After LANY completed its four-album deal with Interscope early last year, the Los Angeles pop-rock duo decided to be an independent act. “You’ve built your career on a major [label] model, and you’re like, ‘We’ve got what we’re going to get out of the system – let’s get back some control,'” says Rupert Lincoln , the band’s manager. LANY had a big following, and multiple streaming hits, including 2018’s “Malibu Nights,” which has more than 403 million Spotify plays, and the 2020 album mama’s boy, which hit No.
7 on the Billboard 200. But without a label, the band needed help – and money – to market music and shows to its fanbase. So Lincoln and the band talked with some of the many distribution companies now vying for independent artists’ business with advances and marketing services.
They selected Stem Disintermedia, founded nine years ago by United Talent Agency veteran Milana Rabkin Lewis and which a year ago secured $250 million in credit for artist advances from Victory Park Capital. LANY self-financed a new album, last year’s a beautiful blur , with help from Stem and Virgin Records, its label for international territories. The band made a deal with Stem to handle marketing and promotion.
“Stem made an investment,” says Seth Faber , the distributor’s general manager, adding that LANY took “a few advances along the way to fund different aspects of the project.” Stem set up a TikTok marketing campaign, taking advantage of the s.
