MBW’s World Leaders is a regular series in which we turn the spotlight toward some of the most influential industry figures overseeing key international markets. In this feature, we meet Romain Vivien, Global Head of Music at Paris-headquartered music company Believe. World Leaders is supported by PPL.
Believe was just a 12-person organization when Romain Vivien joined the company as MD for France in 2008.
He says that when he first met Believe Founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie, it took an entire “two-hour conversation to know [he] wanted to be part of the journey”.
“I did not know how far it would go, but I knew the model was strong and disruptive, and more importantly that there would be a great need from the artist and label community for the value proposition Believe wanted to offer,” remembers Vivien.
“Some say it was a risky bet back then, also considering the state of the music industry at the time, but I never saw it like that, and I still enjoy our collaboration every day.”
You could say the bet paid off. With 2,020 employees as of the end of 2023 and a presence in more than 50 countries, Believe has, of course, grown a bit since 2008.
Vivien also notes that Believe, which owns self-releasing distro platform TuneCore, currently represents “over 1.35 million artists directly or through their labels”.
This week, Vivien, an industry veteran of 30 years, was officially named as Believe’s first-ever Global Head of Music. Vivien also serves concurrently as Believe’s President for Europe, overseeing France, the UK, and Germany. (He also represents the company at French trade bodies such as UPFI, SPPF and CNM.)
His career started with a 13 year-stretch at Virgin, followed by a stint at EMI, where his final role was Managing Director of Capitol France. He also served as President of Les Victoires de la Musique (France’s Grammys equivalent) in 2020 and 2021.
Vivien explains that his new job as Global Head of Music at Believe involves working with the teams across all 50 markets the company operates in to “design” its global music strategy and “develop a stronger music DNA” across the organization.
“It starts with our A&R teams and by building label brands that can resonate among the artist community,” he says.
In practice, that means overseeing the acceleration of Believe’s Artist Services business, which currently has a presence in over 14 countries.
He’s also tasked with creating more “synergies” across Believe’s Label & Artist Solutions division – which provides labels and established artists with distribution, marketing and digital promotion – and the company’s global publishing business.
“Believe has strongly contributed to building a healthier, fairer and more transparent music ecosystem.”
Romain Vivien, Believe
Moving forward, Vivien says that Believe’s global strategy is “to continue investing in our organic growth, specifically in our Artist Services strategy, but also through M&A”.
He adds: “Ultimately, we want to be the most targeted, integrated, different, and efficient company.”
Speaking exclusively with Music Business Worldwide in June, Believe founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie said that his company is planning to spend EUR €200 to €300 million per year on acquisitions to grow its global business.
The company’s recent strategic M&A moves included the full acquisition of Doğan Music Company (DMC), claimed to be Turkey’s largest independent label, and a 25% stake in Bucharest-headquartered Global Records, which has offices in Romania, Germany, and the US.
“Our strategy is to partner with local independent leaders and visionary entrepreneurs to supercharge their growth and strengthen our positioning in key markets,” says Vivien. “In both cases, these two deals come from long-term partnerships with two talented entrepreneurs: Stefan Lucian (Global) and Samsun Demir (DMC).”
Believe’s continued investment in local entrepreneurs and their businesses coincides with the rise of local artists and localized consumption of regional genres, i.e. “glocalization” (see Will Page’s LSE study) due to the proliferation of digital services and digital distribution companies like Believe.
Vivien predicts that this trend will continue and, in some markets, even accelerate.
He points, as an example, to Turkey, where Believe recently acquired indie music company Doğan. “On Spotify alone, the Top 100 list went from 11 local artists in 2013 to 91 in 2023,” says Vivien. “Believe’s strategy has always been to focus on local music scenes, helping local artists to develop their audiences.”
He adds: “This is exciting as I think we are very well positioned as a group to accompany this evolution of the industry, but also because it will increase diversity in music, which is something we thrive for.”
