Over the last 15 years, Mahogany’s YouTube channel, Mahogany Sessions, has featured artists including Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, Hozier, Michael Kiwanuka, Leon Bridges, Jacob Collier and more.
The model sees the company drive revenue from the Mahogany Sessions songs on various platforms, as well as securing syncs for the unique versions tracks under the Mahogany banner.
The company has grown to include an agency, label and a new distribution platform, Mahogany Songs.
Mahogany can power discovery for new talent, with recent examples including UK jazz act Crooks Inc, who topped Spotify’s Fresh Finds playlist and appearing on a Spotify billboard at Westfield Stratford.
Here, founder & CEO Mark Murdoch talks global expansion, live events and building a bespoke distribution arm...
How do you reflect on the growth of Mahogany over the past decade or so?
“We started way back in 2009, very much in that phase when the industry was dominated by things like SoundCloud and Hype Machine – it was before the algorithms. Our journey has been very organic in terms of how we've grown over the last 15 years, from being a music blog into being a YouTube channel focused on audiovisual performances, into doing live concerts all over the world, the creative agency, record label and now into the distribution service. We have been an independent company since we began, which is something we're really proud of.”
You’ve worked with some big acts for performance videos, what keeps them coming back to Mahogany?
“A good example of that is Jacob Collier, who we've worked with across four albums. There's a trust there that we build with these artists. Over the last two years we've had Ed Sheeran, Barry Can’t Swim, Tom Odell, Jacob Collier, the Oscar winner Florence Pugh. So we do work with big names, but our passion is backing the artists who don't have any fanbase, who are brand new, because they all start somewhere. If you present an artist in the same way – the same cameras, same lenses, the same quality – the beauty of the music just shines through. So we've tried to always present artists, whether they're big or small, at the same level.”
Are there clear benefits for artists filming a session for Mahogany early in their career?
“There are quite a lot of anecdotal stories of artists doing a Mahogany session and getting management, an agent or being signed to a record deal. The way that we shoot our content, the rawness, there's something unique about that and an artist can use that to go and get their publishing deal, their management deal, or to get booked for a festival. We love being part of that journey with them. The difference now is we can be involved in that journey from a record label or distribution perspective early on.”
Our whole strategy with Mahogany Songs is only taking on artists that we know we can add value to
Mark Murdoch
What’s the revenue model, how important is advertising income?
“Ad revenue has always been there on YouTube. But because we own the IP, depending on who it is, that asset is essentially living on a multitude of different services, and our team is always working on seeing opportunities that are out there. So, for example, Netflix and their series Power, we've had sessions on there. We've had sessions on the Burberry catwalk. We've had covers picked up on love island. So the content’s always working in different ways. It has to try and make revenue in four or five different ways for the artist, and we're essentially safeguarding that particular song.
“A Mahogany Session is unique. They're always shot on one camera in unique locations with great acoustics, so those versions are different to the version in the studio. There's something in the emotion and the rawness of it. I think that's why artists keep on coming back to do Mahogany Sessions, because there's a bit of a challenge to it. We have a limited amount of time, we have this space, we have this unique arrangement, and we have to just make it work. And that's still interesting for people like Ed Sheeran and Jacob Collier, who still want to do these things with us.”
Have you established strong industry relationships?
“We've grown relationships with every facet. So we work with all the majors globally, all the big distros and many of the key indies. We've managed to be this ally to every aspect of the industry. Whether we're doing a Mahogany Session, a concert or some agency work, we're working with all of them in a way which feels very collaborative.”
Can you explain how the partnership with Believe works?
“The deal with Believe is across masters at every level. So Mahogany songs being our distribution service, Mahogany Records being our fully fledged development label. We're signing new artists now for next year, which is exciting on the album level. But beyond that with Believe, it's strategic as well. We’re looking at the international landscape, including India and China, and seeing where we can create more opportunities. Where can we create more platforms that look and feel like Mahogany, but are more focused on a local genre and a local talent pool. So that's certainly something we'll be looking at in a couple of new markets next year.
“Going back to Believe, they're an independent company. They’re obviously much bigger [than us] but their ethos and values are very similar to ours, and that was the most important thing. It's really important for us to remain independent. With artists, with managers, with lawyers and with labels, remaining independent means that we keep being this ally to the entire industry.”
You launched your distribution business, Mahogany Songs, earlier this year, what’s the vision behind it?
“Our deal with Believe means that we're able to scale, whether that means our own footprint in new markets or a particular artist that we want to really go for. Believe has a footprint in places like India and they're looking at China, and that gives us a really great foothold there. I think there are definitely opportunities to be able to break artists, both coming from India and China, into Western markets and the reverse.
“But for now, our focus this first year is to just build the best possible distribution service. Our whole strategy with Mahogany Songs is only taking on artists that we know we can add value to. That means we have a direct relationship with all of them, day-on-day, week-on-week. That definitely is a different model to some of the bigger distributors, but that was a deliberate approach for us from day one. We are making it a bespoke direct service, even though that means we're only taking on [a small] amount of artists per year, and that scales year-on-year – that's been fundamental to us. That's maybe where other services lose that human touch, they lose that kind of direct relationship. I think artists are crying out for someone on the end of the phone and not an AI bot or an automated email service; that's critical to the service for us.”
Will you bring back Mahogany events?
“We had a long-running concert series up until Covid, all over the UK and also Europe. We did shows with Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Arlo Parks, Celeste, the list goes on. It's something that we're going to be bringing back next year. The market has settled a little bit, it feels like it's stabilised. There are still challenges in terms of cost, but we feel that we can bring value to the live sector, especially in doing multi-artist line-ups. So that's where we see the opportunity, growing a collective around it and bringing opportunities for artists to tour the UK and Europe, but with less risk involved.”
Who would you partner with on live?
“We've been speaking to a handful of promoters who are interested. Luckily, we have an audience of 1.3 million followers, primarily in the UK, Europe and North America, so we're able to utilise that as a massive promotional platform.”
Finally, do you have any advice on how artists can cut through?
“Good quality content and music does eventually find its way, but it's much harder now than it was five or 10 years ago. The volume of content is obviously vast and the algorithm changes week on week, so that creates big challenges for artists to cut through. But at the same time, artist communities can be incredibly powerful. So it might not be about having a million subscribers now, but you may have 1,000 followers who are actually loyal and buy your merch and tickets and come to see what you do.”
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