Andi Dela Torre Griffiths
- Aug 6, 2022

Profiles: Dark Escapes Music

Profiles is a blog series on andltorre that takes a peek at the lives of groups and individuals passionate about their craft and purpose. Get inspired by their stories, and let the inspiration ignite a fire in you.

Self-publishing can be challenging for musicians; you might already know this if you have tried it yourself. While it is doable, the task list can get overwhelming, especially if you have a day job, a family, and other responsibilities to fulfill. Thankfully, there is always the option to work with a professional publisher, which helps if you do not have the luxury of time and the energy to do all administrative work. It also comes with a few benefits. For one, it removes the burden of having to do the paperwork required of artists who want to self-publish. Second, publishers and digital distributors have a team of experts at their disposal, not to mention resources and the clout to aid one in finding licensing opportunities. Lastly, signing up with a music publisher allows musicians to focus on their music (instead of doing everything).

For today’s post, get to know this label on a mission to step up the game in the music business.

Dark Escapes Music | Indie Label in Gold Coast, Australia | Indie Music Scene in AU

The Next Big Thing

Dark Escapes is an Australian-based indie label committed to helping artists take their music to a bigger stage; the world. It was founded in 2020 by Paul Leonard, Michael Lobb, and Ian Miller with the vision to assist passionate musicians in pursuing their dreams and making good profits from their talents.

Starting as a music publishing administration service where they collected revenue on behalf of songwriters, they got into distribution services until finally deciding to turn the business into an indie label. At the moment, they are growing their team and are working on their Marketing and Public Relations efforts, all while holistically managing the other aspects of the business.

Meet the Team

The founders themselves are professionals and musicians.

Ian Miller is a studio engineer from Adelaide who played in bands and has toured internationally. He also has proven experience in Communications and Public Relations.

Paul Leonard is a digital marketer who is skilled in e-commerce and music publishing administration. He has been in the music industry for over 20 years now.

Michael Lobb is a music producer and songwriter who supports artists from all genres. My family and I met him when he came to Manila to work on his coffee table book about the local independent music scene in the country. I was 16 then and was one of the indie musicians he interviewed and photographed (he is a professional photographer too).

Dark Escapes Music | Indie Label in Adelaide Australia | Paul Leonard, Michael Lobb, Ian Miller | Indie Music Scene in Australia

The Dark Escapes Advantage

One of the advantages artists can get from signing up with Dark Escapes is the complete ownership of the rights to their songs. While they administer the process, they get to own the music. Dark Escape’s primary service is providing support in releasing music and royalty collection. These come in many forms, such as:

Distribution to over 100 streaming providers, including the major ones like Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud (see the rest on their website);
Collection of royalties and usage fees- streaming revenues, sync licensing, publishing royalties, and live performances;
Marketing releases and running campaigns for promotion and sales;
Release of high-quality format audio files on Dark Escape’s digital download store;
Professional mentoring on songwriting, distribution, publishing, physical releases, live performances, merchandise promotion, social media promotion, and the like.