Published on Sep 21, 2024
The music business is a business of relationships. Everyone I know who has experienced great success has done so due to their relationships. It's the friends they have, their relatives, their coworkers, collaborators, and associates. Venice provides artists with opportunities to build relationships through Workshops and Feedback sessions with industry heavyweights, meet-ups, and talent showcases. Its Community platform has a chatroom and social feed where artists can communicate with everyone in the Venice community, which includes other artists, record executives, managers, marketers, the Venice team, and even the founders tap in from time to time. All artists aren't about their business, so artists networking with artists can have varying degrees of results. Artists in the Venice community are serious about their business; these are artists who put a lot into their presentation, artists who are working with management teams or are operating as their own team. A wise man once said, "If you want to launch big ships, you've got to go where the water is deep" and the water is deep at Venice.
Customer support is the number one complaint for all digital distributors. When things go wrong, artists are left with basic chatbots that can only serve up answers to questions from their FAQ and virtual assistants supplied with scripts that address common problems. Venice provides artists with an actual human support staff you can communicate with from start to finish. They hold onboarding sessions where they walk new users through the system in a live stream with a representative. They offer concierge support where their team can actively help you deliver on a release strategy.
Venice's Co-Manager feature is a responsive AI chatbot that can map out custom release strategies based on the information in your account, like your upcoming releases and performance history. In an account for an artist, I asked what their top-performing song was and what could be done to capitalize on its success, and it mapped out a plan constructed around cross-promotional playlists, visual content, live performance, and more.
Venice offers unlimited music video distribution as part of your distribution package. It’s not an add-on you have to pay extra for, and they don’t take a percentage of the royalties you earn from that source.
Unlimited distribution for an annual fee
$499 Annually or $50/Month
Stripe: $2.25 + 0.25% US Uncapped
Stripe: $2.25 + 2% Uncapped for Outside of US
Unlimited Inventory
Yes - Free
Each artist needs their own subscription
Included - Free
No, music will be removed if you cancel or can no longer afford to pay
No Exclusivity clause.
The Best! Live video chat, Email, Community platform with Direct Messaging
Included - Keep 100%
No AI plans
Removal, Fines, Bans.
No
This is promoted as a protective tool and requires you to upload your State ID to verify your identity. The Music Fights Fraud alliance and its members have plans to use this information for their database, which will likely be used for global bans and work as a No-Fly list for music distribution.
Yes - Venice Music does require KYA/KYC. You must submit a photo of your ID.
Included + Bring your own
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Transparency is great. Customer support is great. Payment could be better. Venice passes 100% of transaction fees through to artists. Inventory of stores is great. Features: They're great on features with Co-Pilot, music video distribution, workshops, live streams, etc. Longevity: Venice hasn't been around that long, so it has to prove staying power. Red Flags: none. Track record is great.
Venice Music offers artists a monthly SXSW conference minus the cost of flights, hotels, food, and tickets. In a lot of ways, it's better because it's more intimate and less crowded. It's weird to compare a distribution service to a music conference, but Venice isn't a typical distribution service. As a digital distributor, Venice Music stands out with White Glove service, Co-Manager, Unlimited releases, a large inventory of stores, and music video distribution. Venice Music is a platform for artists who are looking to become stars and establish brands. If all you're looking for is to get your music on Spotify, hope to get playlisted, and earn streams, you probably won't value Venice. It's for certain types of artists, and for those types of artists, it's the best place to be.