In this exclusive and in-depth interview with MBW, Vivien’s first as Believe’s first Global Head of Music, he discusses Believe’s global strategy and shares his predictions for the evolution of the music business…
First question: What’s on your to-do list with the additional global responsibility?
I feel that through our approach to distribution, which was our initial core business, and our blueprint strategy to invest locally in music genres where artist development and music consumption are more digital, Believe has strongly contributed to building a healthier, fairer and more transparent music ecosystem.
As a result, we see more independent artists and producers, who not only now have the choice to be or remain independent, but also are now able to grow their business faster than the market in the digital world. This is at the heart of it all.
Moving forward, the ambition is to help artists further develop their careers on one side, and on the other side extract more value out of the investment and the expertise we bring to them.
“Moving forward, the ambition is to help artists further develop their careers on one side, and on the other side extract more value out of the investment and the expertise we bring to them.”
In that sense, this new role is also about better connecting our artists to their audience, in perfect collaboration with our DSP partners. This is central to our artist development strategy as a company and we are constantly innovating in our approach, all the way from technology, marketing, promotion, to specific activations.
At the end of the day, it is first about A&R to source the right music, partner with the right creators, and then go from discovery to audience development, to promote emerging artist across multiple genres and regions in the most innovative and efficient way.
How is Believe positioned globally and what is your vision for Believe’s future on the global stage?
Our goal is to become a global leader in artist and label development. To do so, we need to continue building our leadership positions in the Top 10 markets. We currently hold leadership positions in multiple countries, like France and India.
“Our goal is to become a global leader in artist and label development.”
We are also the third largest player in Japan, where we recently launched our ‘Label & Artist Solutions’ offerings in conjunction with the first Japanese hip-hop label PlayCode that embodies our ‘Artist Services’ offering, and the fourth one in Germany.
Moving forward, we want to accelerate our development in the US, where a company like Believe can provide additional growth for a certain number of artists and labels.
What trends are you seeing in the global music market that you are A) excited about and B) concerned about?
A: Generative AI and AI, which we consider as an opportunity for the music industry and for the artists to develop creativity and discovery. But it needs to be handled and deployed with great care and responsibility, in line with the AI principles we have set at Believe: consent, control, compensation and transparency.
B: Streaming fraud, even if we feel it’s getting better, and we are very engaged with our artists and labels and DSP partners, having actively participated to create the Music Fights Fraud alliance. [Also], consolidation of the music industry, which will create opportunities, including for Believe. However, we are convinced of the importance of staying independent and different to serve artists and labels at best, and further enhancing diversity.
Could you give us an insight into some of your strategic initiatives for supporting independent artists globally?
Supporting independent artists globally is our core mission, either directly with artists we work with or through the labels we partner with. From the TuneCore Accelerator program – with which we are providing extra services to self-releasing creators around the world to create specific opportunities and increase TuneCore artists’ audiences – all the way to Premium offerings supporting artists and labels.
In the past few years, we have demonstrated our capacity to develop artists globally, with great success from various countries, like The Blaze (France), Novo Amor (UK), Inigo Quintero (Spain), Royel Otis (Australia) or Sevdaliza (Holland/Iran), but also regionally with artists like Saran in Thailand (signed to our Hip-Hop Label Byond), or Krsna in India, both reaching very important audiences in the region.
We will have more of those in the months to come, as I am convinced that we are uniquely positioned to develop artists locally and globally in a digital world.
“Our approach is the following: we are entrepreneurs partnering with other entrepreneurs (artists, producers, labels, publishers) to help them develop faster in the digital world. We want to supercharge their careers, allowing them to keep control, while benefiting from Believe’s expertise and support.”
Our approach is the following: we are entrepreneurs partnering with other entrepreneurs (artists, producers, labels, publishers) to help them develop faster in the digital world. We want to supercharge their careers, allowing them to keep control, while benefiting from Believe’s expertise and support.
