In case you missed it, Frank Ocean is currently killing it in all kinds of ways.
After releasing a visual album, Endless, on August 19 (and fulfilling his contract obligations to Def Jam/Universal Music Group), the 28-year-old singer-songwriter unleashed another album, blond, the next day day later as an independent artist. That savvy move has apparently earned him anywhere between $1.6 billion and $2.2 million according to Billboard. blond also has a nice cozy spot at no. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has now moved over 276,000 equivalent album units.
As an aside, some in the industry say Ocean could get sued by his old label for duping the shit of them
What does all of this mean mean in the streaming era, though? And what does that mean for independent artists like Frank Ocean plus the ones who call Tampa Bay home?
In late 2014, the sales-tracking chart tweaked their tracking to include multi-metric consumption in addition to their sales-based rankings. Basically, they’ve included streams and digital sales in the way they track album sales. The new system recognized 10 digital track sales from an album to one equivalent album sale (track equivalent albums, or TEA) and 1,500 song streams from an album to one equivalent album sale (streaming equivalent albums, SEA).
Jorge Brea, who is the president and CEO of Symphonic Distribution, a Tampa Bay-based music distribution, marketing, royalty & rights management, and monetization company helped CL understand.
“I believe the changes by Billboard are much more favorable towards independents. Being that independents don’t have the budgets to produce albums like what Frank Ocean or other majors have, for them to be able to get to that standpoint without investing much is quite an achievement and ends up resulting in the artist or artists having much more of an opportunity to continue their growth in the industry,” Brea, 31, said in a message.
He likes the trend of seeing more independents on late night television shows, and while he acknowledges that some artists in the mainstream may be averse to streaming, consumers are winning because it’s an easy and legal way to access content. He says artists are also able to see more success in streaming arenas vs. downloads in previous years. To prove a his point, he pointed at The Movement, a Symphonic client, who hit the top of Billboard’s Reggae chart in April and made an appearance on the Billboard 200.
“This trend will continue and thus, the entire industry as a whole is really evolving to where the major record labels are diversifying away from just plain record releases to investing in tech, streaming providers, etc., just to make up any losses that they have suffered and will continue to suffer in the future,” he said.
So what should an independent artist be thinking about doing right now?
“If an artist wants to be recognized, they should register their album will Soundscan,” Brea said. “All of the outlets report to Soundscan, so ensuring that your album is registered there will increase the chances of being recognized by Billboard and others.” That service is free via nielsen.com.
“I truly believe that the updates to the chart process from Billboard are much more favorable to independents,” he said in conclusion.
Are you a Tampa Bay artist currently streaming music on Spotify or Apple Music? Are you registered with Soundscan or regularly receiving checks for song streams? If so email us, we’d like to hear your story.
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2016.