Ryan is Founder and CEO at Marmoset, a global music agency. He publishes his experience leading creatives at nurturetheory.com
getty
There’s no industry in greater need of social disruption and transformation than the intersection of music, media and technology. That’s where my company and most music licensing companies exist today.
This industry has long been dominated by a homogenous 1% — the elitist class of power brokers and gatekeepers who have prioritized the individual success of a select few above artists, clients, consumers, workers and the greater ecosystem. Unfortunately, this is still largely true today. Look no further than the challenges surrounding Spotify for a glimpse of today’s inequities.
The good news is that creators and consumers of music licensing have more power now than ever to lead the radical change so desperately needed in our space. Discerning who to partner with — and why — is a direct path to a meaningful systemic change of epic proportions.
Perhaps the biggest opportunity is simply having conversations with people. Thanks to tools like LinkedIn and social networks, it’s never been easier to connect to real people and artists working for and with your preferred music partners, opening the door for a deeper look inside.
MORE FOR YOU
By having conversations and asking a few specific questions, here are four ways you can discern the values and impact of the music companies you work with:
1. Talk with employees working at music companies and seek their experience and perspective.
When connecting with people at music companies, ask what the culture is like. What are the benefits? Can employees afford to buy homes, support families and enjoy paid time off? Are they supported with parental leave and sabbaticals? What’s the turnover rate? Are profits shared with staff?
Worth knowing: B Corps prioritize workers and their families above profits. As part of the certification process, companies are evaluated for their contributions to employees’ financial security, health and safety, wellness, career development, engagement and satisfaction. At their best, B Corps design business models that benefit their workers.
2. Talk with artists.
Have you ever dined at a restaurant where the chef visits your table and explains the details of your meal? That experience is accessible with music, too. All you have to do is ask.
Similar to connecting with staff at music companies, you can connect with artists. And when you do, ask about their confidence and trust in the music company. Ask about their experience and expectations in terms of transparency, ethics and equity. Ask about the impact on their lives.
At Marmoset, our Top 50 earning artists combine to average more than $65K per year, with the Top 20 averaging close to six figures annually. Artists from underrepresented groups in the Top 50 income earners rose 30% in 2021, up 148% since 2018. We also launched a record label in 2018 featuring new releases from historically underrepresented and excluded artists.
3. Ask about diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
This is perhaps the easiest criteria to evaluate. All you have to do is ask simple questions and then listen. My favorite question to ask is: “What does equity look like inside of your organization?”
You can also ask about the company’s people, hours and resources they commit to diversity, equity and inclusion work. Are leaders showing up to work? You can also learn something by pursuing the staff page on a website or LinkedIn, specifically looking at leadership and senior, higher-paid roles in the organization.
4. Demand transparency.
Unfortunately, there’s very little transparency in our industry. Companies can boast and say practically anything they want. For instance, a CEO can proudly shout from the mountain tops that they paid artists $100 million. But nobody would ever really know if it were true or not or what it really means. And even if it were true, what if 95% of it was paid to a homogenous group, maintaining the same social structures and gatekeepers that have dominated the industry for the past 100 years?
Transparency gives everyone a clear line of sight through an organization with objective measurements and context to help understand what’s really happening behind the scenes. Transparency serves as a litmus test for seeing if actions align with creative copy on the website and emails.
Internal transparency matters, too. Companies with high integrity are open and honest internally with their staff, disclosing things like profit and loss statements, company spending, equitable pay ranges, staff demographics, turnover rates and all the brutal facts. In my organization, every employee at every role and tenure level is empowered to ask about, see and scrutinize these facts for themselves. Without transparency, there’s no accountability.
You are not alone.
With transparency comes trust. According to a recent survey, more than half (66%) of respondents said that transparency is one of the most attractive qualities in a brand. According to another survey, 77% of consumers are motivated to buy from a company that’s committed to making the world better, while 73% of investors say they believe that their efforts to improve the environment and society contribute to their investment decisions.
All of that to say, you are not alone. The power of your purchasing decisions, including where you go for music licensing, has never been greater than it is today. Power to the conscious consumer.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Go to Source
Author: Ryan Wines, Forbes Councils Member
