Major-label firepower on an indie budget: the rise of the music OS (and closing all your open tabs along the way)

Ep. 187: Back-office admin – from distribution and DSP analytics to neighbouring rights and D2C sales – remains a massive operational drain for indie labels, publishers, and self-releasing artists. In this episode, in collaboration with Absolute Label Services, we sit down with Simon Wills (Co-founder & MD) and Paul Purcell (Director of Platform) to explore how modern "music operating systems" are replacing clunky, fragmented tech stacks, and endless open browser tabs.

We discuss why Absolute built their own platform, Anthology, how private AI empowers lean teams to operate with major-label firepower, and what the future holds for independent rightsholders aiming to scale without expanding headcount.

Anthology: absolutelabelservices.com/anthology

And here's what we discussed:

• Ditching spreadsheet hell: Why juggling dozens of portals is breaking indie workflows, and why music-led teams build better tools than tech bros.
• Taming the admin monster: Unpicking the daily operational time-killers and centralising rights, metadata, and D2C into a single engine.
• AI that's safe for your data: How to use private, walled-off data models that supercharge your catalogue without risking your IP.
• The 2028 indie blueprint: How a three-person team can punch with major-label firepower - and why AI is here to kill busywork, not take your job.
• Unlocking hidden catalogue cash: Turning passive data into active revenue, automated restocks, and slept-on sync opportunities.

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