Empowering Indie Artists Through Data-Driven Management and Human-Centered Design
For Off Season Creative Founder Ross Nicol, data is invaluable, but understanding the artist mindset is unquantifiable.
Ross Nicol hasn’t always been indie. Before heading off on his own to start Off Season Creative, a boutique Brooklyn-based creative direction agency with a focus in music, Ross was at a major music management firm.
While there, Ross had the benefit of working with some of the biggest artists, managers, and designers in the music industry, so he quickly learned the importance of developing and maintaining relationships — and the power of leveraging data.
On the management side of my work, it’s [data] largely considered with touring, looking at markets where a specific song, sometimes, or an artist as a whole really resonates…. I’ve mostly used that data to map out tours, to route tours to cities that make the most sense based on listeners. Also with age groups, deciding whether or not to set your show as all ages, 18+, or 21+. That affects the deals that you have to strike with buyers in each market.
Of course, one of the really important byproducts of the digitization of the music industry is just how much data can actually help empower artists to take control of their own careers. And Ross has been helping artists do just that, drawing on his extensive knowledge and experience with management, marketing, creative direction, and design.
That said, according to Ross, the added value that big companies — be it management firms, major labels, or design studios — offer is industry relationships at scale. For all of the new technology and data proliferation in the music business, it all ultimately still comes down to a human-centered approach.
Hear the full interview here or subscribe to the How Music Charts podcast.
