Lessons Learned from 1 Year into Starting a Record Label

The highs, the lows + what our focus is for 2026

2025: an incredibly rewarding, challenging and formative first year for us at goodtwin.

Starting a label in a climate of unease and uncertainty in the music industry seems like a risk, but for me, timing is everything. I went into this venture with a pretty open mind and surprising sense of calm. After all, I’d experienced growing a label from scratch before with my previous employer Platoon (except in that scenario I had a boss, someone else’s finances and a team to lean on), so I knew enough about what I was getting myself into.

First, I hired Rose, my one and only employee and the absolute backbone of the label. For the first chunk of the year, we focused on our branding (thanks to the very best @ssaalltt_), signed our flagship artist Imani-J, onboarded the “other good twin” (my twin sister Claire) as a key creative partner, ran a competition in NZ to find an emerging artist (and couldn’t help but sign most of the runner-ups), set up the label, and partnered with our digital distributor, Precise.

We just got stuck in and got to work in the only way two Kiwis know how to.

As the founder, most days I felt excited, motivated and full of positivity. But there were occasional days where I was terrified, riddled with imposter syndrome, or disheartened by zero replies from the industry. But even on those days I’d always receive some sort of sign that I was on the right path - and when it’s your own venture, even small wins feel absolutely monumental. (I balled my eyes out on three occasions where I was so proud of my artists and of us for delivering a song or video that was so damn good.)

In March this year I wrote an article called Manifesting for goodtwin and boldly listed off some goals I wanted to achieve (visualising may feel like ‘hocus pocus’, but it keeps you dreaming big - which matters deeply on the hard days). Rose re-sent me that article a few weeks ago followed by a bunch of flowers and a note telling me that we’d ticked off almost everything on the list already. I couldn’t believe it.

So with that, this is a chance to reflect on some wins, some challenges and what our focus will be in 2026.

Some Wins and Highs

• Released 16 songs

• Signed 10 artists to goodtwin

• Published 19 Substack articles, read by 8K people, gaining 158 subscribers

• Ran a $10K competition for one NZ artist to win a single release package

• Published our first print issue

• Held over 200 industry meetings and built invaluable relationships

• goodtwin took us to NZ, Sydney, LA, Amsterdam and London

• Facilitated songwriting sessions for artists in LA and London

• Consulted 1:1 with a handful of emerging artists with whiteboard sessions and release strategies

• Created a new model for goodtwin artists that is fan-centred

• Built a community of our own around goodtwin

• Spoke on many panels, including a talk on Women in Music at a FFWD event, London

• Witnessing amazing songs being made in the studio will forever be one of the best parts of the job

• Seeing artists progress - especially over only one year, is truly something to be so proud of

• Meeting some really, really good humans in the industry this year. I am surrounded by people who really, genuinely, care about artists.

And we’re ending the year with 4 very exciting consultancy opportunities and one keen investor.

Needless to say it’s been a massive year and we’re only just getting started.

BUT, it didn’t come without its challenges, lessons learned and musings:

• Onboarding multiple artists at once and having more than one release in a week is far too much to take on.

• The operations set-up takes a long time and is very complicated (understanding different revenue streams, accounting/reporting, label terminology)

• Artists do need managers. Even if a manager knows very little about how the music industry works, having someone else in an artist’s corner as a sounding board, team mate, motivator and problem solver is really important.

• Small budgets can go a long way if spent effectively, but recoupment is slow. Streaming for emerging artists is now 10x slower and 20x harder to push, which means streaming income alone won’t make us profitable anytime soon.

• Signing brand new artists is subjective and based on intuition. We aren’t basing our decisions on social media or existing streaming numbers, we’re basing our decisions on good music and determined artists. But good songs aren’t enough any more. There are so many variables at play and even with all the right ingredients there is still an element of timing and luck.

• Being female-founded seems to create a sense of maternal trust in the industry - but is it time to stand on our own two feet without needing to make that point?

• Having a niche for the label (helping artists from Aus/NZ break-out faster) to differentiate it from other ‘label services’ companies has been important.

• Your contact list is your greatest asset. Networking is so important in this game.

• Recapping each week with wins and challenges is good for reflection.

• Writing about the industry keeps me informed - everything changes, always!

One main takeaway from this past year is that we’re in an incredible position to learn from our first year, take risks, try new models and continue to pioneer in this space for indie artists.

What’s our plan for 2026?

Next year, our big focus is helping artists build engaged fanbases. We believe community and fandom are key to building a sustainable career in 2026. We’ll also be setting up publishing, pitching our catalogue for sync opportunities, using AI to help us streamline our workflows, planning to make a lot of merch and write more educational articles on Substack. I also want to create something truly helpful and meaningful for artists, as there is no shortage of talented artists who need guidance.

For now, I’m signing off on 2025. Thanks so much to everyone who supported our first year of goodtwin - we couldn’t have done it without you. <3