State Champ Radio independent artists
As the showdown continues between Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok after the world’s biggest record company pulled content by its artists and songwriters from the video-hosting social media site, it seems as though the ban has created a window of opportunity for independent music acts.
A look at the upper echelon of Billboard‘s TikTok Top 50 chart shows that most of the top 20 entries on the chart are independent recordings, including Dasha’s breakthrough “Austin,” Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine,” Djo (a.k.a. actor/musician Joe Keery)’s “End of Beginning,” and even Bobby Caldwell’s 1979 song “What You Won’t Do For Love.” Prior to UMG’s TikTok ban, independent artists, music from independent artists already made up a significant portion of the TikTok 50 chart, which debuted in September 2023, but without UMG artists’ or songwriters’ works on the platform — which by Billboard‘s recent estimates affects more than 60% of the most popular songs in the United States — the pathway to success seems more clear than ever.
However, top independent music executives have a message for artists in the sector: “Not so fast.”
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As UMG’s ban drags on, independent music executives are advising artists to look at the bigger picture — and also to use this as an opportunity to look at what rights they do and don’t control.
“I truly hope we don’t do what we so often do in the music industry, which is say, ‘Oh, this is an opportunity for me to get a bit of an advantage,’ and then take the advantage, but ultimately damage the ecosystem,” says Richard James Burgess, president/CEO of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM). “I think we are sort of at a critically bad state, in terms of the amount of money that’s being paid through [to artists]. That works out fine if you’re an aggregator, distributor or label, and you’ve got enough copyrights. But it’s extremely difficult for the artist to generate enough copyrights to make a living from if someone’s not a household name.”
Burgess continues, “TikTok is an extremely bad actor in terms of the types of deals they do and the structure of their deals. It’s almost like trying to play the lottery — if you get a viral TikTok, it can have an impact on your sales, but how much money does TikTok make from us trying to get that sort of viral spike? They should be paying for the use of music and they’re effectively not paying. I think Universal did a great thing here, and my membership, my board, supports that position.” (A rep for TikTok has declined to comment for this story).
In a 2022 Billboard story, one executive from an independent label noted that artists on his roster earned approximately $150 from TikTok from around 100,000 videos that were made with their music. Meanwhile, in the same report, a marketer who spearheaded a campaign for a music single that was used in approximately half a million TikTok videos noted that his artist earned less than $5,000 from TikTok, though views rose into the billions.
While there are opportunities for increasing numbers of independent artists to gain greater traction on TikTok during the platform’s impasse with UMG, “it’s important for artists to use the opportunity to focus on their own art instead of chasing trending sounds or being the one-millionth person to cover a hit song,” says Jody Whelan of independent record label Oh Boy Records, which was founded in 1981 by the late singer-songwriter John Prine and which now represents music from Prine, Kelsey Waldon and Arlo McKinley, among others. “If you’re lucky enough to go viral on TikTok, you want folks to stick around to hear what you have to say.”
For many contemporary acts, TikTok is a key component of their marketing plans, with labels and managers urging artists to create content in hopes of driving listeners to streaming platforms. A 2023 report, commissioned by TikTok and facilitated by Luminate, noted that 62% of U.S. TikTok users pay for a music streaming service, compared to 43% of all consumers.“TikTok user engagement metrics are strongly associated with streaming volumes,” in the United States, the report stated. “In other words, higher TikTok engagement — whether that’s likes, views or shares — corresponds with elevated streaming volumes.” The report also noted that TikTok users are more engaged with other areas of music-related consumption, claiming that in the United States, 45% of TikTok users purchased music-related merch over a year-long span, compared with 35% of overall music listeners, while 38% of TikTok users attended a live music event during the year, compared to 33% of overall music listeners.
Even with stats like these, Whelan says the TikTok/UMG battle should serve as a cautionary tale to realize how even so-called independent artists can get caught in the ban’s web because of an affiliation with UMG or UMPG. “This should also serve as a reminder to the independent community: You can’t rely on someone else’s platform to reach your audience,” Whelan says. “This month it’s UMG, next month it could be your distributor. The algorithms and priorities of social media companies and the streamers continuously shift. You have to be able to control the means in which you communicate directly with your audience, whether that’s by email or by text (we also still send out postcards to our fans!).”
