The Struggle for Funding in Music

Getting the money you need to make big moves in the music business isn't easy, and so many of you don't even know where to begin. Musicians often want funding and exposure, and let's be honest, there are a lot of people out there with money who love music or are big influences, but the two of them meeting isn't always so easy. Over the years many people have tried to solve that problem, but it just hasn't worked out so well since the times weren't right and frankly, many of the people who tried built really stupid tools.

Introducing WallStream: A Solution for Musicians

But recently a platform came to my attention that I think finally solves this problem of helping musicians connect with the people who can get their music exposed or help them get funding for it.

In this newsletter, I'm going to teach you how track deals can help fund your music and introduce you to a service called WallStream (The sponsor of today’s newsletter) that helps make it so the people with influence or money can meet the people with good songs.

Understanding Track Deals

What Does a Track Deal Look Like?

So if you don't make like dance music, viral rap tracks, some pop music, or meme songs, you may be thinking "bro, what the hell is a track deal? I ain't in the railroad business." With the genres I just mentioned, a very common thing that happens is a label or someone with an influential playlist or someone with other influence like DJ clout at a night or just a big account will come to an artist and say "hey big dog, nice song you got there. If you give me 20% of it for the next 4 years, I will make the streams go brr." And to prove how much faith I have, here's $25,000 upfront.

Now that may be the best-case scenario of all this stuff. I don't want to portray that it's always going to be that much money upfront, or that there's even an upfront fee. But for those of you who don't speak meme, what “brr” means is the streams running up into the millions.

This can be because the person proposing the deal has a playlist company, an influencer network, knows some DJs who will play it, their girlfriend runs an editorial playlist, or knows one of those people - whose names I can never get right - like Kylie Hadid, who will post a thirst trap to your song on TikTok.

Honestly, there are so many dumb ways people promote songs these days, who knows what the hell they're going to do? And to be honest, they will probably brag to you about the method they're going to use to promote it because what people who do this sure love to do… is brag about how they do it.

Hell, they simply may think you just have the talent and see some may want to push you or they're seeing that your songs are already starting to work and pop off and know that if they partner with you, well, maybe you could both make money together.

I Know What You’re Thinking…

So I know what’s already happening here as you listen to this… some of you have steam coming out of your ears and some of you just yelled "YOOOO!!" And another third of you said "My songs are like my firstborn child, I would never sell a percentage of them to anyone, including that witch that came to me in the night offering fame for it" and to that I say damn, who knew that witch was real who offered me my firstborn for a better life than niche YouTube influencer? I didn't know they really had the goods to make me a real famous YouTuber where I could make videos like Mr.Beast.

Anyway, another third of you just kinda went "uh, what?" So let me explain a little bit more of why this is so appealing to so many artists.

Why Artists Consider Track Deals

So a lot of you are making art and really thinking about how you could really make moves if you just had the funding to do things like buy that Sony FX3 and a few lenses to make videos yourself or buy that splitter van to tour with and hire that brand agency to help with creative, or since I know some of you really want to buy that Moog Polysynth so you can up your songs, but let's be honest, you really just want to play with one of the coolest toys ever made…

Anyway, what many artists I have talked to over the years have decided to do is make a track deal for a song or two - or even ten - for a few years so that they can get some exposure or upfront money to start kicking off their career or fund their project. They believe in themselves and see those few years where someone owns some of their songs and a piece of the pie as being what will help kickstart their career and get them to a better place.

Hell, that's what record deals basically are these days for most artists since a lot of them leave them eventually and go independent. But basically, they see this as a means to an end to get more exposure or funding. They may need this money or increase in monthly listeners so that they can get their dream director to work with them, or be able to afford a really sick producer/mixer for their next LP, or finally get noticed by that feature person they want to have on track so they can really up their game by having enough monthly listeners that that person is impressed with them. Some of you are starting to understand, but it may or may not be for you.

How WallStream Works

The Platform Basics

WallStream offers ways for musicians to find partners with the skills, power, and resources to promote your music through revenue-share deals.

Whereas labels, curators, and influencers can effortlessly turn their cool playlists or channels into a profitable label and manage everything in one place, you can build and manage a portfolio of music, find fresh deals with ease, and turn your influence into a steady income.

WallStream handles the discovery, the interface to negotiate these deals, as well as the legally binding agreement between the artist and the funder offering the deal. This along with tons of really great analytics and an interface to keep track of the deals.

Beyond Just Funding

But I should say, it's not just funders. Some of you have yet to show any reason to partner on a track with anyone of influence, never mind in advance. These track deals can come from DJs who will put you in rotation or an influencer who will continually promote your track over time so that you can have a partnership in getting the song popular together and their outsized influence can pay.

Only Pay For Results

Now one of the things about influencer marketing I know is many of you don't have the money to fund those budgets to actually make them work. But if the influencer is actually going to get you streams, this is a way to pay for it where you don't pay upfront unless they deliver results and then they get a percentage.

Key Features

Artists can let the industry pros find them or pitch the ones they discover. You can release your music worldwide through their distribution service to Spotify, Apple Music, and hundreds more. You can create revenue-share deals with partners with the power to promote your music and share your successes with those who promote and believe in your music.

