Inside Stories: How Does The Music Scene Look Like From Believe Music's Headquarters
A truly inspirational interview with David Bali, head of Label Relations at Believe Music, that revealed what steps one independent artist must follow in order to achieve success. A must-read!
Launched 18 years ago and backed by serious investors that saw the potential right from its early years as a tech startup, Believe Music quickly became one of the leading companies when it comes to the digital world of music: music distribution and services. Now engulfing brands like TuneCore, Naive, Nuclear Blast or Groove Attack, Believe turned into a pretty big corporation, with an estimated revenue of 750 million euros in 2022. Recently, the company announced through its representatives that they generated over 1 billion euros in digital music sales (before royalty payment to artists and labels). Mind boggling, right?
Looking only at the amount of revenue, we can heartily say that Believe is pretty good at what they’re doing. So why not share a bit of their knowledge with us? After all, they may not have access to Spotify’s or Apple Music’s algorithms, but they do have access to cumulated data from (almost) all DSP’s available
David Bali is the Head of Label Relations for Hungary, Romania and Balkans. Already with a strong background in the music industry, be it behind the desk or in a recording studio, David was the perfect match for Believe’s expanding strategy and in 2022 he was promoted to the position he’s right now holding in the company. We sat down for a nice chat, trying to find answers for a few questions that we’re pretty sure they sit on top of many independent artists’ minds. From breaking down the recipe for achieving success as a young artist to the importance record labels still play in 2023, from choosing the right distribution service to the best ways to promote music, David Bali had an answer for all of them! So open your agendas, take notes and then head back to the studio to start recording good music. This is the most important step!
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For how long do you work with Believe and how did you end up working for Believe?
I’ve been lucky enough to act as a Label Manager for three years by now, and I became the Head of Label Relations in 2022 as our team also expanded during these years. I used to be the Director of the Hungarian music export office (HOTS), and when I heard about this opportunity, I immediately applied, as I spent three years in an uncomfortable political climate with constant fights to protect my suggestions and the vision I wanted to develop with my colleagues. But as I spent three years with talent development and international exposure, I was able to adapt my experiences and learn a lot with Believe on helping up-and-coming talents finding their audiences.
Do you have a background in the music industry?
Thankfully yes, although I have a Literature BA degree and I’m also a certified chemist. But besides that, I used to be a music journalist first, then I worked as a production manager for live shows and festivals like Sziget or Fridge in Austria. Then I became a programmer at A38 Ship in Budapest, and then I could switch that role to work on the music export strategy prior to my arrival at Believe. I’m also a mediocre bass player in a hardcore/punk band, but I avoid any possible overlaps in my different roles.
Consistency and authenticity are the key elements.
You’re working with so many artists and labels. Can you define a recipe for success, more like a pattern to follow in order to breakthrough?
More likely I see patterns instead of secured recipes: if a label is 100% sure on the value they deliver, the sound they stand for, and as long as the artist also shares an equal vision on self-expression instead of chasing fame, it will find its way. Thanks to the diverse palette I can work (including classical music, metal, manele, drill, electronic genres or contemporary jazz) with I also warn myself that each genres and subcultures have their own rules, but for labels and artists I can recall authenticity as the key element.
As soon as there will not be any “let it sound like this or that” in the mood-board prior to production, I’m sure that it will last for long, because audiences also seek for identical songs they can resonate with, instead of soundalikes. And the other important aspect is independence: I know that labels and artists are relying so much on possible playlist placements, but there’s so much to do in order to build an audience that’s keen to return to one particular catalog instead of chasing five days of potential visibility on a list where your song is an n+1, but I’m quite radical in this question, and my opinion might alter from regular statements. But regarding your question, for breakthrough I think consistency and authenticity are the key elements.
There’s so much to do in order to build an audience that’s keen to return to one particular catalog instead of chasing five days of potential visibility on a playlist
What checkboxes should an artist / label should tick in order to work with Believe as their distribution partner?
