Symphonic Distribution of Pasco County
As a past independent artist himself, no one knows better how far passion and vision can take you than Jorge Brea. Brea, founder and president of Symphonic Distribution launched his business in 2006. Symphonic Distribution is a digital music distribution company that works with independent artists to help get their music on Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and various other outlets all over the world.
“I wanted to join the industry because I also used to make music and I always wanted to get it out there and it wasn’t a very easy thing at the time to do that,” he said. “I started to see a trend that digital distribution was kind of on the up and up and I thought to myself ‘this would be a great way to get my music out there.’ Once I did that I started to realize I could very much help out other musicians, record labels, all over the world.”
Brea was initially attracted to the Florida SBDC at University of South Florida because of the variety of services it has to offer to entrepreneurs. Brea found the depth of experience within the consultants at the Florida SBDC at USF intriguing. “As a business owner, I think it’s always important to be open-minded and to take advice and seek guidance from those that have done it and I think the SBDC has a tremendous amount of people who have that experience, which is one of the big motivators as to why I wanted to work with them,” he said.
Most recently, Symphonic Distribution took advantage of the Export Marketing Plan (EMP) services available at the organization. The Export Marketing Plan is a detailed report that helps to identify potential markets for businesses looking to expand internationally.
He says the EMP has enabled the company to look at potential markets. “Having this type of information, at a cost-effective price, is naturally going to help me run the business better and make better decisions towards where we can allocate funds,” he said of the EMP.
As a result, Brea recently took part in a trade mission trip to Mexico City. He said the mission was a great experience for him and his direct reports. “It enabled us to understand a growing market that has huge potential for us and gave us better clarity over the potential expansion plans that we have,” Brea said. Given that our customer life cycle can at times be long, we haven’t seen immediate ROI from it however, what it did do is help set us up with potential relationships that can lead to other relationships.”
Symphonic Distribution now services more than 10,000 record labels and artists, and has seen a growth of 30 to 40 percent in revenue since working with the Florida SBDC at USF.
Looking back to when he came to the United States from the Dominican Republic at just seven years old, he recalls the education he received in corporate America as helping him initially launch his business, but he also acknowledges that including others with experience is a key factor to success.
“I didn’t really go to college or anything after high school, but I did at least have an education in corporate America and that education is what sort of helped me to launch my business, but it only really happens if you are dedicated and you work hard and you have good morals, you’re humble, and you’re able to take advice,” Brea said. “I’d recommend the SBDC and the various programs to any business. In fact, I already have.”
He added that the Florida SBDC at USF consultants, “are easy to work with, down to earth but, do a great job and deliver nothing but quality. I think every business owner serious about growing their business should really utilize the programs from the SBDC because it is an extension of your existing team and effectively, are strategic partners, that isn’t easy to have and/or pay for if you are a bootstrapped business in the beginning.”
