenecks”, sometimes known as the Theory of Constraints. You’re probably rolling your eyes right now. “Sure, bottlenecks. We all know about them. So what?”
Bottlenecks show up in more places than you’d think. Getting the final artwork, mastered audio and label copy is a bottleneck. Getting video assets is a bottleneck. Getting artist approvals on social media copy is a bottleneck. Filling out pitching forms and marketing plans is a bottleneck. All of these are critical tasks that enable work down the line to occur. They tend to slow down the entire system, and if they don’t happen in a timely way, everything else gets delayed.
So it’s critical to identify and prioritize these bottlenecks, and to do everything you can to improve efficiency around them because these tasks are often the limiting factor that prevents other work from being completed. If getting assets approved by the artist is a constant challenge, identify the blocker and figure out how to speed up approvals. Maybe it’s getting aligned on a brand and creative guidelines document, or being more strict about internal deadlines. Maybe it’s defining which assets need artist approval and which don’t. If you’re consistently struggling to fill out pitch forms, consider starting the marketing plan before the track is even delivered so you can get the pitch in as soon as it is. Or make sure you have a centralized resource with all of the key information your distributor needs - ISRCs, listening links, social links, key highlights, etc.
If you want to learn more about bottlenecks, I recommend reading the book The Goal. It’s a good starting point and it can help you identify ways to improve the constraints in your system.
3. Bank and repurpose content
Going back to the point above, we can probably all agree that getting social content from artists is a major bottleneck. And while we all wish we didn’t have to always be shooting so much content, it’s hard to get around it. But there’s things we can do to address the issue.
First, dedicate specific days to shooting content. Even if it’s just content meant to be organic or “spur of the moment” content. You don’t need to book professional photographers and videographers to make the most out of a dedicated day. Allocate 2-3 days a month to capturing content for your next release. Add in some lifestyle content, Spotify Clips, shoutout videos for shows and new releases, etc. If you can bang out 5-10 social clips in one day, it’ll be one less thing to worry about during the upcoming weeks.
Likewise, try repurposing existing content instead of always going for something new. If you’ve been around for more than a few years, you surely have a bank of past music videos, live clips, interviews and more that can be repurposed for Reels, TikTok, Shorts, etc. With these platforms increasingly focusing on evergreen content that reaches non-followers, there’s less of a need to exclusively post new videos for existing fans. You can experiment with tools like Opus that turn single video interviews into multiple short-form clips, or platforms like CoBrand that allow you to download fan videos and reupload them to fan pages or your own accounts.
4. Use AI tools for automation and ideation
While the music industry has rightly protested the use of copyrighted recordings for training AI audio models, the vocal opposition to AI has likely slowed down many industry professionals who’ve ignored the potential of these tools for streamlining day-to-day work. Generative AI and automation represent a tremendous opportunity to rid ourselves of the more tedious tasks involved in releasing music so that we can focus on the higher impact creative work that drives us.
At Mega Labs we use tools like ChatGPT and Claude to:
- help us draft DSP pitches using pre-set formats
- write detailed advertising updates to our partners
- analyze and visualize social and streaming metrics
- write press releases and project blurbs
- extract quotes about our artists and releases from press articles
- reformat promo reports
- write code that powers internal tools
…and a lot more.
The best recommendation I can give you is to just get started. Get a paid subscription to Claude and ChatGPT. Play around with the models. Feed them examples of your existing work. Learn the basics of prompt engineering. Once you’re comfortable, start experimenting with custom GPTs or try integrating AI models with automation tools like Zapier. As with everything there’s a learning curve and some upfront work required, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll save yourself a ton of time in the long run.
5. Push partners to develop music industry education
Beyond the work we can do ourselves, there’s also the role that platforms and big players in our ecosystem play. Managers, labels, marketers, platforms, we all play a role in the “art worlds” surrounding the artist. Yet the tools and training available for industry operators to succeed are extremely limited. Access to university programs is limited and costly, while the pace of innovation is so quick that universities can rarely keep up with what’s happening on the ground. And conferences, while great for networking, tend to be fairly light on the kind of in-depth education that leads to meaningful new knowledge. Apprenticeship is still the default model.
