WEBVTT - The New Way Artists Can Chart on Billboard

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<v Speaker 2>This episode is brought to you by P and C Bank,

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<v Speaker 3>So let me ask you this as far as what

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<v Speaker 3>is the significance of you guys partnership ut Illuminate.

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<v Speaker 1>Luminate, which allows artists to partially chart on Billboard?

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<v Speaker 3>How does that work?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so Luminate is interesting. They for context right. Luminated

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<v Speaker 1>is the agency that does all of the reporting for

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<v Speaker 1>the recorded music industry, not just within the United States

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<v Speaker 1>but from around the world. They put out a report

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<v Speaker 1>every single year. They used to be called Nielsen Sound Scan,

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<v Speaker 1>and they've gone through a lot of names over the years,

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<v Speaker 1>but they are the agency that reports to Billboard. So

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<v Speaker 1>when you see number one on Billboard or charted on Billboard,

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<v Speaker 1>Illuminated is the actual company that's doing the auditing on

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<v Speaker 1>those sales. We've been talking to Luminate for eighteen months

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<v Speaker 1>trying to get, you know, their stamp of approval, and

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<v Speaker 1>just eight weeks ago they basically gave us the thumbs

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<v Speaker 1>up to be able to report to them. So we've

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<v Speaker 1>been an official reporter to them for four weeks and yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>we just finally made the announcement. It's something that the

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<v Speaker 1>industry I think is really excited. I got way too

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<v Speaker 1>many calls today when we made the announcement, just I

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<v Speaker 1>think a lot of people were skeptical. Right, there's only

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<v Speaker 1>twenty two total US digital reporters to Illuminate, and we're

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<v Speaker 1>one of twenty two. And this includes like Apple, Spotify,

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<v Speaker 1>all the major DSPs, and then the major labels. So

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<v Speaker 1>to be the first super fan app quote unquote to

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<v Speaker 1>be Illuminate eligible towards Billboard, I think it definitely raised

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of eyebrows, right, because it's really bringing the

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<v Speaker 1>control and the power to an artist where the only

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<v Speaker 1>way you can chart to Billboard is by using iTunes.

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<v Speaker 1>Or using a DSP and now they can do it.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, l Russell will probably chart on Billboard this year.

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<v Speaker 3>So it is it a one is it one album

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<v Speaker 3>for one?

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<v Speaker 1>One for one? Yeah? So the for context, for an

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<v Speaker 1>album to be considered one album sale on streaming, you

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<v Speaker 1>need a two hundred and fifty streams to equal one

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<v Speaker 1>album sell. So you would have to listen to that

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<v Speaker 1>album four times a day for a full year just

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<v Speaker 1>to give that artist one album sale. But one fan

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<v Speaker 1>can buy one album and it equals an album sale

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<v Speaker 1>on illuminate.

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<v Speaker 3>All right, So okay, question that I have is you

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<v Speaker 3>have this platform where it's a one for one, one

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<v Speaker 3>for one, you can pay whatever you want, right, correct?

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<v Speaker 3>You guys are the only platform that is credited on

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<v Speaker 3>the Billboard from uh this.

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<v Speaker 1>Company on the super fan side. Yes, so like you

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<v Speaker 1>know the term superman. Uh it's a hot word right now.

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<v Speaker 3>And how did you how did you become the only platform?

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<v Speaker 1>I kept bugging them to let us in.

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<v Speaker 3>What's the like they had to vet you guys. You

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<v Speaker 3>got to go through like a So there's a couples

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<v Speaker 3>where they know your numbers are correct.

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<v Speaker 1>So there's a couple of integrations, right, So the way

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<v Speaker 1>that there reporting works essentially they measure our sales from

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<v Speaker 1>an accredited data processor. So in this case Stripe, all

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<v Speaker 1>of our sales happened through Stripe. We hand over all

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<v Speaker 1>of our Stripe data from IP address basically where the

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<v Speaker 1>user lives, how much they paid, transaction time, transaction date,

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<v Speaker 1>and then from there they vet those transactions directly through

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<v Speaker 1>our Stripe report.

