Reverb Data

Reverb Data is the first and only law firm and strategic consultancy focused on data in the music industry. ?? Founded by Andy Blair, former global Chief Privacy Officer at Universal Music Group, Reverb Data fills a growing need for artists, labels, music tech companies, and artist services organizations. ??Learn all about Reverb Data at our blog: https://hubs.li/Q037MPWz0

Artists have their best opportunity in years to reset the fan data relationship with labels. How? "Superfan" tiers on Spotify and other DSPs. Let's break it down. These new tiers will need new track/album content, artist engagement, and, as the Spotify-UMG press release from last week notes, "richer audio and visual content catalog". UMG described their vision of these tiers in a chart during their investor day last fall, highlighting artist engagement via listening parties and Q&A as key super-premium tier features. **In other words, and critically, superfan tiers will be built on content and artist engagement that is largely outside the scope of existing label deals.** Content and engagement that labels will need to negotiate with artists. So for all my management and artist lawyer friends, when the consent forms, letter agreements, and amendments start flying with asks for content and engagement to build out superfan tiers, let's seize the opportunity to reset the superfan experience around what fandom is all about: connections between fans and artists. Not fans and labels. Not fans and platforms. Fans and artists. Reverb Data is working on a couple of super cool projects doing just this. Not easy but it can be done if you know which buttons to push and levers to pull. (This all also begs a larger question - should these tiers even be label-driven discussions? On what basis are labels negotiating on artists' behalf for new subscription tiers built mostly around content/experiences they don't currently own? Strikes one as perhaps a bit presumptuous.)

Following yesterday’s news of UMG acquiring Downtown, there are understandably a lot of questions and concerns from the indie community around their use of Downtown services like FUGA, CD Baby, Curve, and Found.ee. For example, does Virgin/UMG’s acquisition mean the major can use your streaming/royalty/other data for their own benefit and/or to compete with you? Having spent 9 years as UMG's primary global data lawyer, much of it neck-deep in legal issues around use of DSP/royalty/fan data, this kind of question is about as close to home as anything could be. (For clarity, I had no awareness of or interaction with the Downtown deal before I left UMG, so no inside knowledge.) So, I am pretty well-placed to help find some clarity in your data concerns and think about your risks/options. How Reverb Data can help: -?If you are a Downtown/FUGA/CD Baby/Curve/Found.ee client and want to understand your risks and options let's chat. -?If you are a competitor and want to put some legal certainty behind reassurances to your current (or potential new?) clients let’s chat. -?(And, Downtown, if you want to chat about proactive steps to protect your clients’ independence and ease their concerns also happy to help.) ? For a general sense of the data issues here, stay tuned for a webinar + Q&A at the top of the new year. Likely informal with an emphasis on Q&A. (open to partners on this - let me know!) Beggars Group Helen Smith Jean-Marie Caradec Edward Ginis OpenPlay Curators Hunter Giles Music Ally Tim Ingham Chris Cooke Gee Davy Association of Independent Music (AIM) A2IM (American Association of Independent Music) Reverb Data Music Business Worldwide (MBW) FUGA CD Baby found.ee Nettwerk Music Group Patrick Aldous

We’re always talking about the importance of data in the music industry, especially primary data for artists. But Andy Blair is onto the one thing that artists will find difficult to manage to maintain control of fan data: keeping up with all the legal criteria required to maintain their fan lists. And, yes, he’s got a solution! Plus I learned about his very unique law practice laser focused on data in the music biz. Listen to the latest Music Tectonics podcast to find out what he’s got! Shout-outs in this conversation include: TONY D. ALEXANDER Music Managers Forum-US (MMF-US) DAWn Audio SymphonyOS NAVIRO? Cherie Hu un:hurd music Firebird Music

Podcast debut! ?? Had a great chat with Dmitri Vietze on what's happening with data in the music industry. Such a big topic - too much for a single podcast - but we managed to cover a lot of interesting ground.

Another great week of networking, learning, and discussing all things music data! A heartfelt thank you to Fabrice Sergent, Adam Husein, and Cherie Hu for a fantastic conversation about fan data, and to the Music Tectonics team for a unique and worthwhile event. ????? After two action-packed weeks on the road I’m looking forward to getting home, debriefing, and continuing to build out Reverb Data. We have some things in the works that I’m really excited about - stay tuned!

Another great drop from Cherie Hu and Water & Music. Our Music Tectonics panel Wednesday is going to be awesome. Also want to shout out Aaron Bogucki and his new venture Big Cookie who helped with the research behind the article. There is a welcome surge in talented professionals working on fan data and marketing, and Aaron is setting the standard for how you earn long-term trust with artist teams. Doing all the little things right - building value + valuing his responsibility as a caretaker of the artist-fan relationship. Big things happening!

Huge thanks to Josh Roth, Meredith Peters, and Cherie Hu for joining me at MONDO.NYC OCTOBER 15-18, 2024 and marking the launch of Reverb Data. The panel was a lot of fun and the feedback was great - my favorite was a comment that we looked like a group of old friends. The response to Reverb Data has been overwhelmingly positive. My sense that the music industry desperately needs high-quality data advice is validated in every conversation. The industry knows data is valuable but it doesn't understand how to deal with data in contracts or collect/share data in ways that sustainably captures that value. The good news is that help is on the way. The three pillars of fan data strategy -- people, technology, and data -- are all evolving very quickly: --Managers like Josh Roth are highly engaged in figuring out how to use data to support his artists' careers. Affordable outside options are emerging to fill gaps and upskill artist teams. --Technology companies (like Meredith Peters's company Laylo and many others) are building tools that help artists build long-term fan relationships. --Cherie Hu's Water & Music is dropping new insights that help the industry learn almost every day, and Reverb Data is here to help map your data, understand how data flows, get the right data terms in your contracts, and cover the legal details that ensure sustainable control of fan data. In the immortal words of fellow Minnesotan Bob Dylan - times, they are a-changin'.

The tour continues next week on the beaches of Santa Monica!

Hello World! Meet Reverb Data, a first-of-its-kind law firm and consultancy built to help artists, music tech companies, labels, and services companies understand and execute modern data strategies. Fan data is foundational to artist success. However, most artists struggle to understand where the value is and how to capture it. Similarly, music tech companies, labels, and others who see opportunities in data face challenges navigating complex industry data flows. Compounding the challenge, there is a legal services gap around music data. Music lawyers struggle with data and data lawyers struggle with the music industry. Reverb Data bridges that gap, offering a fusion of legal, tech, and music industry expertise in flexible and affordable packages. We can help artist teams understand the fan data ecosystem, design a workable fan data strategy, get the right data terms in their deals, provide the legal documents that establish control of fan data, and address the obligations that go along with data control. We can help music tech companies understand how to build tools that artists and fans trust, draft contracts that enable growth, navigate industry data flows, and manage compliance risk. We can help labels understand how they fit in the fan data landscape, design data strategies that optimize results, address data in agreements, manage global data, and minimize risk. Our services are built around value and outcomes rather than billable hours, and we are committed to being accessible for smaller artists, startups, and labels. Stay tuned for deeper dives into data challenges in the music industry and how Reverb Data can guide you to sustainable solutions. I'll be at Mondo.nyc this week and Music Tectonics next week. If you are at either (or just in NY or LA) I'd love to connect. Otherwise grab time to connect (or just generally find out more) at reverbdata.com. Let's rock!