Artists should embrace Creators' Strategies

Recently, I wrote an article about Music & Content and received numerous inquiries and feedbacks from artists and managers. After considering these feedbacks, I felt the need to provide more insights and elaborate a bit more.

Over the weekend, as I was going through my Instagram stories, I came across an artist who claimed to have 1.8 million monthly listeners. I was surprised as I felt his career had been stagnant for the past four years. Minutes later, another artist claimed to have 3.5 million monthly listeners and 3.5 million followers on TikTok. I became curious and decided to investigate, as these numbers look impressive on paper.

After researching, I discovered that these two individuals were not exactly what I considered to be artists (even though they may think they are), but rather music creators. One was releasing music through a label that generated a lot of streams, while the other was a TikTok creator who gained popularity through their content or covers, not their original music.

What was most fascinating about this model was the monetization of their content. I attempted to make some conclusions:

• The first artist generated 15.5 million streams on Spotify in 2022 (excluding the back catalogue), which translates to roughly $25,000 (or $2,000 monthly) based on a 50/50 deal.

• The other one generated 25.5 million streams on TikTok in 2022, which amounts to $3,200 monthly. With more than 3 million followers, they have the potential to earn an additional $5,000 to $10,000 monthly from influencer income.

I find this new model intriguing. I am not criticizing it, as it seems to be financially worth it (as a creator). However, at Unity, our goal is to develop artists and songs that will still be remembered in people's minds in the next 30 years. Additionally, I believe that this new model presents a fundamentally different approach and business model. For example, creator management (for TikTok influencers or YouTubers) would be more efficient than a record label or music management for this type of project. I have seen many YouTubers who have launched albums and hired music managers, which I think is smart.

What makes these creators interesting is their ability to create content that resonates with their audience. While this is what we ask of artists, it is not just about accumulating likes and comments. It is about being able to promote your art and story in innovative ways on these new platforms. The distinction between creators and artists has become increasingly blurred, and many creators are now surpassing artists. However, we believe that artists have something unique and special, and our role at Unity Group | Music Company is to help them promote their art while learning from the success of creators to become stronger in the market. If artists can find the right balance between developing their art (production, songwriting, branding, and live performance) and their content, they will be able to progress faster.

I am eager to hear your thoughts on this topic and if there are any managers that works in that space, I'd love to discuss.