Here’s a spicy truth that needs saying: too many artists and rights holders are still letting someone else take the lead on what should be theirs. Why on earth would you let someone else hold all the knowledge about you, your fans, your rights, your career? It doesn’t make any sense?? Especially if that someone, is only getting a return on a small slice of that career?

So, why would you let, or expect a record company to take the lead on audience insight and strategy. It’s a bit like being an F1 team boss and letting the tyre supplier dictate your race strategy. They only care about tyres. That’s their win. They’re not thinking about the sponsorship deals, the engine deal, the aero-package, mid-season upgrades, team merch, the trucking or how your over-privileged, over-confident, dick of a driver will look on the upcoming session of Formula 1: Drive to Survive. Actually, to be fair, the Record Label would care about that…if they’re the ‘tyre supplier’ in this analogy.

you need help, Sound Effects is here to do just that.

Now, let’s be fair, not every label is blind to the bigger picture. Some are evolving, building artist and fan development teams, investing in innovation, and genuinely trying to collaborate. And when they do- magic can happen. Certainly, those that Sound Effects works with. The problem is, those examples are still the exception, not the rule. So, while we’re not saying labels can’t be partners in this process, we’re saying they shouldn’t be the only ones holding the map. Insight, strategy, and long-term vision belong with the people who care about the whole journey, not just the part they profit from. Don’t relinquish that.

BUT HERE’S THE IRONY..

Funny thing is, what happens outside the Record Company’s official remit across the wider fan ecosystem, massively influences the very metrics they do care about, making streams spike. engagement surge. tracks catch fire seemingly from nowhere. Yet this broader ecosystem often gets ignored or underleveraged because it doesn’t sit within their traditional campaign structures or direct control. And ironically, it’s precisely because it isn’t controlled, or leveraged for ROI, that it works. Authenticity, spontaneity, and fan energy can’t be faked or forced.

Nevertheless, this still doesn’t mean the Record Company should try to own insight and strategy over you. Most don’t have the right skills in-house and many major music companies are under constant pressure to reduce headcount and strip away anything that doesn’t directly contribute to near-term revenue or investor updates. It's why Sound Effects exists. I mean it's why we have a number of Record Companies as clients. Even the big ones!

Strategy and insight often fall into the “nice-to-have” column when they should be foundational. And if labels do try to centralize and control these capabilities, they risk killing the very thing that drives value: independent, culturally-tuned thinking that lives outside the spreadsheet. Labels don’t need to own the fan ecosystem, (I mean, they’re simply not able too), they just need to understand it, respect it, and work with those who manage the overall strategy for the entire fan ecosystem, and know how to move within it. All that's happening outside the Label's slice, will positively affect their slice.

UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE PIE, NOT A SLICE

Most Record Companies today aren’t benevolent, all-seeing entities dedicated to the holistic success of an artist. Increasingly overworked and under resourced Label teams are being focused on what they own and what they make money from i.e. recorded music. But what about live, diversified content, merch, commercial partnerships, fan community development, immersive experiences, gamification, superfans dropping thousands on bespoke experiences, etc, etc, etc?

So, if you let them drive audience insight, guess where they’re understandably steering it? Right into the neat little streaming lane that justifies their marketing budget, keeps headcount low and their ROI tidy. Any plan that emerges from their “insight” will be laser-focused on what they have influence over. Meanwhile, all those juicy superfandom revenue streams remain untouched.

THEY WON’T ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

A Record Label’s audience research will be about consumption, not connection. It will be looking at the short-term and won’t help build an artist’s long-term career? Oh and sad to say, it’ll be the cheapest option available.

They’ll happily track who listens, when they listen, what devices they use, but will they ask why real people care about the artist? What drives the fandom? What role does the artist play in their wider-world? What is the fan's wider-world is? That’s outside their bubble.

Artists exist in those unique fan ecosystems we described in our past newsletter, not just on DSPs. A proper insight strategy should explore all the revenue streams that matter within the fan ecosystem: live, experiential, product, content, commercial partnerships and the most important...community. Most record labels just aren’t encouraged to think this way. ENTER SOUND EFFECTS!!

TAKE CONTROL. INSTIGATE. LEAD!

So, what should rights holders & management do?

Own Your Insight Data: Commission research that you control, covering the full fan/artist ecosystem,not just the record label’s playground. So that means saying ‘thanks but no thanks’, if they want theirinsight team to do it for you, tats if they have one.
Everyone Should Contribute: Instigating and controlling doesn't mean footing the bill! Audience insight and the holistic strategy you (and Sound Effects) create from them benefits everyone who makes money from an artist: the record company, the publishing company, the merch company, the live partners, etc. Management or the artist shouldn’t foot the bill alone…
Because Everyone Benefits: Chimes? Echos? Reverberates? You do something in one area of the fan eco-system, it should echo in other areas. So, all those partners, should be working to the single, overreaching strategy that you own, and you developed…with Sound Effects.
It’s Joined-Up-Thinking: Having a holistic approach, to coin a 90’s Adland phrase. Why they should all be investing in that audience insight.

Ask The Right Questions: We can guide you; we’ve been doing this for years with artists all over the world. Go beyond streaming numbers and dig into emotional connections, behaviour, values and why and how people engage across different platforms.

Develop Strategies That Aren’t Label-Dependent – Build revenue models that work across the entire career and fan eco-system, from superfans to casuals, without being handcuffed to the label’s limited vision.

FINAL THOUGHT

If you let the record company, take charge of audience insight, you’ll end up with data that understandably serves them, not you and leaving all the money on the table in areas they don’t control.

So, unless you enjoy watching potential revenue evaporate while your artist or recorded rights gets squeezed into an algorithmic treadmill of doom, it’s time to step up, stop being a backseat driver in your own story. Insight and strategy should sit with the artist and their core team. Everyone else gets a seat at the table, not the head of it.

Sound Effects is about building ecosystems, not empires. Taking ownership. Connecting the dots. Creating strategies that grow not just a part of the artist’s world, but all of it. Now go grab the wheel. We’ll help with the map. Because guess what? Fans don’t just exist on Spotify.

Tell next time

Peace

Philip

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