Stem CEO Milana Lewis agrees, seeing the situation as a “great moment to highlight the difference between independence and autonomy. Artists believe they’re independent when they do a deal with the independent distribution arm of a major label because their deal terms might be more flexible. In reality, they still have very little control over their rights, and this is a great example of how a big corporation is deciding on their behalf whether or not their music is available on a platform and whether or not they are willing to trade off earnings for exposure.”
Independent artists should be taking this time to examine their relationships with all social media and make sure they are taking full advantage of each platform despite TikTok’s current dominance, says Seth Faber, Stem’s general manager of music distribution and payments. “Time will tell if Universal’s maneuver will lead to a meaningful redistribution of the viral pie. In the meantime, artists should continue to lean into the full landscape of snackable content,” Faber says. “The power of Instagram’s Reels, Spotify’s Clips and YouTube’s Shorts aren’t to be ignored. Diversify those content portfolios.”
For Burgess, UMG vs. TikTok is a repeat of an age-old battle pitting the industry against artists, with artists often coming out on the short end of the stick. “[TikTok] plays this promotional exposure-discovery game. How many times do we get sucked into that?” Burgess asks. “Radio hasn’t paid [artists] for recorded music. MTV didn’t pay. We keep making the same mistakes. Good thing is that Universal is big enough, and especially with the publishing and everything, the tendrils from that go far and wide.”
Burgess further likens the UMG-TikTok battle with the ongoing battle with secondary ticket markets, saying that most of the money is not making its way to artists. “That is the essence of the problem,” he says. “It would be good if people did the right thing here and stood together to get a better deal for everybody.”
After splitting with her original record label in October, Megan Thee Stallion is entering a new era: A source at Warner Music Group confirmed to Billboard that the artist has signed a distribution agreement with the company that includes services from a select global team.
For years, Megan Thee Stallion was embroiled in a legal battle over the deal she signed early in her career with 1501 Certified Entertainment, which released her music in partnership with 300 Entertainment. (300 was acquired by Warner Music Group in 2021.) In October, the rapper and 1501 “reached a confidential settlement to resolve their legal differences,” making Megan Thee Stallion — who is managed by Roc Nation — a free agent. “I’m so excited to be doing something for the first time independent since it was just me and my mama,” she said during an Instagram Live session.
Artists prize distribution deals because they typically get to retain ownership of their recordings. At the same time, Megan Thee Stallion will still benefit from WMG’s global infrastructure, marketing muscle and longstanding relationships at radio and television. Her team will include some staffers from 300 Entertainment as well as others across the company. (A rep for Megan Thee Stallion did not respond to requests for comment.)
These types of distribution agreements within major label systems have become more common in the modern music industry once artists gain a certain amount of leverage. Some young acts that have fast-climbing viral hits are even able to negotiate similarly favorable agreements right at the start of their careers, which would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
There is a potential downside to these arrangements: Because labels stand to earn less revenue from distribution deals, they may be less incentivized to throw their full weight behind these artists. Still, this is a dream scenario for many artists because it inverts the traditional music industry power dynamic.
Historically, artists handed their recordings over to a label in perpetuity in exchange for an advance and the chance to become a household name. Now it’s possible to have the best of both worlds. “That’s an amazing position to be in, to keep your copyright and still be famous,” says Tab Nkhereanye, a senior vp of A&R at BMG. (BMG has long offered artists licensing deals; in these agreements, ownership of recordings typically reverts back to an artist after a set period, conditional upon recouping the costs of the deal.)
As a result of these shifts in the industry, though, the term “independent” has become so roomy as to be nearly meaningless. It now stretches from an act self-releasing homemade recordings on TuneCore for a handful of fans all the way to Bad Bunny, who fills stadiums and tops charts around the world while enjoying lavish funding from The Orchard, which is owned by Sony Music. Most basketball players probably wouldn’t group together Giannis Antetokounmpo and a decent guy in a local pickup game, but that’s sort of what happens on a daily basis in the music industry. Adding to the confusion — “indie” is now often used to describe a specific style of rock music, regardless of whether it’s released by a major or independent label.
In many cases, “I don’t know that [independent] is really an applicable phrase anymore,” says Lulu Pantin, founder of Loop Legal. “The big distinction is self-funding versus receiving funding from an outside source.” “Now it seems like you’re either an unsigned artist or an independent artist,” adds Todd Rubenstein, founder of Todd Rubenstein Law.
