Music Digital distribution
PRO/CMO
BMI ASCAP SOCAN
As mentioned at
https://www.amuse.io/content/the-best-music-distribution-services?cn-reloaded=1
Amuse
Amuse gets your music onto all the music stores and streaming platforms that matter, like Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Tidal, Amazon Music, Deezer, Napster, Google Music, Shazam and YouTube.
The best part? Amuse is the only free music distribution service that lets you release music direct from your phone using our app. That means you can upload your track, artwork and release info in just a few minutes, all from the palm of your hand, giving you more time for what matters most… music!
Once your release is live, you can keep track of your streams, downloads and audience daily from the app. As soon as the music stores pay out your royalties, you can also withdraw your money with one simple tap.
Distrokid
Distrokid is a music distribution service that gets your tracks onto all the major music stores and streaming platforms. Users pay a yearly fee of $19.99 to upload unlimited albums and songs and artists always keep 100% of their rights and royalties.
CD Baby
CD Baby distributes your music to 150+ streaming and download services around the world for a fee of $9.95 per single, $49 per album and 15% of your royalties. CD Baby also gives you access to key demographic and geographic data when you distribute your music using their service.
Tunecore
For a flat fee of $9.99 per single or $29.99 per album, Tunecore distributes your music to over 150 digital stores and streaming platforms. TuneCore artists keep 100% of the profits they earn from sales, downloads, and streaming revenue.
Ditto
With unlimited releases starting from around $25 USD per year, Ditto distributes your music to over 200 stores, including all the major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and more. Ditto has three distribution packages available for music makers at every stage of their career - Artist, Professional and Label. Ditto lets you keep 100% of your rights and royalties, has 24/7 artist support and lets you track sales and trending data with daily analytics reports.
Record Union
Record Union is a distribution platform that lets you register a free account and then charges you for every release. There are three distribution packages available depending on the amount of stores you want your track delivered to, with single releases priced from $7. Record Union artists are charged per year for every music store or streaming platform they want their track added to and take 15% of all artist royalties.
Spinn Up
Spinnup is an independent record label and music distribution service owned by Universal Music Group. You can sign up for free to use their social data dashboard and special artist features, but then you pay to release every track. Single releases start at $9.99 USD. SpinnUp delivers to 44 music stores and streaming platforms, artists keep 100% of their rights and royalties, and the top tracks uploaded from their platform are sent to the Universal Music Group A&R team, giving you a chance to be discovered and signed by their record label.
AWAL
AWAL is a distro service that delivers your music to all the key stores and streaming platforms in over 200 territories worldwide. AWAL is free to join, but they take a minimum 15% share of all your streaming and download profits once your track is released. One of the major differences of AWAL is that they don’t automatically accept every artist who wants to join the platform. They believe that having a curated artist roster lets them support their artists with a higher quality of service.
United Masters
While it’s free to distribute your music with UnitedMasters (they deliver your tracks to 30+ stores and streaming platforms, including all the majors like Spotify and YouTube), they do take 10% of the profit from your streams and downloads. Every artist has access to an analytics dashboard which tracks your real-time data.
Level
One of the newest distro services on the scene is Level, which is currently available in beta and lets you release your music on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play, TIDAL, Pandora, Deezer and Napster. While still in Beta, you can distribute your music free of charge, but when the full platform is launched, Level will take 8% from each of your release royalties.
TUNECORE
More comparisons
https://aristake.com/digital-distribution-comparison/
The most comprehensive and accurate digital distribution review comparison for your music on the web.
Everything Musicians Need to Know about Music Distribution By Leticia TrandafirBEST GEAR
https://blog.landr.com/everything-musicians-need-know-digital-music-distribution/
The Best Music Distribution Companies
Music distribution is the link between your finished record and your future fans.
Distribution is a crucial part of music promotion. Brick and mortar music distributors used to be the only way for record labels and independent artists to get their records in the hands of listeners.
But digital music distribution has taken the center stage. Digital surpassed sales of physical mediums for the first time in 2015.
As an artist, digital distribution has become a must in order to reach all your potential fans. Smart distribution grows your visibility. It gets your music into as many ears as possible. And it helps you get paid for your music.
So here is everything you need to know about digital music distribution and how to do it right.
How Digital Music Distribution Works: Then and Now
Traditionally, distributors got records into stores and labels got people to go buy them (through promotion). Along the way, each of these middlemen took a percentage of the revenue.
