Using the cloud to make music and build a global brand
According to Dropbox customer Future Classic, there are three things you need to know about the music business. “It’s all about timing, it’s very global, and the industry moves fast, really fast.” And that’s something the Sydney-based record label knows all too well.
Representing bands such as Flume, Nick Murphy, and Ta-Ku, Future Classic makes records, publishes songs and launches new artist material to a world-wide audience. The massive challenge for them as they’ve grown has been to build a very fast and simple way to keep employees, artists, and promoters working together – no matter when or where they are in the world – on the same projects. After all, one missed deadline could be the difference between global success and abject failure in this industry.
“We’d tried everything. From physical servers to portable hard drives and simple file sharing apps, we just couldn’t find something that could cope with our huge file sharing demands,” says Anna Burns, General Manager at Future Classic.
With the team organising tours, promotions and events in Europe, Future Classic decided to move everything to the cloud – using Dropbox Business as an information hub for artists, crew, employees and promoters.
As Label Manager, Ed Sholl explains their challenge, “Our business is very content-driven, so we’re constantly exchanging music, visuals and video files. Having the ability to access assets in the cloud with just a click or two is really key.”
Today Future Classic’s team members are using shared folders, real time file sync and remote sharing, to stay in touch, which in turn has improved productivity. “We’re always on the move, so it’s nice to have the Dropbox Business mobile app. If I’m stuck in the back of a taxi or watching a show at a venue, I can still open files securely, send-off links, and stay productive,” continues Ed.
Moving to the cloud has helped Future Classic speed up processes and maintain an edge in an increasingly competitive market. And, when it came to implementation, Anna says the process was simple: “We came to Dropbox because so many of our artists and employees already had accounts. Adoption as a result has been higher than expected as our team was already familiar with the user experience, and how it could simplify the way they work.”
For Anna, and the artists working with Future Classic in Europe, the cloud has helped position the company as a global player in the music industry. “As a company, Future Classic is a very friendly face in Australia – but we want that same perception from an international perspective. The cloud has and is helping us achieve that, and it has the potential to do the same for other companies wanting to grow.”
To find out more about the artists Future Classic is supporting in Europe, click here.