My main driver in these preparations is Patience itself with capital P: both the artists and labels should understand the importance of strategic thinking, and also to understand that the time for preparing any releases is essential, especially when there’s an international aiming in the process. Besides that, I think that either an artist or a label should ask the question if they are ready to go to the next level besides regular distribution - it’s something that all of our competitors can do, but as we have a tech-orientated mindset, our algorithmic and data-visualising solutions are here to help preparing the very next step, but it’s important to mention that our main focus will be always about serving natural audience growth on audio and video platforms simultaneously.
An infrastructure and the understanding of the digital market(s) is extremely needed to plan the forthcoming steps, and most importantly to step up from the competition.
With all the digital tools at hand and the DIY tools that empower independent artists, what’s the role of a record label in 2023? How do they fit better in the music landscape nowadays?
I know that self-made artists inspire the forthcoming generations, but still an infrastructure and the understanding of the digital market(s) is extremely needed to plan the forthcoming steps, and most importantly to step up from the competition. In my opinion that’s the ever-renewing role of a label, as they provide their expertise, they can lift-up upcoming talents due to the importance of their catalog, while the artists can focus only on music, and not about the administrative and strategic background.
That’s the reason why all the domestic markets are quite strong with historical labels: they realised that they have the power of making fresh artists leave their mark on the scene as they are already on the same page as some of their influences within the same catalog. So it’s already something to consider, especially with such an ever-changing landscape as digital itself.
Beside the quality of the music itself, can you point 3 things that count most for an artist / song to “catch” an editorial playlist placement?
1. A self-aware punchline (introducing the artist, the current and honest outreach, the additional workaround for the song and its place in a release strategy) instead of a narration on what that particular track means to an artist.
2. Up-to-date artist photos on all eligible platforms, updated directly from Spotify For Artists, Apple Music For Artists and other equivalencies.
3. Organic ways to curate artist or label-focused playlists with that song to gather user-generated attention, so you shouldn’t rely 100% on an editorial placement over what you can already do for yourself.
Algorithmic playlists: the best way to trigger them.
Besides the regular pitches, it’s important that the songs should have a remarkable retention rate in your genre: algorithmic placements are also sensitive, therefore the system prefers the “safest bets” in any genres. It’s also awesome to see from time to time how algo- and edito-algo shapes genres that are hard to curate: thanks to the recent updates by the key DSPs, you can be sure that all the suggestions are getting more and more convenient, especially in under-represented genres, such as children music, which is essential when you’re about to find a way to let your beloved little one get some sleep to a never-heard-before tune you’ll save and you’ll return to.
TuneCore vs Believe: can you make a quick profile of an artist who would be a perfect match for TuneCore vs one for Believe?
I would recommend TuneCore for those artist who either aim super high with self-confidence, or those who are still new to the digital landscape and try to build some sort of a visibility. TuneCore’s various packages can help to test releases on short-video platforms only, and you can also customise your subscription into a far more strategic impact, while you control everything at 100%. With Believe what we say is that you’ll grow with three new team members: a Label or Artist Relation Manager who helps you on your strategy, a Video Manager for optimisation and customisation, and a Support Manager dedicated to any metadata related movements.
In recent years, Believe launched a couple of marketing tools, from analytics to building creative assets. Is this where the music scene is heading to: more and more promo, with studio time becoming less important?
I think it’s more about providing all the necessary tools to our partners to keep up their independence. At Believe what’s important for us is to serve our clients to help their competitiveness on all markets and all segments of the industry, including marketing preparations as well. So I think the current situation is about encouraging our partners as well to find a way to customise our tools to let them serve the artistic expression, as the music itself is not always enough, especially on commercially over-weighted genres.
Update your artistic profiles, make your biography interesting with the key references and inspirations to help your visibility, curate your own user-level playlists and upload your releases way ahead, and show that you have a vision, a release strategy and an executive aim at once.
So artists need now marketing skills to promote themselves and their music, right?
