Being an independent artist has never provided more opportunities, nor has it ever been more competitive than it is right now. With so many platforms to share your music on, artists are now more accessible than at any other point in history.
For artists, navigating this notoriously tough industry and now saturated and competitive landscape calls for skills and strategy to stand out. Finding a strategic partner to help them with this is often what helps independent artists stand out from the crowd.
Enter De Novo Agency for independent artists.
De Novo Agency is the brain child of the co-founders James Landry and Elliot Tousley. The two talented entrepreneurs both came from strong music and entertainment backgrounds with the goal of working with independent artists and helping them build their careers.
Certainly, no small goal.
Before we dive into all of the ways that they help their artists, let’s get their bio on the record.
“DNA partners with musicians at all levels and assists them in getting more business opportunities by utilizing data-driven music marketing. DNA has partnered with dozens of independent playlist curators who operate hundreds of targeted playlists on Spotify. They leverage these playlist placements for musicians in order to reach an audience, gather unique data and demographics, form a target audience of similar fans to market to on social media, and capitalize on business opportunities by leveraging the metrics and data they receive for the artist. DNA helps artists in any stage of their career–whether they are releasing their very first single, or trying to negotiate a sought-after record deal.”
A core belief of DNA is that artists have to approach their music with the mind of a marketer, and they help them see that, plan for that, and execute on that.
Okay, let’s turn our attention to just how they achieve this and more specifically, how they help independent artists like you.
Spotify Services for Independent Artists
As of Q1 2020, Spotify was home to 286 million active monthly users. Being on that platform and being strategic with your approach is critically valuable for independent artists.
De Novo Agency knew that it was imperative for them to help artists be successful at this. Like any offering they have, there are multiple packages that artists can choose from and they can pick the right one for their needs.
While each package varies from the next, here is the crux of what you as an independent artist can get.
Data-Driven Music Marketing
Organically Place Your Music in User-Curated Playlists on Spotify
Locate Your Unique Target Audience
Build a Custom Marketing Plan Based on Data
Verifiable Data Guarantee
As an artist in the most competitive era of music, the onus is on you to make your music stand out and to get it in front of the right audience. DNA partners with you to help with this.
“DNA placed me in seven playlists on Spotify and about 10 days later I was organically added to 30 more! I was in front of 900k listeners and earned 100k streams in less than a month!”
If you were surprised by the number of active monthly users on Spotify, then the 2 billion that log on to YouTube each month will surely blow you away.
Having a content plan for YouTube will help your music reach a large audience and grow your following. Just like with Spotify, it’s helpful to have a partner, and luckily De Novo Agency has your back on this too.
Again, DNA gives you options and packages to chose from to give you the most control possible will building this partnership. Here are the details on their YouTube offering.
Data-Driven YouTube Marketing
Design & Run Ads for Your Video on the Google Ad Suite and Point Them at Look-a-Like Audiences
Take the Data Available About Your Audience (From Spotify, Instagram, Etc.) and Target Similar Users on YouTube.
Running a data-driven ads campaign on YouTube and letting data drive your future decisions is a great way to create a competitive edge in the entertainment world.
Blog Placements & PR Services for Independent Artists
The last piece of the puzzle here is blog placements and PR services for independent artists. As an artist or an entrepreneur, the packing (AKA your brand) means a lot in the public eye.
Crafting that public image and properly creating your marketing narrative has become an increasingly important part of being an independent artist. And as the more things change, the more they stay the same. If you have a new piece of music, a new album, a new video, or anything else new, then you need a press release.
In 2020, you want that press release on blogs with audiences. Once again, that’s where De Novo is there to help you. And, again they have multiple packages to choose from which puts the control in your hands.
Here is the main offering for their blog placements and PR services:
Help You Create Your Marketing Narrative
The DNA Team of Writers Will Interview You and Help You Craft an Effective Call-to-Action (CTA)
You Get a Unique Press Release That You Can Keep and Send to Whoever You Want
They Write and Publish Articles About You and Your Music Business
Essentially, this service helps you round out and build your brand.
Just in these three areas, you can see just how much work there is to do as an independent artist to create the successful career that you want. It’s not easy, but nothing worth doing is.
However, De Novo’s goal is to work with you to make it easier.
For you, picking the right strategic partner is as crucial as the decision to have one in the first place. Part of knowing that you’re working with the right agency is understanding the process.
In the case of De Novo, they use a six step process:
You Submit Your Music
DNA Analyzes Your Music
Placement/Design
Data Collection
Consultation to Build on Results
Create More Opportunities
In short, the process is hands on, they take personal interest in you, and it’s a real partnership. But don’t just take our word for it, here are some artist reviews.
If you are ready to get started and partner with an agency, then you should reach out to De Novo Agency today.
Wiz revealed on Thursday that it will buy channel-focused company Dazz in an agreement to add cloud remediation capabilities to the vendor’s cloud and AI security platform.
With features like application security posture management and continuous threat and exposure management, Dazz provides a remediation-focused cloud security platform.