This system still exists today. At least to some extent…
But the role of distributors and record labels has changed dramatically. Not to mention the changes the internet has brought in the way people consume music. People spend more time online, and less money on physical music.
Plus, the resources and energy of physical distributors are often focused on top-selling records only. Smaller bands who sign to them get trapped in exclusive agreements that end up hindering their success.
That’s why digital distribution has become the smart way to get your records out there, keep full rights to your music, and start building a name.
What Is Music Distribution?
Music distribution is how music gets delivered to the listener. Traditionally, distributors enter agreements with record labels to sell to stores. However, digital distribution changed all of that by cutting out the middleman—allowing artists to distribute music directly to online stores while keeping 100% of their royalties.
How Digital Music Distribution Works Today
The goal of digital distribution is to get your music on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and other streaming platforms and digital music stores.
Think of them like a digital record shop—Once you get your music in them, people can stream, download and buy your music. In exchange you receive royalties depending on how and where your music was listened to.
Just like traditional record stores, digital music stores receive music from digital distribution companies. But instead of shipping boxes of vinyl every week, digital distributors deliver digital music to the major music stores I mentioned above.
So what used to take weeks or months of shipping and manufacturing—not to mention a lot of upfront costs—is now as simple and fast as a couple of clicks.
The Best Music Distribution Companies
There are tons of music distribution services out there. Keeping 100% of your royalties is key. Educate yourself on all their fees and what you’re getting into before you decide. Some say they don’t take a cut, but there are hidden fees in some cases. Do your research!
Here’s the best music distribution services and companies out there today:
- LANDR
- CD Baby
- TuneCore
- Ditto Music
- Loudr
- Record Union
- MondoTunes
- Reverbnation
- Symphonic
- iMusician
- The Orchard (they work with labels only)
- AWAL (selected applications only)
More about choosing your digital distributor below, read on!
The Many Benefits of Digital Distribution
Why choose digital distribution?
Digital music sells the best, and will continue to rise. The revenues of the music industry make it clear – digital is the way to go. Here are the global revenues of the industry in 2016:
- 50% from digital revenues
- 34% from physical format sales (CDs, vinyl, cassettes)
- 14% from performance rights (radio, shows, etc)
- 2% from Synchronization revenues (movies and ad syncs)
So be strategic. Make your music available where your fans actually hang out: online. You’ll have more chance of reaching them.
Save yourself the costs and hassle of physical distribution – especially on a first album. Start by building an audience and a name with digital releases.
Plus, many digital distributors don’t have exclusivity deals. It means that you’re not giving up the rights to your music. That’s huge. Because if your next record is better represented by another distributor, you’re free to end the non-exclusive agreement anytime.
There’s also added perks like recommendation algorithms. These might suggest your tracks to people based on what they listen to. That’s how people discover new music in the digital world!
Ready to jump into distribution? Here are the steps to follow:
1. Find The Right Digital Distribution Platform
Ok, so your record is ready. You’ve mixed it and mastered it. Your album art is ready to go. You’re excited to get it out.
Now you might be wondering how to get your music on iTunes, Spotify and all the other major stores. The first step is to find the right online music distribution platform.
Get to know the major distribution platforms:
LANDR
LANDR is the only distribution service that gives you access to professional mastering and global distribution all in one place. Distribution plans start at just $20 per year, or you can permanently put up a single track for $9. You keep 100% of copyrights, so you’ll always keep full ownership of anything you put online through LANDR distribution.
Releasing with LANDR gets your music on over 250 music stores and platforms including Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play and Amazon. It even provides an easy-to-follow reporting dashboard to track your success and fan base to make important decisions about your next moves as an artist. Big in Sweden? Time to book a tour.
Our Favourite LANDR feature: We’re a little biased here, but our favorite LANDR release feature has to be the price and the ability to keep 100% of your copyrights. It makes LANDR the distribution service that independent musicians can depend on.
At the end of the day we know that you just want to get your music out in the world. Which is why we’re happy to be offering such a simple and effective way to do it that’s artist-first and transparent.
There’s multiple pricing plans with different features and benefits, so stop by and take a look at what we’re offering.
TuneCore
TuneCore gets you worldwide digital distribution for albums, singles and ringtones. It also gives you a Music Publishing Administration pack that allows you to get royalties and syncs.
