Equity Distribution
- Insider spoke to Krystian Santini, president of Equity Distribution, Roc Nation’s music distribution service, about the service’s inception and its trajectory into becoming an “emerging artist platform.”
- Santini discussed his work with Jay-Z on establishing and advancing the platform and gave insight into various projects Equity has executed.
Established in early 2019 as the music distribution arm of Roc Nation, Equity Distribution was borne of Jay-Z’s experience as an independent artist.
“Jay wanted to create a vehicle for independent artists to have as fair an opportunity as a label artist,” Equity president Krystian Santini told Insider. “He’s very hands-on when it comes to the vision, because this is how his career started. He didn’t really get opportunities at a label.”
In a phone interview, Santini discussed Equity’s trajectory into becoming what he called “an emerging artist platform” for a roster of thousands of recording artists. In addition to being a publishing and digital distribution service, Equity essentially operates as an alternative to record labels for artists who want to stay independent and hold ownership of their master recordings.
“Equity is ownership in its fairness,” Santini said. “It’s about expanding the potential quality outcomes for artists, because we understand that they don’t all start out at the same point. So we want to try to provide as many of the core services that they would get at a label and then try to provide value over all of these artists so that they can get better outcomes.”
Equity also looks to develop artists in the traditional sense, Santini said, funding some artists and marketing them to potentially “upstream” to Roc Nation’s label publishing or management.
Prior to his current role, Santini spent five years as an A&R at Roc Nation working with Jay, Vic Mensa, and Jaden and Willow Smith. “From there, I was, I guess, promoted, given the opportunity to run the distribution department,” he said, attributing the opportunity to the fact that he was “very vocal about wanting to help artists with the distribution company and trying to create better outcomes for independent artists from my vantage point.”
Santini spoke to Insider on Wednesday prior to a speaking engagement at the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Long Island University in Brooklyn. Among other topics in the interview, we discussed Equity’s work with the independent hip-hop artist Mach-Hommy; the platform’s 2019 distribution of Jay-Z’s debut album, “Reasonable Doubt,” to streaming services; and its facilitation of Yo Gotti’s “Dolla Fo’ Dolla” challenge.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What are some of the challenges you face daily in this role with Equity?
I think it’s changing the narrative and the thought process of independent artists as they navigate their careers. I think now distribution is seen as an option for artists, but maybe just as a starting point, not necessarily a place where they can stay and thrive and have a long-lasting career. So the daily challenge is explaining that to artists, getting them to understand it, and creating better outcomes so they can see that there’s proof of this idea that, “Okay, I can have an independent career for 10 years plus the same way I would with a label. I don’t need to automatically be chasing after that stuff.” ‘Cause what we find now is artists will sign with a distributor, they may even take funding from a distributor, but ultimately they’re trying to get to a label if they can. So I think the hardest thing we deal with isn’t anything logistical, more so than just the way that they look at things and think that the label is always the destination.
For those unfamiliar, how is Equity Distribution able to empower artists to own their own masters? What goes into that process?
So, the process is providing them with the tools to be able to release the music, the insights to be able to market the music properly and to grow from where they’re at. What we do is we provide them with do-it-yourself tools like a dashboard, royalty payments that they’re able to collect monthly, that get paid out directly to them. Third-party payment options, which up until now have been very difficult for artists to get at that starter level. So that replicates a lot of the services you get from a label, so that you can pay out collaborators in a timely fashion and account for them and all that stuff. So providing a lot of the most core, basic business tools to them upfront.
And then from there, teaching them different things that are kind of hidden in the business, in terms of like clearing music, collecting splits, and all that other stuff. It may seem very boring and basic, but that becomes the difference between artists getting synchronizations as an independent artist, or getting brand partnerships as an artist, or potentially getting playlists. So we find that like a large percentage of the work is there. And if you do all those things, labels don’t necessarily break acts anymore. So, a lot of your work then becomes just breaking yourself or finding your own audience and engaging with them. And from there, we provide the tools for them to able to market themselves in a similar fashion to what a label artist would.
You’re speaking at the Roc Nation school at LIU tomorrow. What type of knowledge are you looking to impart in that setting?
I mean, I’d love to impart more wisdom on how, how they can navigate careers. ‘Cause I’m gonna be talking to young managers, creatives, artists, producers. So I want them to understand just how to navigate the path that they’re probably already on in terms of marketing themselves, what costs are associated with it, the real costs, and what is pushed to an artist versus what a distributor should cover. Thinking about how you do the most basic things, like I discussed, and then just asking more questions and talking more about, well, what happens once you’ve gotten fans. Thinking past the point of, “Okay, how do I get any streams?” Once things start to go well, “where do I go from here and how do I navigate it?” So I’d love to be able to talk about the thought process behind that stuff and the work that goes into really having an independent career.
