Make a living in music: How Epidemic Sound works with artists
We often get asked about how we work with artists to soundtrack the world; here’s everything you need to know about how we partner with and pay artists from Sweden, the U.S.A, the U.K, South Korea, and Japan.
The original idea
At the time, we didn’t know that the unconventional idea of paying a fixed fee in exchange for ownership of a track was going to make such a huge difference to the lives of artists, or indeed, send such shockwaves through the music industry.
When Peer Åström and David Stenmarck — two of Epidemic Sound’s co-founders, who have over 200 entries on the US Billboard charts — first put the idea down on paper, it was to supplement their work as pop songwriters and producers. It was a more achievable revenue stream, allowing them to use their musical talent in the studio each day to pay the bills without relying on a need to create ‘the next big hit.’
On coming up with the original idea, Peer Åström says: “So many of our musician friends were working in coffee shops and bars, trying to make it by writing and gigging on their nights off. We knew there was so much talent there that was not just reliant on hard work, but also on catching a lucky, lucky break.
We thought that there had to be a way that they could create bespoke tracks, written to a brief, for a specific purpose, which would allow them to be paid fairly for their work and still give them time to work on the tracks they felt had a shot at the charts. We pitched the idea to our friends Oscar Höglund, Jan Zachrisson, and Hjalmar Windbladh, who at the time were wading through the issues that came with clearing music rights for TV and Epidemic Sound was born.”
Our partnership with artists
Fast-forward 15 years, and the two musician founders have passed the baton onto a fellow Grammy Award-winning music team, who’ve continued building on the original premise to develop the Epidemic Sound offering for artists.
Director of Global Music Recruitment, John Cleary, is one of the core music team responsible for keeping Epidemic Sound’s ethos true to the musicians’ interests from which it was born.
“We pride ourselves on the close working relationships we develop with all artists in our roster,” says Cleary. “To maintain the highest-quality catalog of music for our network of content creators, we are selective in who we choose to partner with, taking on less than 1% of the thousands who submit music to us each year. The great thing about this is we get to know the artists we work with and their music really well.”
Former Spotify employee and now Director of Music Distribution at Epidemic Sound, Linn Westerberg, is part of the team in charge of harnessing the company’s unique distribution engine. With this team, she helps get artists’ music out there to new viewers, listeners, and fans.
“By solving our two founding problems, we’ve built an extremely powerful distribution network for artists,” adds Westerberg. “We enable them to reach new audiences by soundtracking global content, and simultaneously maximize their ability to turn viewers into fans by uploading all tracks to music streaming platforms. The founding idea continues to evolve, offering new ways to support artists to thrive creatively and financially.”
How does Epidemic Sound work with artists?
We provide unique distribution power with unprecedented reach
With YouTube and TikTok videos featuring Epidemic Sound music gaining 2.5 billion views every day, our artists get a direct route to billions of potential fans through our platform. We offer visibility among our global network of brands and content creators such as Discovery Networks, Red Bull, Levi’s, Ubisoft, Joshua Mayo, and Cathrin Manning, while crediting artists in the way that they want to be known and encouraging our customers to do the same.
We provide further sync opportunities through partnerships with leading creative platforms such as Adobe, TikTok, and Canva, while maximizing the potential for artists to convert views into active listeners and fans by uploading tracks to all major music streaming platforms.
We support artist development through expert guidance and insights
Our team of talented A&Rs — including Grammy-winning and -nominated producers, songwriters, audio engineers, and musicians — works closely with each artist from their initial demos to the final mixes, ensuring our artists’ music reaches its full potential.
We also have unrivaled data insight into which music is resonating with viewers and listeners at any given time — this is powered by billions of views per day for YouTube videos featuring our music. We share this knowledge with artists to guide music creation in a way that boosts the chances of finding an audience, while also letting each individual’s artistry shine through.
We enable collaboration through access to a new creative community
We actively encourage our artists to collaborate, share knowledge and skills, and take the opportunity to learn from the wider roster, which includes Jordin Sparks and many more world-class, Grammy-winning and -nominated musicians, producers, songwriters, and engineers.
We promote connection and development by holding in-person writing and collaboration camps, summits, and seminars, and offer mental health support to all artists. We can also provide unique collaboration opportunities with customers, such as rap artist Janset teaming up with NBA2K to create this music video for the 2023 playoffs.
We’re an equitable partner who pays artists fairly
We’ve raised the bar on traditional payment standards for artists. On average, our artists earn over USD $60,000 per year, with top earners taking home more than USD $200,000. Whether they’re creating full-time or making music on the side, we provide a rewarding and sustainable path to success.
While all artists work with us on a non-exclusive basis, we only work with artists who are unaffiliated with collecting societies, as many societies have exclusive affiliation agreements. Currently, we work with artists based in Sweden, the US, the UK, South Korea, and Japan.
Making a living in music
Artist feedback shows that they love our model because it empowers them to make a living in music in a way that works for them. Some artists say they love the stability of fixed fees per track, while others enjoy working with us because of our 50/50 royalty splits and extra earnings from our Soundtrack Bonus. Some say the beauty is in the mix of all three, receiving initial financial stability, as well as the chance to earn substantial, continuous amounts from royalties and bonuses.
How does Epidemic Sound pay artists?
Payment for each track commissioned
As of Q1 2024, Epidemic Sound pays a fixed fee of USD $1,500-$8,000 per track. The fee depends on the complexity of the track, customer demand, the role of the artist, and their skillset. The fixed fee is always paid out directly to artists before the track is even made available to content creators, and is not recouped against future royalties.
50/50 split on all music streaming royalties
We split all royalties we collect from music streaming platforms 50/50 with the artist(s), even if they no longer work with Epidemic Sound. Thanks to the reach of our distribution network via our content creators, many people search and discover artists and tracks they like and then start listening to them on music streaming platforms.
A Soundtrack Bonus for all artists
We pay artists a share of our Soundtrack Bonus, proportional to the popularity of their tracks on the Epidemic Sound platform. For 2024, the bonus stands at SEK 30 million (approximately USD $2.9 million), and will continue to change as our business grows.
On top of our three core compensation pillars, we also offer all active artists the opportunity to participate in Epidemic Sound’s long-term incentive program and take part in the value creation as a company.
In an ever-changing world, our ambition is to continuously develop our compensation model. We’re committed to evolving and improving how we can be an equitable partner for artists so they can thrive and make a living in music.
*This article was originally published in 2021. Epidemic Sound regularly evaluates and develops its offering to artists, so it has been updated accordingly with the latest facts and figures.
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