By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
The future is now and it has become much easier to do what felt was impossible simply ten years ago. One of the biggest changes have been the music industry. While there are many who still search for record deals, the internet has made it much easier for artists to be heard without having to sign deals. Bernd Awaloff, of Germany, is helping to advance this cause.
Bernd Awaloff is the founder of Songrila Music, an online store where artists, of all genres, can sell their music. Unlike other online music stores, at Songrila Music, artists do not have to pay any upfront money, instead they profit share with Songrila Music. While some artists have a budget and are willing to pay to be on TuneCore and other online stores, there are many artists who do not have extra money to spend.
Songrila Music is willing to work with any artist to help them reach the masses. Bernd Awaloff recently discussed the Songrila Music movement with Hip Hop Vibe and provided some insight on the project he has been working on.
Read the entire interview below:
For those who do not know who you are, please explain to them about yourself and your company?
Songrila.com is a music download site, which sells the music from small labels and unsigned artists. Music lovers find a wide range of new, exciting and innovative music of all styles, they hardly find anywhere else on the web. The artists can use the site without fixed costs. There is only a revenue share, when songs are sold.
How does Songrila Music work?
The artists can use the site without any restrictions. They can register, upload their music and start selling. Our services are the technical platform including payment administration and the general marketing for the site. The fans have to decide, if they like the music. As we offer the artists widgets and players they can place on their website, MySpace, or Facebook profiles, we also suppprt them to distribute their music on their own.
Do you see more artists coming to Songrila Music in the future, as opposed to searching for record deals?
We can’t replace labels, but we give all artists the chance to present and sell their music without any records deals. Every musician gets his chance on Songrila.com. We don´t care about age, appearance, music style etc. Just the music counts and the fans have to decide, what they like. And the fast growing number of artists and consumers, who use our site, shows that the people like our concept.
What goals do you have for Songrila Music for the next few months? We want to optmize our services for our users. We want to make it easier for the music fans to find the right artists on our site and on the other hand we are working on several options to improve the promotion of our artists/music.
What artists are already featured on Songrila Music?
Actually we have about 4,500 artists with about 10,000 albums on our site. As we want to democratize the music business, we don´t want to name any special artists. The fans should decide.
In what ways will Songrila Music be marketed to new artists and labels? Artists and small labels are looking for new ways to promote and sell their music. So we only need to get known by more people.
Can you tell the readers a few success stories about artists who have come to Songrila Music? To be honest, we haven’t created a great hit or any superstars yet, but we have several artists, which enjoy strong sales. Interesting about that, they are mostly musicians, who don’t produce mainstream. We are really proud, that we can suppoprt diversity.
Have you faced any opposition in starting the company?
As we started the company in a team of 3 people with the right background and know how, we didn´t need any investors. As our business model is an alternative to the normal music industry we didn´t have any problems yet. I think, this will change, when the major labels will notice us as a real competitor.
Explain what a “virtual” label actually is for those who do not know? We only distribute the music via download and we promote our music webwide/worldwide. So we cover some functions of normal labels. The great difference to normal labels is. The artist decides, if he want to use our services and not Songrila.com.
How has the reception to Songrila Music been so far?
As we have a new concept and business model a lot of people (musicians and consumers) don´t understand exactly, what we are doing and what we offer. So our main task was and is to inform the users about this concept and show them, how to use our services right. Therefore we thank you very much for this interview, that give us the opportunity to explain this.