TuneCore will get you on: iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube Music and more.
Our favorite TuneCore feature: the Music Publishing Administration is a one stop shop for licensing your music. Their statistics are among the best to track how your releases are selling.
Check their pricing here.
CD Baby
Go for both digital and physical (CD and vinyl) distribution worldwide with CD Baby. Distribute albums or singles. Also get sync licensing for TV, film, and games.
CD Baby will get you on: iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music, Tidal, YouTube Music and more.
Our favorite CD Baby feature: The combo between physical and digital distribution gets you a full distro package. They’re the only who collect SoundExchange (Rights Owner) royalties for you (thanks for the tip Ari).
Check their pricing here.
Symphonic
Symphonic distributes your music worldwide. They get all your music marketing, licensing and publishing needs fulfilled. Symphonic does both physical and digital distribution.
Our favorite Symphonic feature: it gets your music on Beatport, especially good for electronic projects.
Check their pricing here.
Record Union
Record Union gives you global digital distribution. Get your music on all major online music platforms – including Tidal, Juno Download and Beatport. Through a partnership with Sony Music, Record Union offers artist opportunities that will help you get heard.
Our favorite Record Union feature: their upgraded Discovery Tool gives your music more visibility. They’re also among the only distributors to offer distribution on Juno Download.
Find out more about their pricing.
MondoTunes
MondoTunes provides the largest online music distribution channel in the world. It reaches hundreds of online stores and streaming companies in more than 140 countries.
MondoTunes will get you on: iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music, Tidal, Beatport and more.
Our favorite MondoTunes feature: Unlimited uploads through the largest digital distribution channel in the world.
iMusician
Sell and market your digital music worldwide with iMusician.
iMusician helps independent artist and labels to sell and monetize their music online through streams and downloads on online stores.
They also take care of YouTube and Facebook monetization through Content ID, offering personalized support in several languages.
They offer an encrypted ‘music locker’ that will help you prove that music belongs to you.
Bandcamp
Self-release your music and sell it on Bandcamp. Unlike the platforms above, Bandcamp doesn’t put your music on other online stores (iTunes, etc). It’s a stand-alone online store. It lets you sell physical merch or self-release CDs.
Our favourite Bandcamp feature: add a Bandcamp ‘Buy’ link to your SoundCloud.
Read more about Bandcamp.
TopSpin
Topspin is a digital store and a marketing platform for musicians. It lets you sell your music (physical and digital), your merch and show tickets. Like Bandcamp, this doesn’t put your music on other platforms (iTunes, Spotify, etc). Instead it lets you embed it on your website or Facebook.
Our favorite TopSpin feature: it’s similar to Bandcamp but with the added email feature. Collect your fan’s emails and stay in your touch with them.
Check their pricing here.
Choose the best one for you
Each of these platforms has their own pricing. It’s either:
- a set fee per album/single
- a yearly fee
- a percentage of your record sales (10-25%).
Plan your budget: carefully read each distributor’s pricing plans and terms.
Remember that a distributor is a new professional partnership. Choose the most beneficial one for you. Make sure the distributor fits your needs, your resources, and your goals.
2. Make Your Music Searchable
In traditional distribution artists had to submit a ‘>one-sheet’. That’s literally one page that contains all the info about your record (artist name, album title, release date, a short bio, genre, etc.)
The equivalent in the digital world is metadata. These are the short descriptions and keywords that make it easy to classify and find something on the web.
Metadata is crucial in digital distribution. All digital distributors ask for this information. That’s how people browse for music online – especially with genre. You want your potential fans to find your music easily.
So when you submit your album for digital distribution, include a list of metadata:
- artist name
- title (of album or single)
- the release date
- record label
- track titles
- genre
- composer information
- artist bio
Make it short. Use the most common words. Make it simple and timeless: avoid using trendy words or hashtags. You want people to find your music 30 years from now!
3. Promote Promote Promote
“Your distributor will only be as good as your marketing plans to sell the record. Don’t expect them to do your [promotional] work for you.” – Indie Bible
Make sure you have a realistic budget for your promotion. Distribution companies tend to focus their promotional efforts on top-selling artists.
So do your own thing – create a powerful social media presence and put yourself out there.
Create buzz about your album even before it drops. Post sneak previews of your jam sessions to Instagram. Play a show in your studio and live stream it. Post 30 second previews of your tracks to SoundCloud.
