The Beat Goes On: How Artist Growth is Orchestrating the Future of Music Business Management
Twelve years. In music industry time, that’s roughly equivalent to 47 regular years, given how fast things move around here. When we started Artist Growth back in 2012, smartphones were still figuring out how to be smart, streaming was just a twinkle in Spotify’s eye, and nobody had yet invented the phrase “pivot to video” (thankfully).
But here we are, still standing, still growing, and still helping some of the most iconic names in music keep their acts together—literally. Universal Music Group, Sony, BMG, Concord Music Group, Roc Nation, Vector Management, Red Light Management… if you’ve ever bobbed your head to a song, chances are we’ve helped manage the chaos that brought it to your ears.
We Don’t Just Build Software, We Live the Music
Here’s the thing about most tech companies: they’re run by people who think “touring” means visiting different coffee shops with their laptops. Not us. We’re the rare breed of technology enthusiasts who also happen to be artists, music executives, producers, mix engineers, and the friends and family members of the people who work tirelessly to fill our world with music.
We get it because we live it. Based right here in Music City (that’s Nashville for you non-locals), we’re not just building software from the outside looking in—we’re solving problems we face ourselves. When our platform helps a team get a release schedule executed alongside all the marketing, promotion, and touring, we understand the relief because we’ve been there.
This isn’t just our day job; this is our passion project that happens to pay the bills.
Evolution in Action: When Project Management Meets Roster Reality
Speaking of solving real problems, let’s talk about what we’ve been cooking up lately. We’ve taken our event management platform and given it a serious upgrade by building a custom-tailored project management solution that’s fully integrated with our roster management calendaring system.
Now, if you just glazed over reading that sentence, let us translate: imagine if your calendar, your to-do list, your team’s schedules, and your artist’s entire career timeline all decided to play nice together in one unified system.
We get it. You’re already using Monday.com, Asana, Trello, Notion, or Airtable right now. These are solid platforms—great in their own right, packed with features. The issue? They’re loaded with features that have absolutely nothing to do with managing a roster of talent. You’re paying top dollar for project management tools built for plumbers as much as they’re built for music professionals. Meanwhile, you’re trying to force-fit album release cycles into generic task templates and wondering why it feels so clunky.
Then there’s managing an artist’s release calendar and promotional logistics in Google Cal or iCal. These basic calendars weren’t built for the complex choreography of coordinating radio campaigns, playlist pitches, tour announcements, and content drops. Sure, we integrate with all of them so you can share your data however you want, but why settle for basic when you could have purpose-built?
Stop using generic tools to manage your roster. That’s what we’ve built—an unprecedented level of efficiency for an industry that deserves better than one-size-fits-all solutions.
No more switching between seventeen different apps to figure out if your artist can do that radio interview on Tuesday (spoiler alert: they’re actually in Germany that day). No more playing telephone with information that gets more distorted with each person it passes through. No more dealing with guest lists that change 20 times after doors open. Clean, integrated, intelligent workflow management makes sense.
Oh and one more little nugget for all you label folk out there: we’ve completely solved the pain in the ass of managing ticket-buy solicitation and budget approvals. You know, that nightmare process everyone calls ‘the worst job in music’ that is currently handled through endless email chains and spreadsheets? Artist Growth is fully automated. Request, review budget, approve, done. No more digging through your inbox trying to find that approval from three weeks ago.
The Future is Now (And It’s Learning)
But we’re not stopping there. We’re currently leveraging machine learning to enable the entire platform, with an ambitious goal: reducing manual data entry to zero within the next 1-2 years. Yes, zero. As in, the number of times you’ll have to type data into your calendar manually = NEVER.
Right now, we’re using our own homegrown machine learning and natural language processing to take all that unstructured data you copy and paste into notes and automatically structure it where it’s supposed to go. You know that chaotic paragraph of tour details someone forwarded you? Our system reads it, understands it, and files everything in the right places without you lifting a finger.
And we’re just getting started. Within the next year, we’ll be rolling out an AI assistant that will manage your data entry and pull info for you. Think of it as having a brilliant intern who never sleeps, never complains, and actually knows where everything is supposed to go. Because let’s be honest, nobody got into the music business to become a data entry specialist.
Playing Well with Others
We’re also busy integrating our APIs with several leading music industry apps. Think of it as building bridges between all the tools you already rely on. Instead of forcing you to abandon your favorite platforms, we’re creating a full-stack, one-stop shop that connects everything seamlessly.
Whether you’re using specialized touring software, streaming analytics platforms, merch tools, or multiple asset management apps, we’re working to make sure they all speak the same language. In 2024, manually exporting and importing data between platforms is as outdated as using a fax machine to send tour routing updates.
Going Global, Staying Personal
Here’s something we’re particularly proud of: we’ve translated our platform into multiple languages and now serve customers all over the world. Music is a universal language, but project management definitely isn’t—so we made sure our platform speaks yours.
Artist Growth is built for global use. We’re fully encrypted, SOC2 Type2 and GDPR compliant (because security isn’t optional), and we offer the most customizable user permissions of any music industry project management platform.
That last part might sound technical, but it’s actually crucial. In the music world, information is power, and not everyone needs access to everything. Our permission system lets you control exactly who sees what, from the intern who handles social media scheduling to the manager who needs complete visibility across multiple artists.
The Rhythm of Progress
Twelve years in, and we’re still just getting started. The music industry continues to evolve at breakneck speed—new platforms emerge, business models shift, and artists find increasingly creative ways to connect with fans. Through it all, the need for intelligent, intuitive management tools only grows stronger.
We’re not just keeping up with these changes; we’re anticipating them. Every feature we build, every integration we develop, and every improvement we make is guided by one simple principle: making the business of music more efficient so the art of music can flourish.
Because at the end of the day, we’re all here for the same reason—to support the people who create the soundtrack to our lives. And if we can help them do it with a little less stress and a lot more efficiency, well, that’s music to our ears.
With endless optimism,
Matt Urmy
AG co-founder & ceo.
