Interview: Haulix Founder Matt Brown

As the internet has grown, so have the instances of leaking music. Affecting both record labels and the artists themselves, leaks have the ability to not only hamper sales, but create legal headaches for everyone involved. This is where Haulix comes in. Watermarking albums set for press promotion, Haulix is a music service that works to cut down on leaks. Recently, Legendary Kids Press was able to speak with founder Matt Brown about its services, the upcoming relaunch and more.
Before we get started, would you mind describing Haulix to those who might not have heard of the site?
Haulix is a web-based system used by record labels and publicists to push watermarked (fingerprinted) music out to the press before it is released to the public. We minimize the chances of an early leak, which, in turn, improves the opening week’s sales.
Haulix specifically deals with watermarking press copies of albums and new releases. Have you found watermarking releases has cut down on the leaking of albums or increased accountability in the industry?
We have ran several surveys in the past few years and yes, many customers have experienced a large decrease or no leaks at all since using Haulix.
You’ve stated in previous interviews that you’ve been involved in the music industry for around 14 years. How would you say that experience has helped you grow Haulix into the company it is today?
Like many people who work in the industry, I have a deep passion for music that started in my childhood. I played a musical instrument starting in grade school and continued all the way through my college years. I also studied computer science in college and I’ve always had an itch to start a business. Web software was the perfect outlet for being able to build something extremely complicated while having the freedom to be creative.
As for the business side of things, I’ve had to learn as we’ve grown. But at its core, you will succeed if you offer a great product or service and you take care of your customers; common sense.
Haulix has been very open to working with a wide variety of music industry members, whether it be labels and artists, bloggers and up-and-comers. Has it always been your goal for it to be more than a watermarking and PR service?
A couple of us on the team run our own side-blogging websites and so we know firsthand what it’s like to be on the press side. We care just as much about the press person’s experience as we do our paying customers. If the press doesn’t like receiving promos through your system, you won’t last very long.
You’re expecting a big re-launch later on this year. How has progress been on that front?
We’ve spent the last four years compiling customer feedback and we have a lot of our own ideas as well. Not to mention, web technology progresses every year and we need to bring our system up-to-speed with the latest and greatest programming technologies. We know areas where we need to improve and areas that are already great that don’t need changing. We’re excited to go through all of our current screens with a fine-toothed comb and think through how they can be improved with this new build.
We’re looking to launch within the next couple of months.
Are there any new features or changes readers/users of the services offered should expect?
The main things are better mobile device support and an overhaul of our email system. Our customers are sending out 1-2 million email invitations each month and so our system has to be abel to handle all of that. We’re also going to offer a larger variety of statistics, which will give customers a better understanding of how their promotions are doing.
How do you see Haulix’s growth over the next year?
We’ve been up and running for over six years and we continue to grow every year. I see that trend continuing into 2016. With that said, we want to refine our software, continue to offer superior customer support and double our customer roster in the next two years or so.
Are there any final thoughts you’d wish to share?
For great music industry tips and interviews, go check out our blog, which gets updated daily: haulix.
To learn more about the services Haulix offers, click here.