That support is very different from one artist or label to another. We spend a lot of time first understanding their needs, then delivering them the right level of services, provided by the right team, with the right value sharing model.
It is also about cultural sensitivity and diversity. We want to ensure a global inclusive approach to music, understanding the unique cultural contexts of the regions Believe operates in, and tailoring strategies to each market.
Which is why, over the past decade, Believe has signed over 10,000 labels & artists signed in APAC only, paying more than €700 million in royalties back to the local music industry.
At the Group level, we have now recorded 1.2 billion Digital Music Sales (DMS) as of 2023. Empowering local artists and labels at all stages of their career remains our main priority.
What are your predictions for the independent artist sector for 2024/2025 and beyond?
I am very optimistic for the independent sector for the years to come. Top artists today are willing to be more in control of their rights and destiny, and I think many more of them will become their own [labels], across all genres and geographies. For emerging and developing artists, the digital world and current technology offers endless opportunities to successfully develop their career independently – and so does Believe.
Almost every market is growing thanks to the rise of local artists and no longer thanks to a few global stars. This, in turn, creates stronger and more diverse local markets, with a new generation of artists structuring themselves to remain independent.
“Almost every market is growing thanks to the rise of local artists and no longer thanks to a few global stars. This, in turn, creates stronger and more diverse local markets, with a new generation of artists structuring themselves to remain independent.”
A vast majority of the new production, A&Ring, discovery and development of new talent is already coming from the independent sector. I am absolutely convinced this will continue to be the case and will further accelerate.
For us, what is really important is to continue building the right music ecosystem to allow those artists to keep their options open.
And again, this is Believe’s number one mission: to act towards this and develop artists and labels at all stages of their careers in all music genres and regions. A direct consequence being the emergence of a fairer, more balanced and diverse music industry.
What are the biggest challenges facing independent artists today?
Discoverability and cutting through the noise, which is why Believe helps artists and labels find and grow their audience on streaming and social platforms. More and more artists are making a living thanks to their music, this is an essential trend that we need to continue developing.
Resources and digital know-how: It is much more difficult for an artist to navigate today’s music market, which is in constant evolution, getting increasingly more complicated, fragmented and more global. And from TuneCore to Label & Artists Solutions and Artist Services, Believe helps artists and labels to do just that, and at each stage of their career.
Financial stability and fair remuneration: Believe defends a value-sharing model for streaming that can benefit all artists, starting with the smallest ones, laying the foundations for a transparent fair and diverse market.
In what regions are you seeing the biggest growth, and where do you predict the hotspots for growth will be in 2025?
We expect the [size of the] global market to be multiplied by at least 2x in the next ten years, out of which the biggest part [of that growth trajectory] will be in the next five years. Asia, Latin America and MENA are the ones with the most mid-term growth potential, and Asia will overgrow the US in that decade. But there is still a lot of growth to capture in other regions in the world, starting with Europe.
These main growth regions are those where Believe is well positioned and where we will accelerate our growth in 2025.
In APAC, we will continue to invest and foster future growth opportunities. We recently strengthened our management teams in China and Japan, and launched various labels, such as Krumulo in Indonesia, or PlayCode in Japan. We anticipate the rise of digital friendly music genres, such as hip-hop, and the emergence of chart-topping artists in the region.
“In Latin America, Brazil and Mexico, both Top 10 markets, will be a key focus for us and we will continue to invest in our teams and key local genres, such as Regional Mexican, with already strong artist successes like Grupo Frontera.”
In Latin America, Brazil and Mexico, both Top 10 markets, will be a key focus for us and we will continue to invest in our teams and key local genres, such as Regional Mexican, with already strong artist successes like Grupo Frontera. In Brazil, we recently opened new offices in Rio de Janeiro and enjoyed fantastic success with acts like piseiro star João Gomes, but also artists from the urban scene such as Cryzin, Marquinho no Beat and Grego. We also see great development with TuneCore talents, including Brazilian funk duo Ventura, acclaimed Mexican singer & rapper Snow Tha Product and many more.
