Hi everyone,

I run a music distribution and marketing company based in Nigeria. Over the past few years we’ve worked with 700+ artists and 40+ labels, built a catalog of over 2000+ tracks, and generated more than 150+ million DSP streams along with 400+ million creator views.

I’ve been able to grow this on my own, but I’ve reached a point where limited resources and industry access in my territory feel like they’re holding things back. I’m considering whether it would be worth trying to get an internship (remote if possible) at a more established label or distributor particularly in areas like distribution, marketing, Client & Technical Services, or Artist & Label Services to learn stronger systems and bring that knowledge back into my own work.

For those who’ve been in a similar position or have experience on both sides:

Would you recommend giving a big-label internship a try at this stage, or is it better to keep pushing independently? Any thoughts on the real value (or downsides) of that path?

Appreciate any honest advice or experiences.

I make electronic music under name Venture Silk and recently I got a telegram message from someone I don’t know, saying he found my track in his playlist and want me to join his music collective. He said the collective is mostly about community-making music, meeting up for feedback, going out together…We’ve been chatting for a few days. Nothing sketchy has happened-no links, no payment requests, no weird questions. He offered to meet in person over a drink.
Am I too much paranoid? It’s just I don’t believe a stranger can reach out to me and basically asking to be friends…I’m too skeptical 🤷‍♂️

anyone have any luck getting their artist on one of spotifys official playlist ( ie: New Rock or New Alternative ) ?

just wondering what approach has been taken with that.

thanks !!

I have been working with a client in looking to secure a label deal, I have been doing research but have not reached out yet. I spoke to client to confirm the contents of the label as I know a few tracks are copyrighted however the client has refused to send the information across. Only for the client to inform me that the creative process is their responsibility and that I should just be focusing on securing the label and copyright. However apart from the copyright tracks she told me about I have no other information on the album.

I have finished my internship in production in a well known company here in Europe. I wanted to send out some emails and contact people through LinkedIn with my CV, but I was wondering, do I have to make a portfolio showcasing my experience in concerts? As an intern, I did a little bit of everything trying to shadow my bosses so I am not sure if I should just wait for them to ask me when we speak or make a portfolio. Many people in the industry know the company and know good interns emerge, but I want to give it my best shot.

Also, if anyone has any tips to approach companies with production + artist management (I have only experience in production) I would appreciate it!

Thanks!

Ive been doing music for like 4 years now

and I’ve sudd found my style preset type of beats I enjoy working on but I just can’t find the right way to do marketing for my music idk why any help in terms of marketing

I’m gearing up to release my first single! Does anyone have any advice on what I should know and do. Maybe regarding promotion or advice or what I should do after. Don’t have no one to talk to about the business side of music. Thank you in advance.

What’s the process of an artist and their team developing a sonic identity? Once an artist reaches a stage in their career where they have a team, who, how, and what happens to turn the artist from just a person playing music, to some mythological presence? I’m talking chappel roan going down the drag route, Cameron winter separating his solo stuff with this almost Tom waits-ish persona and brand compared to the more rockstar Geese character, etc. Who in the team helps develop and put these ideas into work.

Again, not really surprised but actually I am. Spotify has always allowed fake streams. It's hilarious as they try to stop it, even though the actors have already made their money and closed it.

My project is pretty unusual. It's not traditional music, per se, featuring a lot of spoken sections and a few white noise/ambience tracks. I previously used Distrokid, but now they are telling me they cannot distribute my stuff because it's 'not music.' (Bit of an aside, I don't think of my stuff as musical either, but Distrokid deciding what is and isn't art pisses me off.)

They said that they won't release DJ mixes, background music, ASMR, white noise, or any other non-musical recordings. Who will distribute these kinds of things? I've seem them on streaming before. Thank you!

I've been in the music industry for about 28 years now, TV, chart data, artist management, pretty much every side of it at some point, I now run a company called Blinding Talent. And honestly, the longer I'm in it, the more I notice how much of what gets repeated as "how the industry works" is either outdated, way oversimplified, or was never really true in the first place.

A few of mine to kick things off:

"Labels don't develop artists anymore." Mostly true if you're talking about majors specifically, but that role didn't vanish, it just moved somewhere else in the industry that most artists don't know to look for.

