Roc Nation Announces Merger To Form ROC Nation Distribution, Which Will Allow Partnered Independent Artists To Maintain Their Masters

[dangerranger]

There's a cartel between the music labels, live nation and spotify.
The middle class and lower musician has effectively ceased to exist.
They're trying their best to capture as much of what is left of the market as possible.
We need to keep that in mind.

We are getting to the inevitable point in time where if you want to be a musician or an artist of whatever respect, do it because you love it not because you want to make a living off of it. With AI, it will be easier and cheaper than ever to make music. The labels have market share which will make it harder for even newer artists to break through battling the labels and the flood of competition. It will lead to oversupply similar to what’s happening with content. Too much supply not enough demand. The numbers in the end just don’t add up.

 

[Bigblackted4]

We are getting to the inevitable point in time where if you want to be a musician or an artist of whatever respect, do it because you love it not because you want to make a living off of it. With AI, it will be easier and cheaper than ever to make music. The labels have market share which will make it harder for even newer artists to break through battling the labels and the flood of competition. It will lead to oversupply similar to what’s happening with content. Too much supply not enough demand. The numbers in the end just don’t add up.

Essentially reverting back to the 50s and 60s

 

[Metal Face]

Hovengers quick with it

 

[T.H.E. Goat]

There's a cartel between the music labels, live nation and spotify.
The middle class and lower musician has effectively ceased to exist.
They're trying their best to capture as much of what is left of the market as possible.
We need to keep that in mind.

SoundCloud almost changed the game until labels killed the momentum and XXX dying pretty much ruining SoundCloud's reputation.

I'm surprised Spotify just doesn't create their own distribution wing and cut out the labels altogether.

 

[JQ Legend]

There's a cartel between the music labels, live nation and spotify.
The middle class and lower musician has effectively ceased to exist.
They're trying their best to capture as much of what is left of the market as possible.
We need to keep that in mind.

What do y’all mean by this? How can they eat off unknown artists without promoting their music?

 

[Insensitive]

What do y’all mean by this? How can they eat off unknown artists without promoting their music?

Labels disproportionately get huge promotion packages that put them over smaller artists on Spotify.
Spotify also colludes with the major labels by literally having them buy into the business (they have
ownership through stock).
Live Nation regularly fleeces artists, even artists on majors - (tons of artists have to look over their tour
expenses and find out they're getting screwed by having their touring budget INFLATED to crazy numbers
through this).
Spotify also pays out poorly in general for artists who don't have a large enough audience (which is difficult
when you can't match the major label marketing budget & you can't make enough money from touring
do to the venues that live nation is strangling).
shyt is deep, they all collude with each other to suppress competition and make it exceptionally difficult for new people
to upset the status quo.


This all flows downstream - Producers, A&Rs, Managers, etc. Literally every part of the business is shriveling
up due to that money starting to evaporate/disappear, it's even worse than it used to be IMO.
My homie, whom I've mentioned before and has been posted on here, who got me adjacent to TDE
literally started to move away from music to go do TV instead because at least they're still paying people over there.
I decided not to pursue music full time once I realized just growing my career and scaling my investments would
make me more money than the average artist.
It also meant I couldn't pursue the TDE connect as hardcore as I would've liked because the money just isn't there.

 

[Standing on business]

Hovengers quick with it

Russ does have a partnership with tunecore though, and there’s nothing realistic about 100/0 split

 

[Awesome Wells]

Labels disproportionately get huge promotion packages that put them over smaller artists on Spotify.
Spotify also colludes with the major labels by literally having them buy into the business (they have
ownership through stock).
Live Nation regularly fleeces artists, even artists on majors - (tons of artists have to look over their tour
expenses and find out they're getting screwed by having their touring budget INFLATED to crazy numbers
through this).
Spotify also pays out poorly in general for artists who don't have a large enough audience (which is difficult
when you can't match the major label marketing budget & you can't make enough money from touring
do to the venues that live nation is strangling).
shyt is deep, they all collude with each other to suppress competition and make it exceptionally difficult for new people
to upset the status quo.


This all flows downstream - Producers, A&Rs, Managers, etc. Literally every part of the business is shriveling
up due to that money starting to evaporate/disappear, it's even worse than it used to be IMO.
My homie, whom I've mentioned before and has been posted on here, who got me adjacent to TDE
literally started to move away from music to go do TV instead because at least they're still paying people over there.
I decided not to pursue music full time once I realized just growing my career and scaling my investments would
make me more money than the average artist.
It also meant I couldn't pursue the TDE connect as hardcore as I would've liked because the money just isn't there.

None of that would apply to a truly indie artist though.

If someone is pursuing music independently, they're not dealing with label constraints or splits. Which is the point of the new move with RN. Signing a deal with a major, these days, always requires making those concessions on the financial side because they're not willing to advance as much as they were two decades ago, without having a cushion in place for themselves.

But if you're actually indie, you have the freedom to pick and choose where you would be allocating your own funds, as you see fit. But all of this would be without the reach and muscle of having a major behind you. But at least you're at the wheel and able to make the decisions for yourself no matter the climate. There's plenty of money to be made in that, if you know exactly where you're trying to go with it.

 

[Insensitive]

None of that would apply to a truly indie artist though.

If someone is pursuing music independently, they're not dealing with label constraints or splits. Which is the point of the new move with RN. Signing a deal with a major, these days, always requires making those concessions on the financial side because they're not willing to advance as much as they were two decades ago, without having a cushion in place for themselves.

But if you're actually indie, you have the freedom to pick and choose where you would be allocating your own funds, as you see fit. But all of this would be without the reach and muscle of having a major behind you. But at least you're at the wheel and able to make the decisions for yourself no matter the climate. There's plenty of money to be made in that, if you know exactly where you're trying to go with it.

With the nature of how business is handled few people are "truly" indie.
They're all courting/pulling from the same sources of money.


Festivals ? Don't pay.
Smaller venues ? Squeezed out due to Live Nation and are often predatory in
taking advantage of musicians who're smaller/with no real following.
Getting on spotify/apple music/amazon music, etc. you inevitably have
to get in the arena with people who have substantially more resources than you.
I know a handful of people who have music adjacent careers, most don't have full blown music careers
because the money simply isn't there.
Like my friend was recently on netflix, she has tens of thousands of followers, viral songs, etc.
BUT! She still has to live in housing provided by her management in order to fully devote her time to music.
And she is as INDIE as one can possibly be.


Like this dude right here:



Is the real deal.
Met him on the indie circuit.
Most people though - in that range - ARE NOT.
Being an independent musician is brutal and most burn out before they ever
get to that point.
And by "Real deal", I mean he's totally replaced W2 income with Music Income.