Lil Nas X, ‘Amuse’ and the technologically driven democratisation of the music industry

Theinteractions between technology and music are something of a personalfascination. In a previous blog post, I talked about how Spotify uses machinelearningto constantly offer you new and relevant music that always seems to be justwhat you’re after.

Takingit back just a step, though, have you ever wondered how music winds up on thosestreaming platforms in the first place? If you guessed that it works in thesame way as CDs in stores and it was all done through labels, distributors anda cohort of other middlemen, you may be surprised to find out just how simpleand easy it is for music to wind up on streaming services.

Overrecent years, technology (especially the internet) has driven significantchange in how all forms of media are consumed, and the music industry hasbeen heavily affected by this disruption. In years gone by, when radio and physicalformats such as cassettes and CDs dominated the market, the sheer logisticalinfrastructure required to produce and deliver products necessitated labels anddistributors. However, as consumer behaviour has shifted towards digitalconsumption as opposed to physical, the need for complicated agreements,international licensing and regional distributors has all but gone.

Newonline platforms have taken advantage of the digital revolution of musicconsumption and have streamlined the route to market, making it not only viablebut in many cases preferable to remain independent when distributing music. Therecent posterchild for this success has been Lil Nas X, whose single ‘Old TownRoad’ recently exploded in popularity catapulting him from relative obscurityinto the international spotlight. It was an unheralded hit, breaking records onits way to 17 straight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

What’smore remarkable about this hit was the way in which it was produced andreleased. Reportedly, the beat that was usedcost Lil Nas X $30,and it was initially distributed on the online platform Amuse, which allows for freedistribution to all the major streaming services.

Youread that right, it was completely free to distribute the song to Spotify,Tidal, Apple Music, everywhere. The rub here is that Amuse then gets the insidetrack on artists that distribute their work through its service — and withaccess to in-depth analytics, the organisation passes on high-performingartists to the more traditional label side of its business.

LilNas X was predictably offered a contract with Amuse, but he declined andinstead signed with a more established presence in Columbia Records, an imprintof one of the ‘Big Three’ record labels.

WhereLil Nas X wound up may be more of the same, achieving international success andsigning to a major label, but the route he took there with a $30 beat and afree online distribution service is evidence of a new ecosystem within themusic industry.

Though,this may not be the triumph for the little guy that this seems. With thepromise of being an overnight success, bedroom artists everywhere are takingadvantage resulting in around 40,000 songs areuploaded to Spotify— Every. Single. Day. Which adds up to a whopping 14.6 million songs a year.

Thesheer volume of tracks makes it almost impossible to cut through the noise, andwith advanced metrics provided by distribution platforms to labels (for a feeof course) labels now get to separate the wheat from the chaff not just bysubjective measures, but by region, age and other demographics to act as aprediction for future performance.

Sonow the route to market is easier than ever, maybe it was never for the benefitof the artist? For every hit song there’s 39,999 posted every day, and this waylabels don’t need to stump up the upfront cash.