In Europe, growth will still come from France or Germany, but also from Eastern and Southern Europe. Our H1 2024 numbers are confirming this, with sales up 24.7% (excluding France and Germany), representing 32.1% of Group sales, and France with sales up 17.9%, representing 16.5% of [the] Group’s sales.
We recently enjoyed a global success with Spanish singer Iñigo Quintero, who reached the No.11 spot in global charts, including Spotify’s Global Top 50 and Billboard’s Global Excl. US song chart, with his song “Si No Estás”. He is now nominated as Best New Artist at this year’s Latin Grammys.
In France, we have established a leadership position on new releases for local acts in the Top 200, demonstrating the fantastic results of our mastered blueprint development strategy. Throughout the year, we proved our unique ability to not only develop multiple artists in several music genres at the very top of the market, but also emerging talents. Moving forward, we will do everything we can to confirm and increase that position across various music genres, also thanks to our local label partners.
Believe continues to expand via M&A, with, for example, a stake in Romania’s Global Records and the full acquisition of Turkey’s DMC. Could you give us some insight into the strategy behind these M&A deals?
On Global Records, our ambition is to build a global leader in dance music and accelerate Global Records’ growth by combining Believe’s proven experience in developing digital friendly music in multiple territories.
We have great track records in developing local businesses, and Global Records has a very powerful full-service model and Artist & Repertoire capabilities in the dance area, which we will grow further locally and internationally.
With DMC, we want to consolidate our leadership position in Turkey and accelerate the growth and global reach of their roster. The Turkish music industry has massively changed in the past 10 years with local acts taking most of the chart’s position.
I want to thank Viktoria Siniavskaia, Liubov Kevkhaian and Necmettin Ovacik who have been instrumental in building these two very exciting partnerships over the years.
We’ve been following the rise of India’s streaming market closely – could you tell us about your predictions for India and what M&A opportunities you’re seeing in this market?
India is our No.1 priority market in the APAC region and has the potential to become a Top 5 global music market in the next 15 years. We already have a strong position and aim at consolidating our leadership position there. There are two distinct markets: a developing artist market and the movie soundtrack market.
We are already market leader in the artist market, especially in Punjabi Music, the largest artist market segment. In the next five years, we intend to maximize our organic investments in building our artist development capabilities to expand our market leadership position in other market segments, such as Hindi, Bhojpuri and Haryanvi, but also strengthen our position in Punjabi and Hip-Hop.
What other developments are taking place at Believe currently that we should know about?
We constantly invest in our product and technology to ensure we deliver the best service to artists and labels around the world. One important area is to collect, use and leverage data, to better understand each market specificities and opportunities. This sets the base right for our A&R and commercial strategies, but also to size and organize our local teams at best.
Another strong area of focus is our innovative approach with our DSP partners, to develop new tools and programs for marketing and promotion, and best-in-class audience development strategies.
We will also accelerate our artist services strategy where we see a lot of opportunities (both organically and through M&A) in several countries where independent artists are looking for specific partnerships and services that we are confident we can better deliver than the competition.
What does success look like to you?
Having participated in building one of the fastest-growing companies in the music industry in the last 20 years. Being able to engage and develop our teams and of course our artists’ carriers year after year and create long-term value for them.
Still be passionate about music, artists, this industry, this job and Believe, after almost 30 years including 16 within the company. It means that this job was the right one for me, and doing what you love in life is also a success, especially when you continue to learn and pass on your knowledge every day.
If there was one thing you could change about the global music business, what would it be and why?
I would make it more transparent with more equity. As transparency creates better relationships and better partnerships, and equity creates more fairness, trust, loyalty, engagement, and ownership. Combine both and you build a business with strong long-term value creation, and I think this is actually part of Believe’s success.
