Episode 9 (ft. Sammy Andrews): The music business needs to break down its own data silos

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC
"Flowers" by a[way]
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported  — CC BY 3.0
Free Download/Stream: http://bit.ly/Flowers-away
Music promoted by Audio Library: https://youtu.be/h_7V5TXkAw4

FEATURED GUEST
Sammy Andrews
CEO, Deviate Digital
This episode is inspired by Sammy's recent column in Music Week about the stubborn data silos that persist in the music industry.

TIMESTAMPED TOPICS

[2:49] Interview begins

[5:53] Preliminary overview of different data silos that exist among artists, labels, publishers, distributors and streaming platforms. Examples:

• Siloed consumption data among several labels for the album
• Siloed audience data among labels and promoters
• Labels charging outside parties to use retargeting data, not being open to outside pixel tracking

[9:49] Importance of asking for access to certain kinds of data in recording/publishing contracts.

[11:15] Promoters usually get left behind in terms of access to data, but take on the most risk in putting on shows.

• How can managers and agents help solve the issue?
• What role can streaming platforms like Spotify play in terms of driving higher clickthrough rates for ticket sales?

[15:09] DSPs have a long way to go before fully nurturing and monetizing superfan relationships.

• E.g. possibility of streaming services offering artists the data and tools to retarget their most loyal fans off-platform

[16:40] Distributors offering self-serve advertising platforms to indie artists

• Examples: CD Baby's Show.co; Sammy mentions Beatchain
• CORRECTION: AdRev, which is owned by CD Baby's parent company, focuses on Content ID management and video monetization, not on advertising.
• These types of platforms still may have a drawback in terms of full autonomy from a siloed platform.

[21:08] Given that nothing is certain in terms of the future of tech and media companies, the best way to protect artists is to ensure that they can have their consumption, audience and payment data move with them, as opposed to constantly trying to cobble together fragmented sources at the whim of third parties.

[26:05] What are types of data that music companies are very protective about and don't want to share, but whose openness could actually benefit them more?

• Sammy's personal example: Data silos prevented her from successfully building a global playlist brand for the independent community, to compete with major labels' curatorial brands (Digster, Filtr, Topsify). 

[30:03] More and more music companies all morphing into the same thing and eating into each other's revenue streams.

• Original article comes from Music Business Worldwide's Tim Ingham, writing for Rolling Stone.
• Caveat: Will this consolidation just lead us back to an era of predator