Unfortunately yes, or at least artists should have someone who they can trust on helping them out! The main idea behind the tools you mentioned (including Artist Resources to educate artists, Believe Promotional Kit to make .mov or .jpeg exports on Meta / Spotify Canvas sizes or either B-Link, our pre-save tool with secondary action possibilities) is to serve the full overview and independence of our partners, and to customise these platforms to let them serve the impact of the belonging releases.
I am a super talented young artist with no big budget to invest in promo? What to do in order to breakthrough on DSPs?
Update your artistic profiles, make your biography interesting with the key references and inspirations to help your visibility, curate your own user-level playlists and upload your releases way ahead, and show that you have a vision, a release strategy and an executive aim at once. Even if you can only do a 6 EUR Facebook advertisement by yourself, or setting up a newsletter with a pre-save campaign, it’s already far more than relying on any potential editorial interest from day one.
Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, Amazon, Youtube, Deezer: so many DSPs with different ways to push music forward. Where should one artist focus his promo efforts?
Shortly: all of them. Or at least most of them. If an artist focuses only on one platform it can withdraw additional visibility, especially on region-specific DSPs for example in APAC. In Eastern-Europe I highly recommend to focus on all the named ones, and in order to have enough time, the preparations should be done way ahead of any new release(s).
Why should one artist pick Believe as his preferred distribution partner?
Instead of corporate responses I can be totally honest: the majority of our team are also musicians in various genres, so we also know the drill and we also suffer as much as everyone else. Therefore there’s no bullshit on any of our suggestions, and we always try to avoid repeating the same mistakes we used to do.
What’s in Believe’s sandbox for the next couple of months? New tools, new services…
It’s a bit still early to spoil what we’re cooking in the background, but what I can tell is that we constantly work on the improvement of our already available tools, including the expansion of our Split Revenue tool, the in-depth overview in our TikTok Dashboard, where streams and content creation can be both measured, and we also work on making all the relevant data (including Discovery Mode uplifts) more visible to everyone in Backstage to serve our partners with fairness, transparency, care and expertise.
TikTok and short bits of music and videos have gained an incredible momentum and it doesn’t seem to stop. How do you see the digital music landscape in the next couple of years in how people will listen to music?
I think the balance would be more short-content focused, although it already appears in general songwriting. Short-video platforms are still relevant on gaining the buzz, and also to make them a part in your release strategy, and I strongly believe that it will also have a far wider impact in the near future, but the key is still to use them instead of relying on them, so it can be a foundation of transferring views into listeners, which is still the key momentum in the definition of digital distribution, and I’m sure it will stay the main driver in the future as well.
What do you think: will Spotify change their approach in the coming years and add new services, like short music bits, cloning TikTok’s success?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s important that all the key DSPs are taking their places in the value chain by their very own character, therefore Spotify has a different strategy and focus than Apple, TikTok, Tidal or any other relevant stores. So I think if they’d be interested about shortened music and/or AI-driven solutions, it wouldn’t be cloning as it would impact the originality of the DSP itself. As an example, that’s why Apple Motion alters from Spotify Canvas, or Apple Music For Artists offers you to check your related inspirations, while Spotify lets you pitch your song.
From your point of view: an artist that stood out of the crowd in 2022, in terms of music, promotion… the whole package.
It’s quite hard (and in some ways, also unfair) to name only one artist, but honestly I was so proud how BULIBASHA and it’s deluxe edition turned out with the timing and the whole package by RAVA.
It was a common effort with everyone involved, and I still think that it still shakes the whole genre, while the deluxe edition model also inspires others. I also wanted to mention a lo-fi hip-hop artist we work with, his name is don C, and he also had a breakthrough last year by his massive release strategy of 21 singles, 3 full-lengths and 2 EPs during the year. I think he reached all what he wanted with an average count of 300k monthly listeners in a niche genre, inspired by Dilla-ish beats, and more than 50 international playlist placements that also led him into a license deal. But I always find joy in underdogs and motivated talents with a vision, so this list could go on until tomorrow!