Artists once required a hefty amount of financial support to record, manufacture, distribute, and market their music. Signing with a major record company meant acts had more resources at their disposal, while remaining independent signified a scrappier, bootstrapping approach, usually with a select group of labels — 4AD, for example, or Secretly Canadian. “Releasing on XL at one point was the height of independence,” says Ben Blackburn, who manages girl in red.
The initial outlay required to get a successful artist project off the ground plummeted with the rise of production programs accessible on laptops, digital distribution companies, streaming services, and social media platforms. Artists had a “newfound ability to compete on the same level without [the major labels], and in doing so, the ability to claim more control and literal ownership,” says Nabil Ayers, president of Beggars Group US.
“With digital distribution, artists weren’t going to keep doing perpetuity deals on the master side for five albums and an 18 point royalty,” adds Nick Stern, a longtime artist manager. “It was just a matter of time.”
In the second half of the 2010s, especially during the SoundCloud rap era, it became more common to hear about major labels chasing artists who were already amassing streams by the million. This meant that record companies had to give up a lot for the privilege of being associated with the artists, rather than the other way around.
Today many rising artists and their managers are intent on giving away as little as possible. This means that the major labels have all beefed up their distribution-and-services offerings, making attractive deals like the one obtained by Megan Thee Stallion more prevalent. “All of these major players with power and money decided to head into the [distribution] fray,” says Blackburn.
Sony Music has had the most success with the distribution-and-services model: It runs these deals through The Orchard, which enjoyed a bigger current market share in 2023 than any frontline label other than Republic and Interscope. The Orchard is hardly a loner, though; every major label group has at least one, if not more, distribution companies. (Warner has the Alternative Distribution Alliance, though Megan’s deal doesn’t run through ADA, according to a source with knowledge of the arrangement.)
“There are a lot of options out there for people to find those kinds of deals now that there weren’t even two years ago, and certainly weren’t five years ago when we started,” says J. Erving, a manager and founder of the artist services and distribution company Human Resources (which was acquired by Sony Music in 2020). “Initially a lot of artist managers and executives thought that type of deal was subpar in terms of your ability to have success. Now it’s something that’s sought after.”
A side effect of this new desirability, though, is “there really is no clear delineation of what it means to be truly independent,” Pantin says. “Independence now is a flexible term,” Blackburn adds. “It’s also a commodified term.”
This means the music industry would probably benefit from developing a new vocabulary to distinguish between artists with wildly different levels of financial support. “The record industry is currently lumped into two sectors: the majors and the independents, or ‘the rest,’” Ayers says. “‘The rest’ is actually a very disparate group of interests that don’t belong in a single bucket. We need a better way to describe the growing number of entities out there.”
Rubenstein agrees: “A deal with a major — or major independent label — is different than using a larger distributor that provides limited services, which is different than being your own ‘label’ and just loading your music up via DistroKid and jumping on TikTok,” he notes.
For now, as Blackburn puts it, “independence in the eye of the beholder.”
For artists who choose not to sign with a record label, some may be independent and others will be do-it-yourself independent.
What’s the difference? Take Laufey, the Icelandic jazz artist whose latest album, Bewitched, reached No. 23 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in September. Laufey is signed to AWAL, the Sony Music-owned company that provides marketing and distribution services for independent artists. She hasn’t signed away the rights to her music, but AWAL helps promote her recordings at digital service providers and retail.
Oliver Anthony Music, on the other hand, is DIY independent. By all appearances, the “Rich Men North of Richmond” singer, whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, has left his recordings on autopilot without any kind of marketing behind them since he broke into the national consciousness in August and topped the Hot 100 for two straight weeks. Following the success of “Rich Men,” Lunsford has released more songs without the usual promotional muscle required to get new music noticed. As he told Billboard earlier this week, he manages himself and is avoiding record labels as he prepares to record an album.
He’s clearly getting some help. Lunsford has a basic but professional website and an e-commerce store that sells a handful of variations on Oliver Anthony Music hats, T-shirts, bumper stickers and beer koozies. For concerts, Anthony signed with UTA for representation and has a year of touring ahead of him, starting in February with dates in Europe and the Eastern half of the United States. He has an informal publicist who helps with media requests. And he told Billboard he has encountered “many artists,” such as country star Jamey Johnson, who have lent support and guidance.
Comparing “Rich Men” to other tracks to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100 this year, though, suggests being DIY creates some missed opportunities. Combined sales and streams of Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and SZA’s “Kill Bill” dropped between 17% and 55% over the 10-week period after the last date those tracks were No. 1. “Rich Men,” in contrast, dropped 83.4%. It makes sense: A major label marketing machine is better than an independent artist’s system in helping a track get hot and maintain momentum over months and years.
