UnitedMasters’ Head of Marketing David Melhado is a New York City-based industry veteran who first cut his teeth in music marketing and management in the South, holding roles at Atlantic Records, iHeartRadio, StreamCut Media & RocNation.
He joined us on this episode of How Music Charts to talk mobile music distribution, monetization, and how UnitedMasters is changing the game for independent artists.
Making Music Distribution Easy
According to Dave, UnitedMasters is changing the music distribution game by allowing artists to upload their music, track their stats, monitor their revenue, and submit to important marketing opportunities – all from their phones.
From their phone, [artists] can deliver music to all the DSPs, they can track how much they're streaming on a daily basis, they can see how much revenue they're making on a daily basis or on a monthly basis, they can submit their songs for brand opportunities and sync opportunities. As an independent artist, it's not very easy to come about these opportunities. Historically, you would have to be signed to a major label to get a brand deal or have a popular song on radio to be able to get in a commercial or a game. We've created a platform where from their phone, they can submit to these opportunities. In turn, we've started to really lean into that creator economy. We recognize that artists that want to monetize their passion, they don't have to be the 1 percent of superstar artists; they can make a career for themselves and receive monthly checks.
Leveraging Music Data Analytics
Importantly, Dave and the UnitedMasters team understand the real-world impact that data analytics can have on an artist's career.
For us it's bringing transparency to the business on the data side. Artists typically would have to go to multiple platforms to see what playlists they're on, to see what their streaming numbers are. We've pulled that data from Apple, Spotify, and YouTube into the platform so that they can see where they're streaming at, see where their fans are. Then, they can use that data to inform how they're going to market and promote to their fans. As they're thinking about building a community, they can target certain markets in certain regions with ad spend. They can use that data to inform other areas that they use outside of our app.
Leveling the Playing Field
Ultimately, the goal is to help artists — especially independent artists — monetize their music by breaking down historical barriers to entry.
We're leveling the playing field. You don't have to have an enormous amount of money to be able to monetize your passion. Through a cell phone, you can upload a track. They can upload directly from their phone, they can upload artwork files directly from their phone. Wherever they are, they can check to see how well they're doing with streaming, see their royalty checks, and submit their songs for different opportunities.... If someone has a file from their text messages, you can upload directly to UnitedMasters from there as well.
