Advanced automation: the good, the bad, and the ugly— part1
We all know that automation can offer a lot. It has its good sides, but also it’s bad ones. In this first part, we’ll cover a good example of what automation has brought the world.
Originally posted on March 7, 2017
I’m a fan of music. I listen to various genres every day. Only just a few years ago, when mp3-players were still the bomb, I downloaded my music via various tools, such as LimeWire, which wasn’t very legal-ish (like, none). I wasn’t the only one, and the music industry wasn’t happy with all the pirates stealing from her precious goldmine. But then Spotify came around the corner and made sure artists were being paid again for their music. Along with Spotify, there are other streaming services, like Apple Music, Tidal, Google Play, Deezer, etc. With these services, musicians don’t need to be signed or have a record deal to get their music online. But they do need some sort of aggregator service to handle the licensing and distribution of their music, and also to administer their royalties.
Wait, why are you talking about music?, I hear you asking. You want to hear about some automation goodness, I get it. Read on, I will get there.
DistroKid
In the music industry, the companies that distribute music are very large but quite old in terms of innovation. One programmer felt the need to refresh the industry by applying the newest technology to it. This programmer, by the name of Philip Kaplan, launched DistroKid in 2013: a music distributor that helps musicians and record labels get their music into online stores and streaming services.
Before I tell you why this distributor is so interesting, we should first have a look at traditional distributors. Occasionally they’re large companies with big teams that charge around €40 per upload that can take up to three days or more before it’s in the store.
With DistroKid only having three employees: a programmer and two customer/artist service reps, it is leading the industry. While having more features, getting music faster into stores, and being cheaper at the same time, it is far beyond its competitors.
Automation
What makes DistroKid so special is that it is run by automated bots, 24 hours a day. These bots do a various amount of tasks that competitors let their big teams do. They verify artwork and song files, change song titles to comply with each stores’ unique style guide, check for infringement, deliver files and artwork to stores, update sales and streaming stats for artists, process payments, and more. Because of this automation, DistroKid has much fewer costs than traditional distributors, resulting in a far lower price for musicians. Musicians that use DistroKid keep all of their royalties; they only have to pay $20 a year to upload unlimited music.
We all know what automation can offer a business; DistroKid is yet another proof. Processes can be optimized, they can be run 24/7, costs can be reduced, profit can be made. But what about the side effects automation brings? Read it on our next blog.
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