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<v Speaker 2>Is there a metric of how many users or how

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<v Speaker 2>many downloads a week or a month that are needed

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<v Speaker 2>to qualify.

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<v Speaker 1>No, we just have to report every single week. So

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<v Speaker 1>you have to report every single week to stay eligible.

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<v Speaker 1>The moment you don't report one week, you can't report

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<v Speaker 1>for four weeks, and then you have to try it

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<v Speaker 1>all over again.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>So, like, let's just take French was on the platform.

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<v Speaker 2>So let's say French, if he sends ten thousand, I

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<v Speaker 2>think that puts him in the top one hundred album.

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<v Speaker 1>Hundred for Bilbo for sure. So French was actually our

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<v Speaker 1>second artist on the platform.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, talk about that, I mean, because this is a

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<v Speaker 2>guy who obviously we know as a mainstream artist, has

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<v Speaker 2>signed with major labels, but chose your platform to put

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<v Speaker 2>out the one of the latest projects. What was that

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<v Speaker 2>process of convincing him or we didn't even tak convincing

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<v Speaker 2>to get him on the platform.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, French is I think normally, I mean when

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<v Speaker 1>we think of our right, we don't think of them

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<v Speaker 1>as like thought leaders for some reason, right, But artists

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<v Speaker 1>are some of the most innovative people and they see

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<v Speaker 1>the full landscape every single day, and they really influence

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<v Speaker 1>culture in so many ways. French has been not only

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<v Speaker 1>I mean talking about the crypto space, like French was

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<v Speaker 1>in the D two C space for a while, right,

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<v Speaker 1>he would dove into the crypto space very early. And

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<v Speaker 1>when I literally did like a fifteen minute call with

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<v Speaker 1>him right before I met l Russell, and he was like, yo,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm down. Once I got an album ready, let's do it.

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<v Speaker 1>And we did Larussell on October first, and we did

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<v Speaker 1>French Montane October twelve, and probably the easiest release we've

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<v Speaker 1>ever done in the sense of like no hassles. He

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<v Speaker 1>sent me files, he sent me the artwork, all of

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<v Speaker 1>the metadata. We plugged it in. I usually have to

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<v Speaker 1>chase artists to get them paid. Like he set up

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<v Speaker 1>everything in advance, and he already understood the format. He

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<v Speaker 1>understood the messaging, what he had to tell the fans,

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<v Speaker 1>how to tell the fans, you know the message, and yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it was it was exciting, It was really interesting. He

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<v Speaker 1>also helped us really with our conversation around the importance

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<v Speaker 1>of Illuminate and being able to report to Illuminate. He

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<v Speaker 1>was like, man, I wish these sales will count towards Billboard,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's why we didn't do his last album. He

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<v Speaker 1>just dropped this here just because at artists at his level,

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<v Speaker 1>he wants to report and we weren't reporting yet. It

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<v Speaker 1>was like a two week difference between could have did

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<v Speaker 1>the most latest project.

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<v Speaker 2>But has there been conversations with other artists I guess

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<v Speaker 2>from mainstream that have gone your way or are are

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<v Speaker 2>about to go your way now that this has now

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<v Speaker 2>been a change.

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<v Speaker 1>Where you can report one hundred percent. Yeah, I mean

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<v Speaker 1>we've talked to maybe every every major artist that you

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<v Speaker 1>can think of, probably reached out in our first six months,

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<v Speaker 1>and then we've been able to maintain a relationship. And

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<v Speaker 1>this honestly was a big deal breaker for them. It's

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<v Speaker 1>not being able to report to Billboard, where now that

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<v Speaker 1>we report to Billboard, you're probably going to see some

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<v Speaker 1>of the biggest albums of the year this quarter and

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<v Speaker 1>the next quarter. Dropping on the platform because you know

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<v Speaker 1>an artists sells one hundred thousand copies, you're number one

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<v Speaker 1>on Billboard and even allows you to do that, all right,

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<v Speaker 1>instead of requiring millions of people to actually go listen

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<v Speaker 1>to your music.

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