Get your music to as many ears as possible. Use radio play, blogs, shows, word-of-mouth, and any other way you can think of to get your name out there. Send those emails and make those phone calls. There’s no hack around it!
Distribution Revolution
Physical distributors are closing their doors. What if that means better alternatives for you?
Digital distribution now gives all artists a chance: “Whether an artist sells 500 albums or 500,000, they should be housed in the same place and treated with the same level of respect” says the A&R for EMPIRE.
Having a solid digital distribution track record is like having a stellar CV. It’ll get you better shows, better visibility and more negotiating power.
Digital distribution is the most direct route to the ears of fans. Do it right! Do it digital!
Publishing administrators
SONGTRUST (collecting composition)
AUDIAM on interactive platforms (collecting mechanicals)
Audiam is a Digital Reproduction Collection Agency
https://www.audiam.com/
Distribution
CD BABY
Here is some information about the percentages taken:
- CD Baby Standard and Pro takes a 9% cut on digital sales ($4 dollar cut for physical sales)
- Partners (like iTunes, Spotify etc) take around 30%
- Publishing Administration cut is 15%
- Monetization (YouTube and Facebook) is 30%
- Sync Licensing takes 40%
Here's the breakdown of how often we receive sales reports from all of our digital partners. These time frames are as accurate as I can get since report times tend to vary from partner to partner and from report to report. This is the average frequency for which we typically receive reports from these sites, however we cannot completely guarantee that these times will be adhered to. These sites have been known to report sales sooner than these time frames and they also report sales later than these time frames.
Also, remember that it can take 1-3 months to see the first sales reported inside your account from the time your music has first been distributed.
1 to 2 Months
- iTunes (US)
2 to 3 Months:
- Spotify
- Amazon
- Google Music Store
- Rhapsody
- Groove (formerly Zune, formerly XBox)
- YouTube Music
Quarterly:
- 7Digital
- MediaNet
- Nuuday (formerly 24/7)
- YouTube Content ID
- Songtrust
-Tidal
3 to 4 Months from the end of the sale month:
- Deezer
In general, if you aren't seeing sales listed in your Account Overview, it either means that no sales have occurred, or that they just haven't been reported to us by the partner sites yet. There is never a set date as to when they will send us the reports so these are general estimates.
As soon as they've been reported to us you'll see those funds in your account!
Check out this Help Center video if you need help navigating your Accounting Overview page!
https://support.cdbaby.com/hc/
Royalties that are collected by SoundExchange can only be paid out to artists and Sound Recording copyright owners (SRCOs) if their recordings are registered and claimed. If Sound Recordings go unclaimed, royalties may still be collected but SoundExchange won't know who to pay. These "unclaimed" royalties will be sat on for up to 3 years before being paid out. If they remain unclaimed, the royalties are distributed to labels and artists based on their market share.
This is why CD Baby has an agreement in place with SoundExchange to collect any unclaimed "Label Share" royalties that are generated by your content.
I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but unfortunately we don't have any way to split payments into multiple accounts. All revenue from your album(s) and single(s) will be put into your CD Baby account and when they reach your Pay Point they'll be paid out to you according to the payment method you've selected (paper check, direct deposit, Paypal, etc). If you're splitting the revenue between multiple singers/performers you'll need to make those splits once we send you the payment. Our system is not set up to do things any differently.
I hope that information helps.
Best regards,
Maia
CD Baby Artist Services http://cdbaby.com
Visit our Help Center https://support.cdbaby.com/hc/
Help
CD Baby Improve!
https://bit.ly/improve-cdbaby
SOUNDEXCHANGE
Merch and promo and stuff
Thanks for getting in touch with us. For Physical Distribution, you'd work with a Disc Manufacturer to get your physical media created. Once you have your CDs or Vinyl, we can distribute it. The $4.00 cut is a flat rate to cover the costs of: warehousing inventory, shipping costs, employee labor, our commission...
The 9% cut is on DIGITAL SALES not royalties. If you're with SongTrust you would not need to also sign up for CD Baby PRO Publishing.
Below is a rundown of our Physical Program, contact for Disc Manufacturers we recommend, as well as information on our Sync Licensing and Social Video Monetization (opt-in) offerings.
Here's an overview of our physical distribution program:
PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION
We get your physical CD for sale our physical distribution wholesale program with Amazon, and Alliance Entertainment. Initially, we will stock 5 copies in our warehouse and we will request restock from you as those sell out to keep at least a 6 month supply.