Whereas for the labels, curators, and influencers: they can review pitches, scout pre-released and release tracks to promote, communicate, negotiate, and close revenue share deals with artists and earn ongoing royalties revenue from the music you promote for years on end.

Addressing Skepticism

Now in a world of meme coins, pump-and-dumps, and other scammers, I know a lot of you right now are getting a bad taste in your mouth. I was admittedly skeptical before I dug in and really vetted Wallstream since I've seen similar services before. So my team and I poked a lot of holes in this service and I talked to the founder Tomer for quite a long time and came to know he's just an entrepreneurial tech nerd who wanted to help his daughter's music career get off the ground and so he built this service.

But I do believe this service really has a lot to offer for the people who want to get into this type of stuff and solves a lot of problems that have existed with these deals forever.

Important Legal Note

Now I do have to tell you, this should not entirely replace a lawyer. I would never tell you to skip consulting a lawyer who knows your genre of music. You need someone who understands the standards of your specific music scene, not your dad's Uncle Ted who bailed out your friend Ken from a DWI. Uncle Ted probably just drinks with the judge and doesn't know record label people, their deal standards, or how to prevent you from getting ripped off.

One thing I love about a marketplace like WallStream is you can see multiple offers and learn what normal rates are for tracks. This transparency helps solve one of the biggest problems in creative industries - most people have no idea what anything should cost, which leads directly to artist exploitation. WallStream's marketplace helps prevent that by making the numbers visible.

Creating and Managing Deals on WallStream

Setting Up Your Profile

Okay but I'm sure you're curious what this looks like for an artist like you. First make a free account with a profile showing what's unique about you and upload tracks you'd welcome deals for. Create campaigns to be pitched to curators for priority consideration. Curators, labels and professionals will search, scout and review pitches, make offers to artists, and respond to your pitches.

The Negotiation Process

When you and a curator show mutual interest, Wallstream's negotiation tools kick in. Curators engage in transparent negotiations through live chat where you'll set clear expectations on deal terms, royalty splits, and duration. Once finalized, your track gets digitally released to over 100 streaming platforms where both parties share profits for the agreed period while promoting the track together.

Tracking Performance

Wallstream makes performance tracking seamless. You can manage active deals, communicate with partners, track promotional activities, and build your reputation through their rating system. As your track gains listeners, royalties from streaming platforms get distributed according to your deal terms. The platform offers portfolio management with clear analytics, smart link creation, and complete access on both mobile and desktop.

Pricing Structure

Wallstream is completely free to join. Artists create accounts and upload tracks, and their campaigns become visible to curators at no cost. If you want to pitch directly to specific curators, you'll need credits. These cost $1 for 10 credits with volume discounts up to 20%. Curators set their own pitch requirements ranging from 0 to 100 credits.

Advanced Filtering

Wallstream offers powerful filtering tools to connect with the right partners. You can filter by reach metrics, platform focus (Spotify, YouTube, TikTok), or genre specialization. The system shows you important metrics like platform-specific reach, genres based on actual Spotify playlist content, user ratings, and links to socials and websites for proper due diligence.

WallStream vs. Other Platforms

Beyond Temporary Playlist Placement

Now I know a lot of you are thinking "Jessie, this sounds a lot like Playlist Push and SubmitHub." Let me explain how it's different. Wallstream addresses the major flaw of those systems - that immediate spike in streams that disappears once you're dropped from playlists. Many of Wallstream's curators create long-term deals that continuously promote tracks for years, preventing those frustrating stream drop-offs.

Take those YouTube curator channels that shape microgenres by discovering the best new artists. With Wallstream, you can strike a deal to get featured on these platforms with zero upfront cost. If they deliver results, you pay them a share. If not, you've risked nothing.

Transparency and Analytics

Wallstream's chat portal lets you track promotion progress, seeing exactly what everyone involved is doing and whether they're delivering what they promised. Their analytics clearly show which playlists you've been added to and detailed stream counts across platforms.

For those concerned about curators using bot armies, Wallstream has built-in protections including a fine system. The platform also handles existing track splits with producers and collaborators.

Simplified Investment Deals

Many of you have had people interested in investing in your music, but traditional contracts with confusing legal jargon can be overwhelming. With Wallstream, if your friend Rick wants to invest some of his divorce settlement money into your music career, the process becomes simple.

Both of you sign up for Wallstream, negotiate terms, and make a deal. Everything is clear, documented, and fair - no friendships are destroyed when success comes because the deal terms are established upfront and everyone gets their agreed share.

Empowering Musicians with Options

One of the things I emphasize for artists is that DIY is often thought of as "do it yourself", which I have always felt silly rather than thinking of it as "deciding yourself". Wallstream can create some options, especially for artists who are wealthy and have a lot of tracks, but not the ability to get their music heard and are looking for options that they can decide between.

We need more pathways for stuck artists to gain exposure. The music industry reality is that one breakout track often drives listeners to discover your entire catalog. Sometimes, strategically sacrificing some profits on a single song through a track deal can get you the attention needed to build a sustainable career. That's why I'm excited about Wallstream becoming one of the tools musicians can now choose from.