Over the last years, I have been wondering why artists do not take charge of distributing and promoting their music through a streaming platform that respects the artist and their creations. Alex Landenburg, drummer for KAMELOT, CYHRA among other, talks to us about this very issue and the new streaming platform ROKK he created together with Peter Moog and his team. In addition, we’re giving our readers the chance to try out the new app using a voucher that offers 2 months free and a cost of €4.54 for the next 3 months. Just enter the word “metalwar” in the coupon code field and redeem the offer.
Metalwar: Hello Alex! Welcome to Metalwar. Thank you for your time! The reason we are talking today is not your engagement with one of your many bands, like KAMELOT or CYHRA. But something different but equally important in my opinion. Your participation in ROKK, a new streaming platform mostly for Rock and Metal music. I want to start this discussion by going back in time, even before ROKK came as an idea. During the last years music promotion and distribution has turned to different channels like streaming platforms. So, what was your experience with these platforms as a band member?
Alex Landenburg: Hi Kostas! First of all, thank you for having me on Metalwar.
Well, my experience with the change to streaming platforms was mostly negative, which is why I came up with the idea of trying to create a better one in the first place.
When I started, the bands I was playing in still sold records in substantial numbers, and I saw the gradual – and then fast – drift to almost streaming-only. For most artists, that also meant less money immediately.
Metalwar: This topic is something that I always include in my interviews with musicians and most of them believe that streaming platforms, at least the way they are operating nowadays, are like a necessary evil. What is your opinion and what are the problems that arise from all those popular platforms?
Alex Landenburg: Musically speaking, one of the problems of streaming – something we think about a lot – is that everything has become very “single-focused.” People rarely listen to a whole album anymore. That’s one of the reasons we present artists in a very album-focused way.
It’s also problematic to have a system that is so heavily driven by numbers.
Metalwar: Let’s talk about ROKK. It was something that I was thinking for a few years now. Why musicians did not take matters in their own hands. So, when I read about your app I was really happy. When did you come up with the idea and besides you, who are behind this project?
Alex Landenburg: It was during the worldwide downtime that started in 2020. In early 2021, I sat down with my co-founder Peter Moog, and we decided that someone needed to do something about the streaming situation – especially since we couldn’t even tour anymore at that point.
Metalwar: If I am not mistaken, your platform was launched about a year ago. But I guess before that you needed to work really hard to prepare this. What were the steps you took before launching the app?
Alex Landenburg: Yes, of course. The two main things were building the actual platform and – more importantly – securing the rights to stream the music. And it won’t surprise anyone that this required a lot of money, especially for content from the major labels, including artists like Metallica, for example.
The only way to do this was by finding investors, because otherwise it would have been far too expensive for us. The truth is, everything was more difficult than any of us had imagined. There are so many details involved, especially when it comes to organizing rights. Making sure people see the correct album versions in their respective regions is incredibly complex.
Metalwar: What was the first thing you uploaded on ROKK?
Alex Landenburg: The first self upload was a never released album from one of my old projects “Broken Grace” called “One more day”. It’s froggy stuff…very Fates Warning like…bit of Malmsteen and Sym X too.
Metalwar: Did you face any problems from competitors?
Alex Landenburg: Not really – at least not directly. I’ve also had to sign a lot of NDAs, so there’s quite a bit I can’t talk about publicly, obviously.
Metalwar: Were other artists open to share their music through your platform or were they hesitant?
Alex Landenburg: It varied. Most artists were excited to hear about it, but many also thought it was too good to be true – or even fake. That’s sad, because it shows how many bad experiences artists have had, to the point where they automatically assume something like this must be a scam.
Metalwar: What are the differences between ROKK and the other streaming platforms?
Alex Landenburg: We’re truly independent, in the sense that no one can dictate our playlists or recommendations. Our goal is to pay more per stream – which we do. Currently, payouts are about five to seven times higher than Spotify, for example.
Fans can also support artists directly inside the app through Direct Artist Support, where a portion of the subscription goes straight to their favorite artists. There is also ROKKpedia, our own rock and metal Wikipedia, which anyone can edit, by the way.
The basic sound quality is already very good: AAC at 320 kbps – the closest thing to lossless without being FLAC. It turned out to be the perfect compromise between file size and sound quality, because when you have to host more than 70 million songs, these things become very important.
Metalwar: From the customer’s point of you, what do you offer in terms of subscriptions, content, etc?
Alex Landenburg: Right now, we offer a basic subscription, available both monthly and yearly. We’re planning to add family and student plans as well. The subscription is slightly cheaper than Spotify, and the sound quality is better.
To be completely fair, there are still things that need improvement. Technically, we’re not as advanced as Spotify yet – but they probably have a bigger budget for coffee machines than we have for our entire company.
That said, we’re constantly improving and listening to user feedback. There are also some content gaps, which we’re filling as quickly as possible.
Metalwar: Regarding artists or bands, a few days ago you informed that from now on you offer a free direct music upload service. In general, what are the options an artist has in order to upload his/her music on ROKK?
Alex Landenburg: As long as artists own the rights to their music, they can upload directly. That means if you’re using a service like DistroKid or TuneCore and, for some reason, your music isn’t on our platform yet, you can upload it yourself.
We’re adding aggregators one by one – TuneCore and RecordJet are already on ROKK – but I think it’s great that direct uploads are possible as well.
Metalwar: It is normal for anything new to face some problems at the beginning. What are the things you need to improve in the future? For example, a friend of mine who has a band mentioned to me that he is trying to get in touch with the helpdesk for artists and he couldn’t.
Alex Landenburg: Yes, that’s exactly what I meant earlier. We’re a small team – fewer than 12 people at the moment – with only one person handling support. Things can sometimes get lost.
That said, people can always reach out to support@rokk.app, and it should get answered.
We’re working on improving every aspect we can – battery consumption, connectivity, and features like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which are definitely on our list.
Metalwar: What are your next plans about ROKK? And in general, what are your dreams and expectations in the long run for ROKK?
Alex Landenburg: I hope we can survive and become a true alternative for many people. More than anything, I hope we can help artists earn more money from their music – and in return, spend more time actually making music again.
It’s been a lot of work over the past five years, and it would be great if we could truly change something for the better.
Metalwar: One last question about you! Can you tell me what is going on with your drumming career? KAMELOT is one of my favorite bands and I think it’s high time to release some new songs.
Alex Landenburg: Sure! As some of you may have noticed, both Olli and I have worked on Alissa White-Gluz’s solo material.
Besides that, I’ll be recording drums for the upcoming KAMELOT album in March.
We’re also working on the next PHILOSOPHOBIA release – which is partly a Greek band, as Domenik Papaemmanouil from WASTEFALL is on vocals – and on the next MEKONG DELTA album as well.
Busy, busy times.
Metalwar: Thank you very much for your time Alex and I truly hope you succeed with ROKK because it is something that music community needs.
Interview – Text: Kostas Boudoukos
