As Believe steps boldly into its third decade, the company is transforming its core philosophy. The foundational years were defined by a beautiful, sweeping mission: democratizing access. Believe supercharged the digital revolution to ensure that any independent artist or label could seamlessly distribute their art across every major global platform. That baseline has been triumphantly achieved.
Now, the next evolutionary leap is not just about getting independent music heard, it is about propelling artists to the absolute summit of local, regional and global charts on their own terms. The era of pure access has evolved into the era of success.
Rewriting the geography of the world charts
Believe is no longer just providing an alternative pipeline; it is going toe-to-toe with key music players in every single territory it touches. The company’s grand ambition is to secure a top-three market position across the world’s top twenty-five music landscapes, a milestone it has already cleared in twelve of those markets. This competitive edge comes from an unshakeable belief in the power of local culture.
Our view is that seventy per-cent of the value of the music industry is in local markets, namely local artists in local markets. If you take some of the money that you receive from Spotify, and start reallocating money to global artists, you are taking it away from somewhere else. It’s a zero sum game. You are taking it away from your local artists. For us, the core differentiator is that we’ve been breathing one-hundred per-cent tech, digital and music for the past twenty years. It makes us move faster in terms of having a better understanding of Spotify, YouTube, TikTok and so on than the majors do. This is creating the right competitive mood for us.”
Denis Ladegaillerie
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
The art of long-term value: cultivating timeless catalogues
By shifting the focus toward the top of the charts, Believe is designing a model where technical innovation and deep creative investment work in perfect harmony. Bringing independent talent into the mainstream does more than win immediate chart battles; it constructs the historic, evergreen catalogues that will define the musical heritage of tomorrow.
To fuel this engine, Believe is aggressively reinvesting in frontline A&R through a powerful two-pronged approach: cultivating brilliant internal talent spotters organically, while simultaneously partnering with the most respected, culturally significant independent labels in the world such as Germany’s heavy-metal powerhouse Nuclear Blast and France’s iconic Tôt ou Tard.
The access piece is going to remain very important. But the success piece is where we can invest differently, where we can leverage technology, where we can extract more value, price higher, get better margins, and help our artists to go to the top. That is because the value sits at the top. All the artists and the content that you can bring to the charts will not only secure a big share of the value in individual markets, or even globally; they will then create a very valuable catalogue. If you look at the past two years’ numbers, the piece that grows the fastest in the mature markets, starting with the US, is catalogue. So having valuable catalogues means very good art and very good music, but also a catalogue that has reached a significant audience. That’s why the success part is so important: because this is long-term value creation.”
Romain Vivien
Global Head of Music & President, Europe
Emotion over analytics: the era of the superfan
On the technical side, Believe is completely re-engineering its product roadmap. While the previous decade was about building stable digital delivery systems, the new blueprint focuses entirely on giving artists and labels the cutting-edge tools required to find, cultivate, and deeply engage their communities. Access opened the door to casual listeners; success is about honoring and protecting the beautiful relationship between an artist and their most passionate followers.
Now that we’ve established our access products, like distributing your content for libraries on social networks where all royalty conditions are respected, we’re shifting more and more to a success-oriented product strategy, where we invest in products to help artists and to help labels to meet their audiences and engage with them. This is what we call success on the product side.”
Romain Becker
Chief Operating Officer
This strategic evolution replaces clinical numbers with genuine human experience, ensuring that independent artists build sustainable, lifelong careers rather than chasing short-term viral trends.
Creating superfans is the core thing for me right now in the Believe business model. This requires emotional thinking. You have to bring experience to consumers and people, not feed them with data or release planning. This is what A&R is for me. It’s emotional. I think the modern music business right now is going to focus more and more on superfans. Superfans are not analytics. It’s emotional.”
Henri Jamet
General Manager, France
Crossing the Atlantic
Rather than resting on two decades of historic achievements, Believe is using its rich heritage as fuel for its most daring chapter yet: expanding its presence into the United States. As the largest, most competitive music market on Earth, the US operates by its own fierce rules. Planting a permanent flag on American soil is the ultimate validation of Believe’s creative framework, the stunning culmination of everything the company has pioneered since its beginnings in Paris.
By introducing its uniquely empathetic, digital-first artist development engine to the American landscape, Believe is confidently racing toward a borderless future. It stands ready to prove that the “access to success” model can empower creators in the world’s biggest arena, establishing a new global gold standard for artistic freedom.
Our journey has always been about breaking down walls and putting power back where it belongs, in the hands of the creators. The ‘access to success’ model is proving its worth every single day on a global scale. By bringing this exact blueprint to the United States, our new frontier, we are ready to show the world that independent music does not just belong on the charts; it is ready to lead the entire industry into its next era.”
Denis Ladegaillerie
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
The first twenty years of Believe were shaped by a simple conviction: that technology could democratize access to the global music industry. The next twenty will test an even greater ambition – that independent artists, songwriters, labels and publishers can achieve lasting success on their own terms, supported by technology, local expertise and long-term creative partnerships. The story of Believe is only just entering its next chapter.
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Article written by Eamonn Forde. Eamonn Forde is an award-winning music business journalist and author. He writes for The Guardian, Forbes; Music Week, and Music Business Worldwide and several other publications.
