Understanding Music-Driven KPIs:
It is crucial to know that incorporating music into business operations can have a positive impact on productivity and customer experience. By measuring the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) influenced by music, businesses can develop strategies to optimize these factors for success. In this guide, let’s explore the benefits of music-driven KPIs and how they can help take your business to the next level.
How KPI’s Impact Your Record Deal or Publishing Deal?
So here I am, in the middle of a meeting with a UK off-branch of Sony Records, with one of the artists in my REWIND program, and they are being presented with a publishing admin deal. The conversation was very interesting, and we covered a wide range of topics, namely in the context of what the artist envisions as their perfect dream scenario. And while all of that was interesting and all, the fact of the matter is that ultimately, the discussion finally centered on a single topic. “KPI’s”.
What exactly are KPI’s?
The abbreviation for “Key Performance Indicator” is “KPI.” What is a KPI? KPI stands for key performance indicator, a quantifiable measure of performance over time for a specific objective. KPIs help professional music entities such as Record Labels and Publishing Companies to provide milestones to monitor progress, insights to act upon and the bigger picture goals for all to aim for. When it comes to marketing and advertising, there are many different behaviors that you will want to keep an eye on. Take, for instance, the goals of engagement, awareness, and, ultimately, conversion. In this case (and 99% of the time) the type of conversion they are looking for is sales, with the intent of measuring profit.
How Do KPI’s Impact Your Success?
While sitting there, the representative concluded that, based on the KPI’s, my client may have a greater chance of being perceived as an entertainer rather than a music artist. I questioned her about the thought process that led her to this verdict. She immediately evaluated the KPIs which reflected a lack of sales. In other words, to her, it wasn’t a profitable business model.
Then the meeting went from both parties discussing a potentially mutually beneficial arrangement to them sales pitching my Client. Why? Because at that point she deduced the brand value based on the KPIs, which lessened the value of the music. Since she was clearly bringing more to the table, the odds were in her favor. Therefore, she ultimately still ended up offering us a Record Deal- however, in the contract it stipulated that my Client surrenders his catalog for the duration of seven years, with no milestones in place. I found this ironic. I had been coaching my Client for a few years now regarding optimizing their KPIs, to no avail. Artists oftentimes think of their art as more valuable than the person with the money does.
As you can imagine, this oftentimes leads to frustration, and missed opportunities. So as you can see, it is extremely vital to have a solid understanding of your KPIs and how they can be interpreted to indicate the possibility of monetizing your catalog and brand. In addition, the kinds of business chances you’ll have access to are going to be determined by your KPIs. For example, if we had gone into that meeting with impressive KPIs, it would have further affirmed the quality of the catalog and the brand of the artist from a business viewpoint, and it would have ultimately gotten them a far better deal.
Ways to improve Your KPI’s
Understand the term KPI:
First, it is mandatory to have a complete comprehension of the meaning of the term “key performance indicator” before you can begin to work on improving or optimizing your KPIs. Read the paragraph above to review.
Be Professional:
Set Up a business plan with projections, goals and milestones. This will help you to measure just as the Record Labels and Music Publishers do.
Use Ad Campaigns:
Ad campaigns are like focus groups. Try a Facebook and Instagram Ad Campaign to give you the ability to track and measure.
Take inventory:
Enter all of your assets in an excel file (songs, acapella versions, instrumental versions, remixes, lyrics, videos, merch, etc.). Put a value to all of your assets, and ultimately understand the monetary value of your assets.
Conclusion:
The music business is a business, and you must keep in mind that no one is going to fund a business that is not making a profit. If you want to succeed in the music business, you must remember this. Thus, it doesn’t matter how good you believe your music is because the next person is going to have good music as well as a reliable business structure with optimum KPIs.