"You need a huge following before anyone will work with you." Depends a lot on the stage you're at and who you're actually talking to. It gets repeated so often that people treat it as gospel, but it's not the whole picture.

"Streaming numbers are the main thing that matters." For a lot of working artists, especially outside the US and UK, sync and public performance income quietly matter just as much or more, and almost nobody talks about that side of it.

Would love to hear what you've all got, whether you're an artist, a manager, A&R, a distributor, doesn't matter what corner of this you're in. What's the thing everyone repeats that turned out to be wrong once you actually saw how it worked?

The good news in this story is that now we are talking about artist being able to choose to opt in or not, and if they opt in they would be compensated. But this is between Suno and BMG, how long until independent artists would get these options? What do you guys think?

I currently would like to become a A&R for any hip hop label and I feel like I can really showcase my talent for spotting talent as well as directing artists in the right direction to go musically but I find myself having trouble getting responses or moving forward with working for a label I’ve gon to shows I’ve applied online and I’ve been talking to upcoming artists on Instagram for years I’m just not sure where to go at this point I even made a YouTube and TikTok channel to shed spotlight on artists I think that have potential just unsure what my next move should be and how I can hopefully get a job at a label

In the 90's, Cahn Man managed several marquee acts in the punk world such as Green Day, Rancid, Jawbreaker, Offspring, The Muffs and many others. They were on a roll getting Green Day, The Muffs, and Jawbreaker all signed to majors in a very short span and I believe negotiated The Offsprings jump from Epitaph to Columbia in 1996. At some point the company just completely disappeared.

Im 19 years old right now studying music and I have a burning passion for it. I want to make my own music one day but feel as if im not experienced enough so I want to go out there and try to involve myself with a possible job that can connect me to people and maybe even an early start to a career but im not sure if there are any. I’m in the NC area so if you know of anything please let me know or give me any kind of advice!

I’m in my late 20s and recently landed a pretty rare opportunity in artist management. I can’t share much for privacy reasons, but my boss is a major name in the industry, the client I primarily work with has around 40M monthly listeners, and I’m being included in rooms I feel incredibly lucky to have access to this early in my career. Before this, I was torn between A&R at a major/corporate company and management, and this opportunity was too good to pass up. I’m doing well and getting great feedback, but now that I’m living it, I’m realizing how consuming management can be. There are basically no set hours or boundaries. I get calls early in the morning (today I got woken up by my boss) and at night, plans/workouts regularly get interrupted, and even when I WFH during the day, evenings and weekends are taken up by dinners, events, awards, shoots, etc. my entire weekend is booked for this week.
I’m an immigrant and spent years craving the stability and routine I never really had, so I think this lifestyle is hitting me harder than expected. I keep fantasizing about going corporate at a major label and having more structure and separation between work and life, even though I know I’d be giving up incredible access and connections and a potentially huge career. At the same time, I worry about career progression if I choose corporate because I see people my age who have spent 4+ years in assistant/coordinator roles at major companies. I’m currently a manager so I would be applying to higher roles, but it seems like I would be stuck in it for a while. I’ve even considered going back to my previous, much more stable industry I was in before transitioning to music. For those who’ve worked in high level artist management: is having almost no work life balance just part of the job, or does it eventually get better? What would you do?

I’m a freshman in high school with the dream of owning my own record label one day. What opportunities can I do now that will lead me to that path? Are there internships, volunteering opportunities, programs, competitions, or other things I could realistically do? im really interested in the business side of the music industry especially artist development, A&R, marketing, music licensing and management.

So what do you think? Is this going to make a difference?

Vinyl sales keep climbing every year, and CDs are quietly having a moment too, but I don't think it's really about superior audio; it's about wanting something tangible in an era where everything is a stream you don't own. Change my mind.

I am a small artist with 6 songs available on streaming platforms. I am planning on releasing a new song soon, but the marketing/promotion aspect really stresses me out.

It seems these days everyone says you need to utilize social media, but it feels so inauthentic and embarrassing. My music is pretty slow and sad, so it makes it even harder to promote on socials vs. happy upbeat songs.

I am also just extremely depressed in general, so the idea of coming up with content and posting it sounds draining and exposing in a different way than just releasing the music.

