New label 7cult uses ad tests to decide which artists to sign
The independent label tests unreleased music before committing, then uses more than 100 pieces of campaign content to advertise across markets simultaneously.
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The independent label tests unreleased music before committing, then uses more than 100 pieces of campaign content to advertise across markets simultaneously.
New independent record label 7cult tests unreleased music through advertising before deciding which artists to sign, founder Dalton Piché told Billboard in an interview published on September 30. He says the team has turned down projects it loved when the tests failed to meet its target. Listener responses to paid ads therefore help determine who gets a deal, not just how a release is promoted.
Piché describes testing ads on Meta’s platforms against a conversion-cost target: the advertising cost of getting a desired response. The interview does not disclose the target amount or specify which listener action counts as a conversion. When a project misses that target, he says, the team doubts whether 7cult is the right partner.
Once 7cult commits, advertising is a major part of launching a release. Piché says each campaign uses more than 100 pieces of content aimed at different groups of listeners. The team continually adjusts the campaign to improve the value of its spending.
The label also runs advertising across markets simultaneously from the outset. Piché contrasts this with what he describes as most labels’ practice of establishing an artist in one territory before moving to another. He still sees radio and press as important, but wants digital promotion to build momentum before investing more in those areas.
Piché previously ran campaigns for artists including Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran through his digital marketing company, Pulse. Pulse remains in operation, but told clients it had decided to stop providing services to major labels. Its email blamed the major-label system’s slow pace for preventing the company from delivering the service it wanted.
In the interview, Piché criticized layers of approval and campaigns being stopped when he thought spending should increase. Maria Rodigan, whose appointment as 7cult’s senior vice president accompanied the launch, says independent funding lets the label test and make decisions quickly without outside pressure to meet signing quotas. Its team draws primarily on marketing and technology backgrounds.
Piché points to signed artist oskar med k as a model for the approach. He says extensive ad testing of unfinished music accompanied growing momentum with successive releases, followed by work on the artist’s story and branding. In his account, this did not require the artist to post daily on social media or go viral.
These claimed successes come from the label’s executives, and the interview gives no numerical campaign results for oskar med k. Piché’s stated aim of “100% certainty” that the label’s efforts will have an impact is not independently demonstrated. The concrete effect of the testing policy is narrower: 7cult can decline music its team likes when it is not confident its advertising approach will work.
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