Valholla

The “Label is the Artist” business model

With the growth of streaming, music labels need a new business model that doesn’t rely on artists signing exclusively for an extended period.

Most music labels focus on business models as seen below:

Problem

Most of these business models rely on artists signing multi-year exclusive deals. As more and more artists seek to own their masters, music labels need an alternative business model that allows artists to maintain ownership of their music and allows labels to produce and release music they can control and market, without the full participation of the performing act.

Solution:

The “Label is the Artist” business model

• Label chooses a “creative director” to oversee all releases for a particular imprint.

• This creative director will most likely be a producer who collaborates with a range of artists.

• The label and creative director will executive produce releases, which will include both singles and full-length albums.

Since these collaborations are led by the label and creative director, the releases can be marketed with limited participation of featured collaborators. The creative director and in some cases the imprint will be listed as an artist on the release.

Results and Benefits

• The label will own a controlling share of master recordings, and in most scenarios controls master recordings in perpetuity.

• The label will create merchandise, products, and IP around releases.

• The label can create live experiences around releases.

• The label can create content, television shows, and movies around releases and have full creative control.

• Will result in less “spoilage” – The label can exploit songs that may be on the cutting room floor by re-purposing songs that are not initially released by offering these complete or incomplete songs to other artists and labels, or for synch or to the DIY music community.

In Closing

The future where this model exists allows for labels to rely less on deals exclusively committing an artist to one label. A label will not have to fully rely on breaking individual artists with this model, instead, focusing on songs that resonate with music listeners while maintaining multiple imprints/creative directors that release various genres of music.

Other traditional business models can coincide with this model to increase company success and increase market share.

Labels or Collectives using this model or similar

88rising – This music company is described as a “hybrid management, record label, video production, and marketing company”. Nearly all releases featuring artists on represented by the company also add “88rising” as the main artist on streaming platforms. The company has gained popularity as a musical platform and record label primarily for Asian American and Asian artists who release music in the United States, such as Joji, Keith Ape, Rich Brian, and Niki. Founder Sean Miyashiro describes 88rising as the “The Disney of Asian hip-hop”.

ToTheTop – This record label founded by DJ Premier and Ian Schwartzman releases original music which consists of collaborations produced by the legendary DJ & Record Producer. After founding the label, DJ Premier told HipHopDX the motivation behind starting the label: “I wanted to have a label that would keep the street, gutter stuff in its own lane, one where I could release anything I wanted, how I wanted, and where I wanted”.

SAULT – This British music collective is helmed by songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Inflo, and consists of his protégés including vocalists Cleo Sol, Kid Sister, and Chronixx, as well as instrumentalists Kadeem Clarke, and Jack Peñate. The collective has released 5 studio albums and will perform live international shows in 2024.

These companies and collectives are proof this model can be successful and is scalable.

Our company, Valholla Worldwide Entertainment Group (formerly Valholla Entertainment) is currently exploring this business model and we plan on leaning into it for the foreseeable future. With 20 years of experience, we’ve seen 3 eras of the music business. We believe this could be a more predictable and sustainable model for music labels in a time where more artists than ever seek full control of their music.

Our current collective project:

Vince & The Valholla Empire

Excerpt from TTN:

Vince & The Valholla Empire Solidifies Its Rise in the Independent Music Scene

Miami-based music collective Vince & The Valholla Empire is quickly establishing itself as a force in the independent music space, just two years after its official launch on October 2022. With a growing fan base and a strategic release cadence, the collective has already amassed over 1.5 million on-demand streams.

According to analytics from Chartmetric, Vince & The Valholla Empire is currently ranked in the top 7% of artists globally, the top 10% in the United States, and the top 7% within the Hip-Hop/Rap genre. Their upward momentum is further reflected in their Chartmetric artist score of 752.3K and a designation as a “Developing” artist in a phase of “Growth.”

Releasing new music every 3 to 6 weeks, the collective maintains a dynamic presence across digital platforms. Chartmetric also categorizes the collective’s network strength as “Emerging” and its social engagement as “Active,” signaling strong grassroots support and growing industry attention.

“We’re building a brand built on songs that I believe will be timeless. Our collective model focuses on quality, consistency, innovation and collaboration,” said Vince Valholla, founder and producer and executive producer of the group. “The momentum we’re seeing is proof that our [‘label is the artist’] business model works and the next step is scale.”

As they continue their upward trajectory, Vince & The Valholla Empire is a standout example of how independent collectives can thrive with the right mix of talent, strategy, and execution.

Press Contact: info [at] valholla [dot] com

View the Enhanced Version of this case study HERE