How Proton’s DJ mixes on Spotify & Apple help electronic music labels recoup their costs & grow.
After a decade of distributing hundreds of independent electronic music labels, Proton Radio has intimate knowledge of the challenges faced by our label managers who work so hard bringing the music we love to the world. As their distributor, it’s up to Proton to help solve these challenges.
As our 1st DJ mixes approach a million streams on Spotify & Apple Music, Proton wrapped up a new project to help our artists & labels tackle one of the greatest challenges faced by our label managers: How can our music labels actually recoup their costs when paying a coveted artist to appear on their label?
At Proton, our smart contracts already make it easy for label managers to automatically recoup costs before artists get paid. But it can still be difficult, and in most cases impossible, for a label manager to recoup the high costs of hiring an established artist: sales on Beatport and streams on Spotify just aren’t enough to make the money back.
But with Proton’s DJ mixes on Spotify & Apple Music, the calculus changes…
Instead of the music label paying an artist for just a remix or original track, the music label can ask the artist to also provide a DJ mix featuring the label’s own catalog, including the new remix or original material the label paid for. Here’s how it works:
- The music label pays an established artist a fee for original material or a remix, just like before. But in their deal, the label also asks the artist to deliver a DJ mix featuring the label’s catalog, including the new tunes.
- When the music label prepares the new release inside Proton, they use our smart contracts to declare the expense they paid: the artist won’t get royalties until the advance is recouped.
- Now, when the DJ mix gets released, the royalties generated for the new tracks also recoup the costs that the label paid for their new tracks!
Because the DJ mix features the label’s own catalog, and because the artist has a high profile, this will also drive significant plays & revenue for all the label’s music featured in the mix — not just the new tracks they paid for.
In a recent test during our beta, Proton paid an artist an advance on our own label. Later, we released a DJ mix featuring their song. The DJ mix increased paid plays of the remix by over 50%. But it also drove a significant amount of traffic to the other songs in the DJ mix, helping the label make money on other tracks in the catalog too. And that was just with 1 mix…
DJ mixes on Spotify & Apple Music now represent one of the best opportunities for Proton’s electronic music labels to collaborate with big name artists. Phase 1 of our beta is still limited to label mixes, but we’re working towards an expanded Phase 2 soon!
Proton is a platform that powers over 1300 independent electronic music labels. Beyond distribution, our smart contracts completely automate contracts, statements, and payments for music labels and their artists. Now, we’re bringing DJ mixes to Spotify & Apple Music. If you’re an electronic music label not distributed by Proton yet, and want to learn more, contact us!