Our physical distribution partners will take your CD at the price you list when you sign up for our services and mark it up. CD Baby will take a flat fee of $4 for every sale.
The Suggested List Price you set does not determine the exact retail price. Your title may be priced higher or lower than the Suggested List Price. Adding a Suggested List Price only provides a flexible starting point to keep your pricing competitive and appealing to retail stores. You are not be able to change this starting point after this album has been distributed.
Our physical distribution service will provide over 15,000 retailers wholesale access to your album. To make your album more attractive to physical distribution partners (like Alliance or Amazon), a 20% wholesale discount will be applied. This wholesale discount allows your album to be priced more competitively at retail stores.
For more guidance on setting up your Suggested List Price please see these articles:
https://support.cdbaby.com/hc/
https://support.cdbaby.com/hc/
Alliance
Once we get your stock your CD will be added to our re-seller catalog. All of our current wholesale partners have access to this catalog and can use it to supply with the retail outlets they work with. This includes brick and mortar shops and online sites. A few of our more common resale partners are CD Universe, In and Out, and Midwest Tape.
To get your CD stocked on the shelves of your local record store or retail chain, you will need to promote your album to that store. When you reach an arrangement that retailer can then order your stock through Alliance.
Alliance DOES supply to these major retailers as well as others:
- Barnes & Noble
- Amazon International
- FYE
Amazon:
Amazon is an open market place retail site. We offer distribution to their mp3 store and physical format store (under the "Music" header on Amazon). Once you submit your album through your CD Baby account and it has been processed, it can take up to two weeks for the album to be listed on Amazon's physical store.
Everything for sale on Amazon has its own product page. Because it is an open market place multiple people can be selling the same product on Amazon. Therefore every product may have multiple sellers offering that product. You can list products for sale in three ways with Amazon, on the marketplace for used or new copies, or directly in stock through Amazon or through a seller like CD Baby.
Please note that we do not have a direct relationship with international Amazon stores. While our resellers may create an Amazon international listing for your album, that this listing is not controlled by us. The only Amazon listing we have any amount of control over is the listing that has been provided by us on the Amazon US store.
CD Baby Duplication
http://duplication.cdbaby.com
1-866-534-3612
support@duplication.cdbaby.com
Disc Makers
http://www.discmakers.com
1-800-468-9353
info@discmakers.com
When you choose to opt-in to CD Baby’s free Sync Licensing program, you make your original songs available to license for film, TV, video games, commercials, and more.
We also offer free YouTube and Facebook Monetization programs, where you’ll have the opportunity to make money whenever your music is used in YouTube and Facebook videos—even if it’s just playing in the background. Encourage your friends and fans to add your music in their online videos and profit from the results!
This can happen when we add your music to YouTube and Facebook's content ID systems, which can match your opted-in music whenever it appears in a video.
When your music is matched, YouTube will run ads on that video and you will profit from each ad-click. This revenue will then be paid into your CD Baby account. Just be sure to opt-in when setting up your album to take advantage of this.
Music Copyright 101 is a comprehensive article that includes a section about sync licensing and royalties:
https://diymusician.cdbaby.
Here are some links with additional information about our sync licensing program:
http://members.cdbaby.com/
and
https://support.cdbaby.com/hc/
Our DIY Musician Podcast has some very helpful information on sync licensing as well:
http://cdbabypodcast.com/2016/
and
http://cdbabypodcast.com/2015/
Here is more information on our YouTube and Facebook Monetization programs:
http://members.cdbaby.com/
and
https://support.cdbaby.com/hc/
And an article from our DIY Musician Blog:
https://diymusician.cdbaby.
To sign up any currently released albums for our sync licensing or our monetization programs (or both!) just follow these steps:
- Sign in your CD Baby account at https://members.cdbaby.com
- Click the link that says "Sync, YouTube, Facebook & Instagram Licensing" in the "MANAGE" section of your Account Dashboard
- Choose which project you'd like to include in both or either program.
- Choose one of the services or click on "Opt-in for ALL monetization programs".
- Click on "I agree to the Sync Addendum".
- And finally, click on "Save Changes" and you're all set!
Maia
CD Baby Artist Services http://cdbaby.com
Visit our Help Center https://support.cdbaby.com/hc/
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