The Future Record Label Model = Brand Marketing Collective
The new successful models for record labels will revolve around collective brand marketing

By BJ Jansen (more articles from this author) 2010-07-11

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We all realize that the traditional record label model is as obsolete as a typewriter. Finding a new model that works has been a substantive topic of debate and general consternation. I argue that the new successful models will revolve around collective brand marketing. Essentially this model has existed in the independent arena for quite a while, and I feel that we will see more growth of this model to fill the traditional label gap.

What does a collective brand marketing organization do?
Simply put, it is a collective of like-minded artists who use a collective brand to market their individual recordings. In other words this organization takes over the collective marketing and bargaining power that a traditional label model once did to market an artist’s albums and bring them to the marketplace. This is about where the similarities end with the old-school record label model. Now here are the differences, the artists produce, own and retain all of their rights to their recording projects. Artists may be individually responsible for their own distribution and finally they will generally pay some sort of subscription fee to the organization.

Why is this situation beneficial for an artist?
Firstly, artists retain ownership of all of their rights. Secondly, they benefit from collective marketing, co-branding and building off of the strength of their label-mate’s work. Thirdly, with brand cultivation through a strong artist selection process, the collective will be able to gain greater market share and exposure for their members by providing consistent quality to consumers in one place. Finally, artists will retain total artistic control of their projects.

Why do brand marketing collectives work?
The main reason has to do with aggregation. A certain level of aggregation is necessary to cut through the clutter of the long tail online. By attaching yourself with a collective of powerful brands you are able to aggregate the quality and therefore create an exponentially more powerful collective brand that essentially creates a bump in the long tail. This bump helps your work to cut through the clutter. As the collective gains market share in its given niche, so does each individual member’s work.

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