According to IFPI it can take between $500K - $2M to break an artist in today’s music industry. However, this includes a lot of things DATW already does in house: Writing, Recording, Mixing, Mastering, and PR. Most notably, they received praise from Billboard and Clash Magazine without spending a dime.
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These services mainly cost them their time, which is why an advance for living expenses is necessary. But, based on their track record of having almost no budget and still securing high press looks, over .5M streams, and self-producing/directing high quality videos for $10K, the duo knows how to milk every penny, and does not waste money. Even recording through Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, DATW has hustled hard to prepare for 2019.
Attitude - Billboard Premiere
Lie to Me- CLASH Premiere
That said, to break through all the noise, significant funding is crucial, especially since recouping on streaming takes longer than it did for physical album sales. Also, since Vero Music won’t have any in-house marketing, PR, etc., it will be up to DATW’s team to handle these things on their own.
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Also included in this estimate is traditional modes of marketing like radio, TV, billboards, and print, which DATW has no interest in wasting money on. With current data, advertising, and influencer marketing techniques interested fans can be targeted for a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing. All of this which is greater benefit to Vero, which also lives somewhere in the clouds.