The 2019 distribution of “Reasonable Doubt” to streaming services was, in your words, a “landmark milestone for Equity Distribution.” How did that come about? What went into the behind-the-scenes of that?
I think that Jay wanted to open up “Reasonable Doubt” to more audiences in a way that he hadn’t before. He wanted to deliver it to all platforms. So, for us, just being able to take something that is a seminal hip-hop album and move it from a platform that was behind a paywall, and put it in front of new audiences. You know, younger audiences that may know who Jay is, but don’t have this touchpoint, and put it in front of ’em. So it’s like really important for younger fans who are on Spotify or some other platform that may not have had access to it. So it was big just for that.
To what degree is Jay involved in Equity at this point? You said he was at the inception of it, but to what degree do you strategize with Jay, for example?
I mean, regularly. I would say this is his brainchild like any other vertical in the company. I think he’s very hands-on when it comes to the vision, because this is how his career started. He didn’t really get the opportunities at a label. So, he’s very keen on saying where we should go in terms of the messaging and the vision. And he’s always very keenly focused on independent artists, so he’ll send artists all the time. He’s always looking to try to bring bigger potential opportunities for artists. So we’re always having conversations about what bigger looks we can bring that’ll benefit the mass of artists that we have, the thousands, versus just the bigger artists. But he’s so very focused. I think people would be very surprised about just how in tune he is, with us and just in general.
On that note of independent artists, Equity has worked with Mach-Hommy. What do you think new artists can take away from Mach? He’s got a singular trajectory.
A lot. Patience. The patience to run your own race. You know, ’cause an artist’s career, if you compare it to any sport, it’s more like golf than anything. It’s a solo sport. You move on your own. So, he hasn’t been rushed. He’s been able to cultivate a completely unique audience, voice, product, for people. Experience. He’s never, ever trying to do too much. There’s so much forethought put into everything. And he’s very detail oriented, too. So I would say for any independent artist, you want to know as much as you can about your business. And I think that Mach exemplifies that. He has this keen understanding of everything. He always is focused on the art first, and he doesn’t compromise anything. And that’s kind of what drives people towards an independent career. They don’t want to compromise their art for any company or corporation. So I would say, the balance of the patience with the vision, because it takes a while to execute something like that the exact way that you want to without corporate forces essentially overtaking it. So, there’s a lot from Mach, ’cause he’s just like the ideal independent artist in this climate.
Another example of that, I guess, would be Yo Gotti’s approach on this last album to the “Dolla Fo’ Dolla” challenge. What went into the distribution side of allowing for that? I know Gotti owns his masters, but how did Equity come in to facilitate that?
So Equity created a one-stop shop for Gotti to be able to carry out what he wanted to do, which was, have as many independent artists use his music to kind of amplify their brands and their businesses. So what we did was make sure that everybody had the proper music, all the proper instructions for everything to be uploaded. From there, we made sure that all the metadata, you know, the credits for the music, matched properly for what each streaming platform would need. And then from there, we went to each streaming platform, made sure that the delivery would go correctly, map correctly, so there wouldn’t be issues on the backend for any of the streaming platforms. They wouldn’t have to have any of the music pulled for infringement or any of that stuff. We lined all of those things up, delivered everything, and just continuing on that, because the challenge is still going. Just making sure that people actually complete the challenge. ‘Cause a lot of what’s been happening is, when people were working on it previous to us, and then if they’d gotten music outside of this and not used our vehicle to do it, their music has been flagged or taken down, the artwork was incorrect, and a lot of deliveries have been failing. So we’re just making sure that Gotti’s able to execute on what he was trying to accomplish.
In closing here, for new artists who are looking to go the independent route, what does Equity look for in the artists they pursue?
We want artists that wanna stay independent. That wanna work and release music. That understand that they’re gonna do this anyway, and wanna upload music. We want potential stars, too. So anybody that sees themself as the next Rihanna, J. Cole, Jaden Smith, Jay-Z — we want them here too. So if you were trying to find a way to Roc Nation, we’re the starting point for any artists as well. So any and all artists that wanna build their own brand, stay independent, and make money. ‘Cause we want artists to have financial stability in their careers, and success.
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