UNIFIED Music Group Relaunches Community Music to ‘Support Artists In All Different Shapes and Sizes’
As homegrown acts struggle to rise above the tidal wave of tunes loaded into streaming platforms, UNIFIED Music Group announces a $10 million commitment to building careers in music.
Unveiled today, October 15th, during SXSW Sydney, Community Music is a global distribution alternative for independent and DIY artists.
To achieve its lofty goals, the music company has built its own technology to distribute the music.
Down the path, Community will open a new chapter for UNIFIED as a full artist services ecosystem and platform, reps say, on its mission to “enhance artist independence and choice when it comes to music distribution and amplification.”
With three-years funding locked in, Community Music creates the “ability for us to use technology to leverage what we do as a music company and be able to support more artists and support more particularly independent Australian artists,” comments Jaddan Comerford, CEO and founder of UNIFIED Music Group.
“Community is this perfect intersection of music, tech and finance and how we’re going to really help bring these really important functions together to ultimately support music.”
Among the artists jumping on board are Ocean Alley, ISHAN and Sarah Saint James and, more recently, Maddy Jane, Azure Ryder, Jahnavi Harrison, The Stamps and Mulga Bore Hard Rock.
“Artists need money for lots of different things,” notes Comerford. “Whether it’s marketing, international touring, production of vinyl, recording, or purely just getting access to funding to run their business or further enhance their experience as an artist.”
Community will be able to “support artists in all different shapes and sizes,” he remarks, “anyone that’s making music, that essentially hasn’t signed their rights away to another company.”
Participating artists will also have access to the “Community Centre,” a custom-built information hub for music release management.
Also, Community Music provides services to labels Domestic La La (Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Dear Seattle, and Teenage Joans) and UNFD (Silverstein, Void of Vision, Thornhill, and Yours Truly).
Community Music is built for artists and managers, comments Comerford; is powered by custom-built tech; and led by a newly-appointed team.
Will Cuming, a tech-whiz who performs as the artist LANKS, joins as product development manager for Community Music, with support from a global team led by L.A.-based Francesca Caldara, vice president of UNIFIED Recorded Music; and Melbourne-based Dan Nascimento, named general manager of Community Music.
Jaddan Comerford
Community Music is relaunched following the announcement of new partnerships with independent rights agency Merlin to access the suite of direct deals they have struck with major DSPs globally, and FUGA for technology, physical distribution, strategic marketing and neighbouring rights services.
“We want to put the creative control back in the hands of Australia’s music community,” says Comerford in a statement. “The way we can do that is by offering them the tools and the tech platform to craft the career and support systems they need. Community Music’s offering is inspired by music, amplified by tech. The artists, managers and label representatives who have worked on this transformation care for the music first and foremost, and the system uses data and custom-built technology to support everyday decision making.”