While artist management makes it easier for musicians to build a successful career, the team behind the creatives needs the right tools at their disposal. Music management software offers musicians and industry professionals a rich suite of features they can use to plan, produce, and promote music. The best free music management software allows users to keep track of and organize digital recordings into playlists, edit existing audio files, add tags to content, and more. It can also be used as an effective tool for collaboration with other artists, as well as preparing content for online media platforms like social channels and streaming services.
Labels and musicians can use it to track changes to recordings and compositions, as well as manage royalty payments and police copyright. With music management software, all assets are housed within a centralized database. It also makes task automation possible, streamlining everyday processes and freeing resources for more creative projects. What’s more, it fosters a culture of collaboration, streamlines promotion, and provides ready access to rich data sets and analytics.
The Advantages of Music Management Software
1. Centralized Database
A centralized database is exactly that. It’s a single archive that brings together a variety of data and collateral, including artist biographies, album and track information, and more. For labels, a centralized database is particularly useful, making it easy for artist managers to to handle complex contracts and rights in a single location. What’s more, it can be used to manage multiple artists from the same platform. For creatives, these databases provide ready access to files and creative collateral, making it simple for remote teams to collaborate on complex projects.
2. Automated Tasks
Nowadays, few tasks have to actually be completed manually. For smaller operations with limited human resources, digital music management software can streamline workflows and boost productivity. By assigning tasks like contract sending, invoicing, and the issuing of royalty statements, your employees are free to focus on more important tasks that call for the human touch.
In the music industry, this is particularly important. Take small music management companies as an example. In a business with a low headcount, it’s common for people to have to perform double duty. Often, these extra remits are little more than completing administrative and clerical work. According to one study, some workers waste as much as 40% of their time on these brainless tasks. It’s a poor use of someone’s time, especially if they can bring their creativity to more valuable areas like artist management.
3. Improved Collaboration
The best music management software can also foster a culture of collaboration. Now more businesses have moved to online models and are employing remote teams, the importance of these features can’t be stressed enough.
Musicians can work alongside music companies to outline release dates and promotional strategies. In the case of larger teams, the best music manager software allows for real-time collaboration, no matter where in the world team members are based. With feature-rich toolsets, creative collaborations can happen whenever. This is incredibly convenient, allowing artists and labels to connect with the best possible talent for any given task. What’s more, it’s significantly cheaper than having to hire someone for an in-house position.
4. Streamlined Promotion and Distribution
Music management and promotion are particularly well served by this type of software. By ensuring all their content is organized and sorted into curated playlists, artists can pick and choose which tracks they want to promote and push for distribution quickly. Most software allows users to add valuable metadata tags to tracks. These can be as simple as the name of the artist and track title, but can also cover more detailed data sets like genre, track numbers, album or EP titles, and more. These all add value to content once it’s shared and uploaded to destinations like streaming services.
Other useful tools include social media marketing features. These are crucial for striking a chord with untapped online audiences. While independent and newly-signed artists need to be proactive on social media, these marketing tools give them the support they need. Email marketing is another commonly-encountered feature of music management software. The importance of email marketing shouldn’t be overlooked. Globally, email marketing campaigns enjoy an open rate of more than 20%.
A streamlined approach to promotion and distribution makes complete sense. Emerging artists need to spend the bulk of their time creating new content and carving out their brand identity. While they should be expected to engage with fans to a point, they shouldn’t have to waste precious time on monotonous PR exercises.
5. Access to Data Analytics
Music management software makes it easy for music industry professionals to make insights-driven decisions. Ideally, software should provide access to things like playlist trackers to see how well content is performing on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and other streaming platforms. Good software should also let users probe audience demographics. Getting a handle on audience age and location will go a long way in informing future marketing and branding endeavors. Furthermore, the best tools allow users to track the performance of their social channels.
Musicians and labels can also use data analytics to gather insights on similar artists. This goes beyond identifying the competition. You can see how well other artists are ranking across platforms while seeing how well they’re adapting to changing industry trends. With all this to hand, it’s simple to create a tailored and cost-effective marketing campaign that delivers a return on investment.
6. Royalty Management and Publishing
Music management software can also offer a centralized solution for keeping track of royalty payments. Labels and musicians can track incoming royalties from many different sources. Furthermore, analytics can be used to deliver in-depth reporting.
Automating royalty management brings many advantages. It’s particularly useful for situations where complex rights agreements come into play. If royalties need to be split between multiple people, software with royalty management features makes quick work of the process. For independent musicians, royalty management features provide a clear overview of where income is coming from, making it far easier to start monetizing content successfully.
Start Reaping the Benefits of Music Management Software
If you’re not using music management software already, now’s the time to start. No matter whether you’re an aspiring musician or a label representing a whole network of industry professionals, music management software makes your day-to-day job considerably easier. A centralized database allows for instant retrieval of key data and creative assets, while task automation can remove many mundane manual tasks from your remit. It also allows for real-time collaboration, no matter whether people are based. It also streamlines promotion, unlocks the power of data analytics, and expedites the royalty management process.
Ready to start using music management software? Why not speak to IndieFlow today? Our music management services make it easier to manage project deadlines, plan release dates, take charge of distribution and publishing, and more. You can create new projects and collaborate with teams on current ones, pitch and manage gig bookings, and access invaluable insights from industry experts. Looking to monetize your music? Connect your Stripe account to get a handle on royalties management and unlock the revenue potential of your content. Need help getting your material heard? With IndieFlow’s powerful music promotion tools, you can.
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