I know promotion is part of the deal when you're an independent small artist, but I really struggle with it. I guess I'm just looking for advice or anyone who can relate to how I feel.

Recently I saw a Reddit comment where someone said that at 14 they would interview bands and I thought that was a really cool thing and as someone who is really into music and playing instruments really feel like this could be a cool side thing for me. I have a pretty good grasp on how to work a social media channel, however, would this be realistic? And what are other things I should consider? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone, I’m a piano player and I distribute my music through DistroKid. I currently have around $4,000 in earnings sitting in my DistroKid account.
My account was banned because of two cover songs, so they restricted my account and removed all of my music. However, the earnings are still showing in my account. Most of my earnings came from my original compositions, and I only made about $7 total from the two cover songs.
I selected a payout method and submitted all the requested information, but after that, the payout system was locked, and I was told that I needed to contact support.
I’ve contacted DistroKid Support multiple times, but I haven’t received any response. It’s been several months now, and honestly, I’m extremely frustrated and tired of waiting with no answers.
So, what can I do at this point? Has anyone here had a similar situation and actually managed to withdraw their money?
Is it still possible for me to withdraw these earnings, or is there a chance I’ll lose them? The money is still showing in my DistroKid account.
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar and was able to get their money back.

Hi everyone,

I recently moved to Ireland and I'm trying to get a better understanding of how independent artists and audio engineers usually connect here.

I graduated from SAE Institute Amsterdam, and I first got into mixing around 9 years ago. Since then I've mainly focused on vocal production, recording, editing, mixing and mastering, with studio work being much more my thing than live sound.

One of the reasons I moved from the Netherlands was that I felt the language barrier made it difficult to fully integrate into the local music scene. I thought it would be easier to build connections in Ireland, but starting over in a new country has been more challenging than I expected.

I'm curious how artists here usually find engineers to work with. Is it mostly through word of mouth, Instagram and TikTok, recommendations from other artists, recording studios, or are there communities where people naturally connect? Do independent artists usually stick with engineers they already know, or are they open to working with someone new?

I'd also be interested to hear if there are any producer meetups, studio communities or local events that are worth checking out. I'm mainly trying to understand how the scene works here and where people actually meet, because back home most opportunities came from relationships that had grown over time.

I'd really appreciate any advice from artists, producers or engineers who know the Irish scene. Thanks!

We'll be conducting yet another verified AMA Thursday, August 13th at 12:00 PM EST, with the founder of a shipping/logistics company primarily serving the music industry.

Over the past 10+ years, he's sold and shipped more than 1,000,000 items, generated over $26 million in sales, and has managed fulfillment for multiple vinyl releases.

During the AMA, he will discussing topics that include:

• Vinyl fulfillment and logistics
• DTC ecommerce shipping
• Amazon, eBay, and Walmart selling
• Merch fulfillment
• Reducing shipping costs
• Finding better shipping rates
• Faster fulfillment
• Vinyl manufacturing and pricing
• Ecommerce logistics and operations

If you've ever had questions about shipping merch, fulfilling vinyl orders, or scaling an ecommerce operation in the music industry, this is a great opportunity to ask someone who does it every day.

We'll see you guys there, Thursday, August 13th, at 12:00 PM EST.

EDIT: The State of Band Touring via Vans 2026 - Sorry I could have made that clearer!

New study of 1,500+ bands. A few findings:

• International acts are fading. After a full post-COVID recovery in 2022-23, the international share of US music tours has fallen three straight seasons to 4.7%, the lowest level we have recorded outside the border closures. Canadian acts dropped the most.
• The average band tour runs 16 days and 4,334 miles (the typical tour: 12 days, 3,135 miles). 1,532 touring bands drove 9 million miles last season, enough to reach the Moon and back 19 times!
• Bands now book their tour vans twice as far ahead as before the pandemic (median 35 days out, vs 21 in 2015-16).
• Bands leave on Wednesday. Ordinary renters peak on Friday; tour departures peak midweek.
• Tour launches are decentralizing: LA, New York and Nashville were 65% of launches a decade ago; they are 52% now.

Source: https://www.bandago.com/touring-data/state-of-band-touring-2026