33/45rpm

[Vanden]

here you go, this is a breakdown by platform from nov 2014 to may 2015

however, two things to say about this:

1) We were with ST Holdings for years and spotify had climbed up to a clear second place while we were with them. When STH closed down and all the label's catalogues were removed from the stores while they were moved to new distributors (who then reupload all the content to the platforms) we suddenly disappeared from all the spotify playlists that we'd been included in which resulted in a sudden drop-off in spotify revenue. This explains why it's further down the list than it was previously.

2) Spotify is growing month-on-month for us so while this relatively long-range set of numbers shows it in 3rd place it's pretty much climbed back up into 2nd place again in the last couple of months. The slow first few months is dragging its aggregate position down a bit.

Thanks for posting that, really interesting. That sucks about being removed Spotify playlists though.

 

[demandrecords]

I see. Would you say it was near enough impossible to do what a distributor does yourself, as an indie label, while holding down a day job?

We wouldn't be able to do it ourselves, no chance. But I could imagine that some other labels with staff are probably self distributing.

 

[demandrecords]

Thanks for posting that, really interesting. That sucks about being removed Spotify playlists though.

We had the same thing really with STH and the thing is, it's not just a problem with streaming platforms. When a product disappears in digital stores and the distro would put it back in, as a customer it's unlikely you will get it recommended again. This will have significant impact on your overall revenue.

 

[blumarten]

I see. Would you say it was near enough impossible to do what a distributor does yourself, as an indie label, while holding down a day job?

you could if you focused on the main stores that work for you (assuming they'll deal with individual artists / labels, but i'm pretty sure itunes refuses to do that).

if you look at the numbers i posted the dropoff in contribution from the top 3 platforms and everything else is enormous. In our case you could literally just supply to itunes, beatport and spotify, bin the rest and hardly see a change in performance. So supplying 3 platforms is probably doable yourself.
It's when you try to supply 30 stores yourself that you get into hot water.

 

[Vanden]

And I'm guessing the reason why a label doesn't just sell exclusively through their own bandcamp page is because you'll then miss out on the customers that won't necessarily follow you but would buy your music if they came across it on Beatport...


Sorry @Mr_Whitty , your thread's been jacked.

 

[blumarten]

And I'm guessing the reason why a label doesn't just sell exclusively through their own bandcamp page is because you'll then miss out on the customers that won't necessarily follow you but would buy your music if they came across it on Beatport...

The trick, as with everything in life, is covering the relevant bases without spreading yourself too thin.
There are still about 13 people who visit myspace, so why don't we all have myspace pages anymore? Because what you get out of it isn't worth it. It's like eating celery - you expend more calories eating it than you gain by eating it. It's an effort deficit.

you fish where the fish are