With a little help, “Rich Men” could arguably have far more sales and streams. As a DIY artist, Lunsford uses social media activity to keep listeners engaged and depends on the continued interest of journalists to keep him in the public eye. As he told Billboard this week, becoming a full-time musician means “you’re essentially a business owner and an entrepreneur and a lot of other things, too. And those are things I’m not quite used to yet.”
But Lunsford has done extremely well taking the DIY route. Billboard estimates that “Rich Men” has grossed $2 million from recorded music and publishing royalties from U.S. sales and streams since its release in August. While his weekly download sales are down sharply from their peak in August, our estimates still put the track’s royalties at an impressive $60,000 per week. And because Oliver Anthony Music is a DIY independent artist who retains the rights to his master recording and publishing, he should be pocketing nearly all that money (less any fees for distribution and publishing administration).
Besides, Lunsford seems content being a DIY artist — even if that means leaving money and celebrity on the table. There’s something to be said about saying “no” to the usual impulses to staff up and scale a business as fast as possible. Lunsford can ease into stardom at a comfortable pace rather than jump headfirst into the music business’ shark-filled waters. Read through the YouTube comments to his videos and you sense that listeners put value in Lunsford not being an industry insider — it adds to his authenticity. At the end of the day, not being too much of a business is probably good for Lunsford’s business.
Surprisingly, “Rich Men” has held up better than a couple of other No. 1s in 2023: Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” and Jimin’s “Like Crazy.” Track sales and streams for “Try That” dropped 91.1% in the 10 weeks after it was No. 1. For “Like Crazy,” the first No. 1 for a solo member of superstar K-pop group BTS, track sales and streams dropped 92.9% over the same period. Although “Rich Men” has fallen far from its peak, its 83.4% drop in track sales and streams is considerably better than those other two hits.
There are obvious parallels between “Try That” and “Rich Men.” Both reached No. 1 because of widespread media attention. Both started conversations about social issues: race for Aldean, class for Lunsford. Both were celebrated as conservative anthems, although Anthony has distanced himself from political partisanship. Both are country tracks — Aldean’s a mainstream song built for maximum radio play, Lunsford’s a more old-fashioned slice of Appalachian roots music.
What’s more, both “Try That” and “Rich Men” did brisk business in track sales. As Billboard noted when “Rich Men” ascended the chart, artists popular with conservatives often have strong download numbers. In a typical week, the No. 1 track on the Hot 100 might sell 15,000 downloads, but when the culture wars stoke demand, the No. 1 will sell ten times that many. “Try That” sold 175,000 downloads in the week it was No. 1, while “Rich Men” averaged 132,000 weekly downloads in its two weeks atop the Hot 100.
Download buyers don’t offer the same consistency as streamers, though, and both “Rich Men” and “Try That” lost 99% of their track sales in the 10 weeks after they topped the chart. And because download sales were a big reason why those tracks reached No. 1, their total consumption (measured in both download sales and streams) dropped more than No. 1s that relied more on streaming. But heavy download sales were instrumental in getting each track to No. 1, and “Rich Men” still sells well, too: Last week, the track was the No. 41 most purchased track in the United States., according to Luminate.
Lunsford could easily ditch the DIY approach and assemble a team, but he’s in the rare position of not necessarily needing one. “Rich Men” succeeded without help from a marketing expert, social media guru or even a manager. Instead, Lunsford benefitted from an unprecedented groundswell of interest that gifted him an immense online following. His 1.15 million YouTube followers give him a similar audience as more established country musicians Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown Band, and twice as many as Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves. He has about as many Spotify followers as Bailey Zimmerman, a rising country star signed to Warner Music Nashville and Elektra Records.
When Lunsford eventually releases a new album, he won’t need many resources to instantly reach millions of fans — and he prefers it that way. “I think the most special thing about it being on the chart at all,” he told Billboard, “is that it made it to the chart without some big, corporate schmucky schmuck somewhere pumping a bunch of money into making it get there.”
SpringHill — the lifestyle brand within The SpringHill Company, the entertainment development and production company founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter in 2020 — aired the second season of its On Site performance series on Tuesday (June 20).