Jared Phipps, a seasoned cybersecurity industry executive who most recently worked for SentinelOne, was hired by Dazz in February as its CRO as the business sought to expand its collaboration with channel partners. Presidio, situated in New York, has been one of the key partners.
Dazz said in July that it has raised a $50 million round of funding, increasing its total funding since its 2021 launch to $110 million.
Dazz provides a “industry-leading remediation engine,” according to a post published on Thursday by Wiz Co-Founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport, which will allow Wiz to “empower security teams to correlate data from multiple sources and manage application risks in one unified platform.”
This is Wiz’s third purchase overall and its second acquisition of 2024 after the company’s April acquisition of cloud detection and response provider Gem Security.
Wiz, a four-year-old startup, reported in May that it had raised $1 billion in new capital at a $12 billion valuation, citing its continued strong development in the cloud and AI security areas. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) for the business reportedly increased from $350 million earlier this year to above $500 million.
After making a number of management additions aimed at facilitating quicker partner-driven growth, Rappaport stated in February that Wiz would prioritize its channel operations moving ahead.
I“In cybersecurity partners are super, super important in the success of a company. So we’ve always [seen that] this has huge potential for us to tap into. I think there is so much more we can do,” he stated at the time.
A number of well-known British media outlets have joined ProRata, an AI firm that claims to compensate publishers for the usage of their work, in its expanding network of partnerships.
The Los Angeles-based firm announced on Wednesday that it has signed licensing deals with publishers such as Sky News, the Guardian, and the Daily Mail’s publisher, DMG Media.
In a recent Series A funding round, ProRata raised $25 million from investors such as the Mayfield Fund, Prime Movers Lab, and Revolution Ventures.
“ProRata’s founder and CEO Bill Gross said his firm’s AI technology is the only one that pledges to credit and compensate creators, while providing users with accurate search results.
“We have had hundreds of content owners and media companies reach out to us from around the world who are interested in piloting our technology. Stealing and scraping content is not a sustainable path forward,” he continued.
Similar alliances have previously been formed by ProRata with the German publisher Axel Springer, the Atlantic, Fortune, Time, and Universal Music Group (UMG).
Media firms are offered reasonable compensation by ProRata for the use of their content. The startup’s in-house technology may determine the proper amount of pay by evaluating the worth of the information used to create responses from an AI platform. This would make it possible to pay copyright holders for their work on a per-use basis.
Gross had previously said that AI platforms have been using “shoplifted, plagiarized content,” which fosters an atmosphere in which “disinformation thrives and creators get nothing.”
Gross is recognized for having created the pay-per-click model of internet search monetization with his business, GoTo.com, which was eventually acquired by Yahoo! in 2003.
In a recent blog post, Tige Savage, a cofounder of Revolution, stated that Bill Gross is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in monetization techniques.
“He’s attracted a world-class tech team led by AI luminary Tarek Najm to implement the vision and an accomplished business team, including Annelies Jansen and Jonas Lee to drive content and AI partnerships,” Savage continued.
The unpaid use of copyrighted materials by OpenAI and other tech companies to train their AI systems has led to litigation from media companies and other content creators.
Arjun Nittoor, the founder of the Indian technology firm Vireza, disclosed at Film Bazaar that the company is creating a new mobile application that would transform the experience of watching movies in theaters by enabling viewers to engage with the films in real time.
The technology, which was created wholly in-house at the company’s research and development department in Bengaluru, allows viewers to use their smartphones to vote on important plot points during the movie. To keep up with the current screening, patrons download an app before entering the theater and scan a QR code at their seat.
“The film industry is one of the few sectors where the audience experience has seen minimal technological disruption in theatres,” Nittoor stated. “While screen and sound quality have advanced and 3D has been partially adopted, the viewing experience has largely remained the same for decades.”
The screen automatically brightens to show voting options and dims again when choices are made. The system uses discreet phone notifications to encourage audience participation around every ten minutes.
In 2026, Vireza intends to introduce the technology with a full-length interactive movie that will be produced in both English and South Indian for international distribution. The business is presently in the development stage and will shortly start doing multiplex chain trial screenings.
CtrlMovie’s prior success in the interactive film industry was mentioned by Nittoor. CtrlMovie is well-known for “Traces of Responsibility” and “Late Shift.”
In order to overcome the difficulties in cinematography, editing, shot composition, and writing that plagued previous attempts at the format, the firm has spent five years creating what Nittoor refers to as “a new science of filmmaking” that is especially tailored for interactive cinema.
“Despite the proliferation of viewing devices, big-ticket films continue to draw massive crowds to theatres, with box office numbers higher than ever,” Nittoor stated. “This demand underscores the potential for a meaningful technology shift that could draw audiences out of their homes and into cinemas.”
Other Asian businesses are likewise investigating audience-driven narrative in motion pictures. In February of the following year, Japan’s King Records intends to release “Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle,” an animated interactive film.