Kudos held a pilot “Label Community Social” last week.
Co-hosted with our friends at Tru Thoughts, we invited distributed labels to a “fireside chat” with Joe Mercer Danher and Quentin Martins from Merlin followed by a Q&A and some general mixing and mingling over a few drinks at The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch. Initial feedback following this event has been overwhelmingly positive and we now plan to hold these quarterly.
Some Background
The idea for this event started with a meeting we had with Paul Jonas from Tru Thoughts about the state of the independent label and the distribution sector; how endless consolidation had created an almost a single point of failure in the physical world, while Universal’s acquisition of PIAS and planned acquisition of Downtown (which includes indie digital distributors FUGA and CD Baby) further narrows digital distribution choices. “Advocacy for independence” has always been primarily concerned with ensuring access to market for independent labels. We now take such access for granted but in historic terms, it wasn’t that long ago that major labels controlled 100% of the routes to market. When Martin Mills started Beggars Banquet they initially had to use a stylus manufacturer to get their records into shops.
The other area we discussed was the changing face of music discovery and music promotion in general, prompted by this post from Aaron at Bastard Jazz. While there are still many human curated playlists, many digital services are becoming more algorithmically driven, or, at least, are surfacing more algorithmic playlists with listeners opting for so called “lean back experiences” which don’t serve up the new or challenging music which is the lifeblood of many of our companies. It also feels like the live music scene has yet to fully recover from Covid & the music press is a shadow of its former self, so discovery avenues are increasingly challenging.
Community
Independent distribution choice is of existential importance for independent labels and the wider music ecosystem, but how can independent distributors distinguish themselves? What can offset the allure of scale? Our conclusion was that one area where we can unequivocally compete is that we can offer community. Our curatorial approach not only gives us extra leverage with DMSs and retail, it also means there is a common thread of quality and an ethos which links our labels. We have seen there’s an inherent generosity; a willingness to share knowledge and experiences. Also, some level of shared identity may enable our labels to leverage each other’s successes and widen each other’s fan base.
Merlin
We wanted Merlin to be our first guest as they illustrate how collective representation and collaboration can yield real world results. Most of you probably know of Merlin’s existence; that it’s a non-profit, collectively negotiating deals with digital services on behalf of independent labels, and that some of our key digital deals including Spotify, YouTube and Deezer are facilitated by Merlin, but it really isn’t an exaggeration to say that Merlin’s existence is what enables independents to compete in the digital marketplace on an equal level with each other and the majors, supporting a diverse, competitive independent music market.
What’s next?
There does seem to be an appetite among our labels to work collaboratively, so over and above our plans to host more community events, we are examining ways we can facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience while further exploring how we can potentially grow a collective audience for our label’s releases.
Exciting times!