Airing every Tuesday on SpringHill’s YouTube channel, On Site puts a spotlight on emerging, independent artists and gives them a platform to deliver raw, intimate performances. This season features 21 artists such as Grace Weber, Jordan Hawkins, Anessa Strings, Your Grandparents, Reason, Alaina Castillo and more.
The season 2 premiere episode of On Site follows LA-based, St. Petersburg-bred soulful R&B singer-songwriter Phabo, who performed “Luv Songs (Unruly)” from his new sophomore album Don’t Get Too Crazy that was released last Friday. “Performing on this platform is growth to me. To survive as a Black man long enough to see my favorite athlete create a platform for my voice to be heard, that’s crazy. It feels surreal. I feel like it’s my duty to this for my favorite basketball player of all time,” he tells Billboard, while later musing over another “GOAT:” Grammy-winning producer Troy Taylor. “[‘Luv Songs (Unruly)’] is super R&B to me. Troy Taylor produced it, who’s a legend, GOAT, one of my mentors. He came through with the beat, with the vocal production on the song. I felt like it was only right for the world to hear it.”
Krystyn Price-Harrell, general manager/vp of the SpringHill brand, says they filmed On Site‘s pilot season at the end of last year and “went into full production on this particular season” at the beginning of this year, she tells Billboard. While sports-related content is undoubtedly The SpringHill Company’s strong suit, Price-Harrell and her team have been working on building out the four pillars of the SpringHill lifestyle brand: fashion, music, art and entertainment. Under its music pillar, SpringHill puts people onto new artists across major genres like hip-hop, R&B, pop, punk, Latin and more, calling back to the brand’s mission of inspiring the next generation. On Site marks the first music-centered program under the SpringHill brand.
“I’m very, very passionate about music and identifying the next person in music. So Jade [Avalos], our creative producer, we all came in a room where we were like, ‘Let’s figure out how we could really hone in on the music space.’ And we came up with On Site,” she says. “For us, the differentiating factor is independent artists. They don’t get the shine that they deserve. SpringHill is really about empowering that next generation, so for us, this was really an opportunity to hone in on that find that white space in music to identify who we’re placing our bets on, who we want to have that consumer journey with, and that’s ultimately how we got here.”
There’s certainly no shortage of shine on the indie artists, who are showered in color-alternating light beams that cover the interiors of the square box performance space (think Drake‘s “Hotline Bling” music video) that Avalos conceptualized and built in three days. “She wanted to do a box. I said, ‘Let’s do the box. Let’s make it different. Let’s create something that really pulls you into the music and the sound and through the colors,’” says Price-Harrell.
In his future episode, LA-based, Richmond-bred soulful rapper Peter $un cools off under the baby blue lights as he performs his scorching, unreleased single, “Burn Like Fire.” “I really like what they’re doing, giving rising artists a platform to shine and a platform to express themselves,” he tells Billboard, adding that he was tapped to perform on On Site by Avalos, whom he’s known since she worked at All Def Media. “I made [‘Burn Like Fire’] based off of a past relationship, just on eggshells in a relationship and being honest with somebody and being open and keeping it real with ’em and how hard that is. I was trying to explain that dynamic of when you know things aren’t right between each other but it’s hard to say ’cause that’s your comfort zone and you still love her, you still love him, but you know things are still falling apart.”
For $un, On Site is another stage he can share with his friends who are also independent artists. During the week prior to filming his “Burn Like Fire” performance, he performed at Anderson .Paak‘s fifth annual .Paak House charitable music event on the HUE SOUND Stage for rising artists alongside Zyah Belle and Kenyon Dixon, whom $un considers to be “family now” and who will also be featured in future On Site performances.
“We’re shooting with some amazing, amazing musicians. Talent’s my bread and butter, but in this new role, taking those relationships and really working with them across the business is very important as well,” says Price-Harrell. Prior to her promotion as general manager/vp of the SpringHill brand at the beginning of 2023, she worked her way up the company’s talent relations department, from senior director to vice president. Now, she works with the talent team on looking into the company’s existing relationships with artists and looking anywhere online from Instagram to TikTok to discover new artists they can spotlight.
“Diversity is very, very important,” Price-Harrell adds. “For us, [it’s about] really making sure we looked cross-functionally at the different genres of music and making sure we touched on how many women do we have? What about this artist in the hip-hop space? We had two musicians today come in and they sang in Spanish. So we’re making sure we’re touching on everyone to make sure the audience is getting fed across all genres of music.”
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