What would music industry education look like if major labels and DSPs took a more active role in it? I’m not talking about fluff pieces on company blogs or product marketing that shows you how to use the latest platform features, but rather in-depth educational programs delivered by active industry experts. Spotify used to run its Co.Lab events, but it’s become less of a priority in recent years. What would an enhanced version of Co.Lab look like in 2024, complete with an in-depth curriculum that included required readings, case studies, tests, and certifications?
If we look at other industries, there’s a lot to learn from. During Andy Grove’s time at Intel, 2% to 4% of every employee’s time was spent in the classroom. The company provided its employees with over 50 university-level courses delivered by internal staff. If the idea of imitating tech companies isn’t appealing, consider that even Pixar operates its own Pixar University with a similar commitment to employee development, offering courses in everything from screenplay writing to drawing, to color theory, computer programming, painting and more.
Why can’t we offer this kind training to the collective network of industry operators that drive artist success?
I’d love to see a world where any manager, label employee or artist can access a world-class music industry education. There’s obviously costs involved in delivering this sort of training, but the value to the overall industry and even to the companies themselves is undeniable. Elevating everyone’s skills, performance and capabilities, whether it be employees or non-employees like artists and managers, would ultimately benefit the music industry as a whole by ensuring that artists and their teams set up to succeed. It’s a win-win situation.
Conclusion
It’s clear that the music industry faces huge challenges. From teams being stretched too thin to increasingly complex workflows, releasing music today is no easy task. And while I sympathize with those who lament a system that puts too much burden on artists and their teams, it’s unfortunately the system we have, and it’s unlikely to change any time soon. There are many working towards new compensation models and new ways of interacting with fans, but in the meantime there’s the day-to-day reality of the work we undertake in service of the artists and the music we want to see flourish in the world. Hopefully the solutions laid here are a step in the right direction towards making that work a little bit more manageable.
LINKS
👨🏾👩🏾👧🏾 How Pixar fosters collective creativity (Ed Catmull)
“People tend to think of creativity as a mysterious solo act, and they typically reduce products to a single idea: This is a movie about toys, or dinosaurs, or love, they’ll say. However, in filmmaking and many other kinds of complex product development, creativity involves a large number of people from different disciplines working effectively together to solve a great many problems. The initial idea for the movie—what people in the movie business call “the high concept”—is merely one step in a long, arduous process that takes four to five years.”
📃 Why fan pages are becoming artists’ most useful — and cheapest — marketing tool (Elias Leight)
“The music industry has become increasingly interested in the marketing potential of these fan pages, which can churn out a lot of posts — song snippets, concert footage, backstage shenanigans, and more — but don’t cost much or require the actual artist to do more work. Some fan pages are started by ardent followers, others by the artists’ own team or label.”
♾️ Theory of Constraints 108: Identifying the constraint (Tiago Forte)
“What you are looking for with these questions are the recurring problems that are slowing down or blocking people from moving forward, causing them to start new tasks “in the meantime” and thereby making WIP explode. Common issues include needing information or a decision from another department, reviews or approvals from management, and answers to questions from internal stakeholders.”
🦁 Alpha bets: Marketing music to a new generation (J.R. Lind)
“Whether they are being nostalgic Z’s or futurist A’s — they see themselves as creators. Unlike earlier cohorts, they don’t want or expect to be marketed to; they want to be marketed for and are likely to undertake marketing themselves and their favorite artists on their own. They probably wouldn’t call it “marketing” (Lord knows what they’ll call it; once again, we point you to page 42) but spreading the word about a song or an artist — new or just new to you — even if the medium is a silly little video you made over the weekend, is just straightforward marketing. What the capital-m Marketers have to do is figure out what’s going to resonate and ride the wave.”
🦄 How to succeed in MrBeast production (Jimmy Donaldson)
“The viewer may think they want a format forever, but they don’t. They want new and fresh things (this is evident because every channel that rehashes formats for years always dies). This is why I’m constantly ditching formats in exchange for new ones. Ideally two videos from the same format are not back to back, i’d like multiple different videos in between them if possible.”
MUSIC (by Maarten)
The above definitely requires some thoughtful consideration. There’s no better way to have that than combined with some beautiful piano music. Kelly Moran’s Moves in the Field from earlier this year is perfect for this. A pianist coming into her own, playing with herself and creating the kind of trance-state that allows you to come out of able to grasp the more complex questions of life.
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