Photo Credit: HR Music
Canadian independent distributor and record label Higher Reign Music is launching its own self-distribution platform. HR Music Distro puts a new spin on digital music distribution featuring evolutive contracts for indie artists around the world.
The following was developed in collaboration with Higher Reign Music, a proud partner of DMN.
HR Music says the incubator program offers artists a fair deal at any point during their career. That service is paired with non-exclusive self-distribution to over 100 stores, payment splits with collaborators, pre-save links, and a wide variety of artist solutions to market themselves and their music.
What is HigherLVL?
HR Music Distro offers artists a way to ‘level up’ after they distribute their music using the platform. The HigherLVL platform offers exclusive distribution deals to artists that can be upgraded at any time. Currently, there are three different levels to the HigherLVL program – offered when artists hit specific milestones.
HR Music Co-Founder Antoine Regniere calls these ‘just-in’-time deals. “They arrive just as the artists need them to push further; not too early, not too late, but just-in-time,” Regniere tells Digital Music News.
Photo Credit: HR Music
“This allows artists to not only optimize their gains but also to minimize their losses by better managing risk, which in turn translates into maximized profits and money going into their pocket all along their journey with us,” Regniere continues.
Once an artist is part of the HigherLVL program, they get access to a team from A&R, marketing, rights administration, and other such label services traditionally reserved exclusively to signed recording artists.
Artists may also be eligible to receive funding for different aspects of their projects. That may include funding for music videos, tour support, or other creative ideas, or again, depending on the tier, advances on future royalties. Artists are chosen for the HigherLVL program in a selective process – but everyone distributing their music with HR Music Distro are automatically enrolled in the ongoing selection process.
Photo Credit: HR Music Group
“The goal is to make this easy to understand to artists, so you gain different levels – just like you would in a video game,” Co-Founder Steeven Leblanc tells Digital Music News. “You unlock more features and perks after achieving specific milestones. The better your songs perform, the higher the level you reach and the better your deal becomes – that simple!”
Indie label Higher Reign says this approach to self-distribution with HR Music Distro has been a long time coming.
The label was founded in 2009 and has achieved two Gold records, Top 40 Billboard hits, and has helped indie artists hit over 100 million streams cumulatively. Leblanc says the industry is rapidly changing, and artists would benefit from having deals that change with them.
“The industry is changing so fast right now,” Leblanc tells Digital Music News. “We think that artists need to benefit from having such evolutive just-in-time deals to keep up with their fast-evolving music career, compared to traditional recording contracts which are getting less and less suitable in this day and age.”
Artists who are interested in a new approach to music distribution can visit www.hrmusicdistro.com to learn more.