The Indie Artist’s Edge: Why Fan Depth Beats AI and Streaming Numbers This week’s digest delivers a powerful message for indie musicians: human connection and physical media are your competitive advantages in an AI-saturated, streaming-dominated world. From legal loopholes for beatmakers to Billie Eilish’s advocacy for 100 real fans over 10,000 passive listeners, the consensus … Read more
Vinyl isn’t making a comeback anymore.
It already came back.
Welcome to the very first episode of our For the Love of Vinyl Summer Series—a nine-part deep dive into everything independent record labels need to know about making, selling, collecting, designing, and celebrating vinyl records.
Presented by Hellbender Vinyl – http://www.hellbendervinyl.com
In this opening episode, I make the case for why every indie label should seriously consider pressing vinyl.
Download my FREE Vinyl Toolkit – http://otherrecordlabels.com/vinyl
Ibrahim Kamara gave Nines, Brent Faiyaz, and J Hus their first ever magazine covers. He built Guap, one of the UK’s most influential creative platforms, from a camera and a student overdraft. It took six years before the business made any money. Now, 11 years in, he’s going back to his first love: making music independently.
In this episode, Ibrahim talks about the model every independent artist should follow (music, products, experiences, repeat), why depth beats size when it comes to community, why entrepreneurship is dangerously glorified, and the one line that should make every artist rethink their approach.
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ABOUT find your frequency
The podcast about building an audience from zero. Every week, un:hurd music founder Alex Brees talks to artists, founders, and investors who’ve built something from nothing. If you’re an independent artist trying to grow, this show is for you.
SUBSCRIBE
https://pods.to/fyf
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FOLLOW
un:hurd music: https://instagram.com/unhurdmusic
Alex Brees: https://linkedin.com/in/alexbrees
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un:hurd music gives every independent artist a fair chance of success. Start for free: https://unhurdmusic.com
Jorge Brea has spent 20 years watching songs succeed and fail at scale. As founder and CEO of Symphonic, he’s distributed over two million songs, and in this episode he gets refreshingly honest about what actually separates the records that break through from the ones that disappear.
Sarah and Jorge dig into the three things breakthrough songs have in common, why release day is the start of your campaign and not the finish line, and the uncomfortable truth about the six-week lead time (spoiler: even the distributors don’t love it). Jorge also explains why he tells independent artists to skip the album, how to know when it’s time to stop pushing a single and move on, why collaborations are one of the most underrated algorithm plays available, and what major labels buying up distributors really means for independent artists.
Plus: the release planning tools Symphonic is building, a new feature that will show artists their skip rates and saves on Spotify, and the one piece of advice Jorge gives every artist about control, contracts, and staying in it for the long haul.
Whether you’re releasing your first single or your fiftieth, this one will reset your expectations in the best way.
Connect with Jorge and Symphonic: symphonic.com
To stay in the loop, follow Business Side of Music on social media and subscribe to our newsletter for updates, resources, and new episodes.
Learn about Spotify’s latest live events updates, and hear directly from an independent artist team on how they built hype around their tour using Spotify for Artists.
✉️ Escríbeme en Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/alexiomarrodriguez/
⚖️ Descarga tu diagnóstico legal gratis → https://xiola.co/scorecard
Si eres nuevo en mi canal, mi nombre es Alexiomar Rodríguez, soy abogado y socio fundador de Xiola. Somos una firma legal boutique para la industria de la música y el entretenimiento. Trabajamos con empresarios y dueños de negocios. Les ayudamos a proteger sus derechos, negociar y cerrar contratos de seis y siete cifras. En 2025, conseguimos $5M para nuestros clientes sin sacrificar control, ni libertad.
Cómo llegué aquí…
0–21: Músico, productor, guitarrista y cantautor (+10,000 oyentes mensuales en Spotify).
22: Graduado con Altos Honores en Economía (UPRM).
24: Trabajé con jueces (federal y estatal) y firmas de litigio corporativo.
25: Graduado con Altos Honores en Derecho (UPR).
26: Renuncié a una de las top 3 firmas de Puerto Rico para lanzar Xiola.
27: Facturé mis primeros $100,000.
28: Fundé Seed Academy, escuela de music business en español.
29: Escribí un best seller en Amazon (De Artista a Empresario Musical) y superé $400K en revenue.
30: Me mudé a EE.UU., levanté $250,000 con Techstars + Warner + VC, y lancé Flou, software de contratos musicales ($50,000 en ventas).
31: Comencé a dar charlas internacionales.
32: Seguí el consejo de mi mentor, Alex Hormozi. Cerré Seed Academy y Flou. Me enfoqué en Xiola y facturamos más de $500,000.
Hoy: Nuestra firma ha cerrado sobre $5M en adelantos e inversión en la industria de la música y el entretenimiento. Somos 100% bilingües (español e inglés). Trabajamos con artistas, empresarios e inversionistas americanos e hispanos. Cobramos de tres maneras: tarifa fija, comisión, y suscripción. Así es como hacemos nuestro dinero. No vendemos cursos.
La industria musical es dura. Pero si naciste para esto, lo sabes:
La vida sin música sería un error.
No te quites,
Alexiomar
RELEVO: Este contenido es solo para fines educativos. No constituye asesoría legal. Consumir este material no crea relación abogado-cliente. Para orientación específica, consulta a tu abogado de confianza.
