Hello world! We are Reverse Records, a Dublin-based music startup striving to create deeper, more meaningful music experiences than ever before. To start, in this article we will dive deep into what our mission is, what we exactly mean by it and how we are planning to change the world of music experiences for the better. We’re super excited to embark on this journey together with you!
Music is everywhere around us – and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Whether it’s a melody that instantly brings tears to our eyes, sends shivers down our spines or makes us dance with our loved ones, the magic of music experiences has defined humanity for thousands of years. With the emergence of the internet and music platforms, songs have become super accessible: all you need is a smartphone with internet access and you’re well on your way to listen to any song, anywhere, for free.
However, with the rise of free-for-all songs, came a sharp decline in the quality of the music experience. We press the play button and are flooded with an infinite number of songs, but the depth and magic that surrounds music, the anticipation, the connection and the emotion has not been able to make its way to the internet. Reverse Records is all about making this happen. We believe in creating unforgettable, long-lasting music experiences in a digital world. We want to create a future where fans are closer to their favourite musicians, their music and to each other than ever before.
The fact that the depth in music has gone is not only a problem on an emotional level – not having deep experiences to monetize is an enormous financial headache for the market too. Today, on the micro level, an artist needs over 3 million listens on Spotify or over 20 million views on YouTube just to make the minimum wage[1]. And on the macro level, the music market in 2019 was worth $20.2 billion USD[2]; this figure is more than seven times smaller than the $152.1 billion USD the video game industry generated in the same period[3]. Games in general are great at constantly creating long-lasting experiences and then monetizing them.
At Reverse Records we all come from a professional background of video games. Our three founders have more than 20 years of combined business experience with some of the leading game studios, namely Ubisoft, Twitch and Riot Games. We believe that we can bring back the depth and magic of music experiences for fans, and help the industry as well by applying a similar strategy in music that already worked in video games. That is why we have chosen our mission to be the following:
Through a mix of innovation and tradition, we bring the world of music closer to the hearts of fans than ever before.
It’s very important to note that even though we are tech guys, we don’t intend to reach our goals by building an open platform like Spotify or Patreon. Those are already out there and are great. Instead, we believe in closely managing a few hand-picked music IPs and being part of the creative and publishing process, just as traditional record labels do. Having said that, we aim to be the most cutting edge record label on the block, using an arsenal of tech, modern-day publishing methods, gamification, streaming, grassroots community building and a service-based approach to take our acts and the experience around them to the next level. In that sense our company strategy is somewhere between a traditional record label and a music platform, and in video game terms, closer to Riot Games with their carefully managed IPs than to, let’s say, Valve with Steam.
Apart from the above, we are of course providing traditional record label services as well. To bring the vision of our musicians to the next level we work with a variety of creatives, artists and producers around the world. This ties into the community and fan creations platform – the boundaries can be blurred, with a fan making a lyrics video for a song becoming an official vendor for the next release. We also provide strong online marketing and publishing campaigns for our releases, including targeted social media, influencers and various grassroots marketing initiatives. Finally, we deal with digital and physical distribution and rights and royalty management, making sure the songs of our artists are available on all music platforms, and that artists receive their share whenever they are played around the world.
All in all, we strongly believe that there are great opportunities for music to create deeper, long-lasting experiences for fans in a digital world that are currently not being utilized. We will continue working hard with our first music act behind the scenes to show you all of this in practice and let you know as soon as we have something exciting ready. In the meantime, we will reach out to you with info on our progress, behind the scenes content, and ask your opinion about how you think things would work best – so make sure you subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media. You can easily do both using the form and the links below.
We are super excited about our journey ahead and after talking the talk, we can’t wait to be walking the walk with you!
[1] Amount of listens for a minimum wage
[2] Music revenue in 2019
[3] Video game industry revenue in 2019
