Sylvia Pohl talks about the secrets to successful music distribution.
In today’s music market scenario, the competition among artists has reached significant proportions. With the industry surpassing the impressive mark of 100,000 new songs released daily on Spotify and other streaming platforms, standing out has become more challenging than ever. Grabbing the attention of playlist curators has emerged as one of the vital strategies for musicians, offering the chance to broaden the reach and impact of their music.
In this highly competitive sphere, we spoke with Sylvia Pohl from the Brazilian music distributor Shake Music. Sylvia currently represents an incredible catalog of tracks and works for the company and, through Shake, has engaged in partnerships with major brands such as Universal Music, Warner Chappell, Milk Music, and artists like Mochakk, Victor Lou, Volkoder, Sterium, Duarte (BR), and many others.
Much talk nowadays revolves around "Pitching" and how to make a good plea to editors and record labels. Whether we accept it or not, the competition starts even before the release hits the streets. The Shake Music team plays this role very well with proven results in "editorial covers". Sylvia shared valuable insights and effective strategies with us to stand out amidst fierce competition and capture the attention of playlist curators, providing invaluable guidance for artists. Check it out!
What strategies do you suggest for an effective pitching in the music industry, especially considering the high competition among artists currently?
Sylvia Pohl: To carry out an effective pitch in the music industry, it is crucial to consider that editors deal daily with a flood of new music. Often, artists forget that editors have a heavy workload and receive numerous songs each day. Therefore, it is essential to capture their attention quickly.
Organization is key. An extremely organized presentation folder can make a difference. Structure it with subfolders containing high-quality photos, informative texts about your musical background, relevant links, videos, and other materials that help paint a comprehensive picture of your art. This facilitates quick navigation and understanding of your work.
Here at Shake Music, we follow a series of standards, what we call quality control, which are directly linked to market interest. This greatly facilitates the process. Remember, editors only have a few minutes to spare for each artist, so it’s vital to make a good and impactful first impression quickly.
Ideally, a period of at least four weeks before the release would be the appropriate time to send the songs. This allows editors enough time to review, consider, and possibly include the music in relevant playlists or other platforms.
In your opinion, what is the most crucial component for distributing a track that often goes unnoticed by artists and labels?
Sylvia Pohl: Besides pitching, the well-known plea for help, it is crucial that artists pay attention to music metadata. It’s essential that all details are perfectly aligned to ensure efficient delivery to playlist editors. This aspect, often overlooked, can significantly affect the visibility and chance of success for the music across various distribution channels.
Another crucial point is online presence. Maintaining a good and humanized presence on social media is fundamental. It requires strategy, quality, and authenticity in self-promotion. Often, artists underestimate the power of their own promotion, forgetting that they are their best bets. Seek market courses such as Music Marketing, presented by Escola Música & Negócios and Milk Music in partnership with Instituto Gênesis PUC-Rio. Learning how to promote yourself is the first step!
Speaking of direct music distribution, being proactive is imperative. It is crucial to have full control over your music catalog, ensuring it’s properly protected by your partner company and that you have created ISRC codes for all tracks. This measure, often overlooked, can cause issues in royalty collection processes and other financial aspects in the future.
Well! There are many things that an artist and label can do to promote themselves to their audience and even have a good pitching request. It was great to briefly share part of this journey with you, and I hope to be back soon! Thank you for the opportunity. I’m available to return and delve deeper into more tips and aspects of the music market.
This article was originally published in Portuguese on the Eletro Vibez website and adapted into English for Medium.
“Business with Vibez” is brought to you by DDD Music.
