How Should I Distribute My Music On the Web?
October 30, 2007 by Eric Hebert in GeneralComment
What a roller coaster ride the past few months have been for music. We’ve had the RIAA up our asses, Radiohead giving it to us the way we want it before pulling out before we finished, Trent telling the industry to stick it, all the while Kayne and 50 just reinforcing the stupidity of it all.
Without a doubt, these are troublesome times for the music business. The old business model is failing, as many have said time and time again over the past few years. In the past, artists needed support from the major labels to distribute their work because it cost so much to do so; and in return the labels got to do whatever they wanted to with that art.
You gave up control in order to make the dream come true. Sacrifice. And the labels maintained that control; until the Internet, of course.
The web is the new form of distribution. And who controls the ‘Net? YOU do.
The walls of the industry are crumbling down. And as with any demise of an old way of thinking, a new one will rise into prominence.
It may not be all clean sheets, incense, and puffy pillows for many, but it is an opportunity for everyone else. Whether or not you decide to take advantage on this opportunity is up to you.
So how is an artist to survive? If the labels cannot sustain, how can you? Here are a few ideas every artist needs to consider.
How do you sell the music? Assuming you don’t have any major label support, you’re probably not going to have and money to invest in the traditional compact disc. That’s okay, because you don’t have the distribution either. What you do have is the ‘Net, and how you use it will determine your success.
Many just throw their album on iTunes and expect it to sell. That would be the same as having a CD buried in the aisles of Best Buy with out any advertising. No, what you need to do is much, much more than that. You’ve got to let people HEAR your music. No label = no radio! So you’ve got to give them a taste by giving the music away.
Many are talking about the new FREE music model and how it’s all the rage and what not. This IS the future of music. It is, however, going to take some time to catch on. So what you need to do in the mean time is become part of the transition.
Another thing that needs to be address is the file format of your music. You don’t want to turn off a potential fan by limiting the types of file formats (and using strictly iTunes is doing just that!)
You’ve got give them all the options, and do so without any restrictions. NO DRM!
So how should you distribute your music, and still make a buck?
Simple. You still take the established route by getting your music on iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, etc. You’ll make some change from these because of the large and established user base.
You then either STREAM or allow lower-quality MP3 / WMA downloads off of your website, for FREE.
And then you offer a direct-from-the-artist download of high quality MP3 and FLAC download options that the consumer pays for. You’ll probably want to throw in other exclusive extras like photos, merchandise, or some other content (videos, behind-the-scenes, interviews, individual track masters, re-mixes, the list goes on and on!) You do this all for a reasonable price under $10.00.
Of course you still have to get the word out about your music, but once people get to your website and hear it, they’ll be 1000 times more inclined to purchase an album then if they just had to guess weather you’re good enough or not.
After you start making a name for yourself, then you can maybe crank out some traditional CD’ s to sell to the record shops or fans that might want them. If you’re smart, you also look into getting that album on vinyl as it increases in popularity.
This is the transition from the old to the new. Eventually, it will all be given away for free and you’ll make all of your money off of advertising, merchandising, touring, etc. Getting to that point is going to take time and effort.
And unless you don’t let the fans hear the music right from the get-go, you’re never going to make it. Someone else will.
William Stenner on Tue, 30th Oct 2007 10:00 pm
I am doing my danmdest to get my music out. I have spent thousands getting 3 songs recorded.
I am trying to make a full length cd but man its expensive. Anyways, If you know of anything or anybody that is musician friendly, I would appreciate it.
Eric Hebert on Tue, 30th Oct 2007 10:15 pm
My advice would be to take it one song at a time man. Focus on getting your name out there and the LIVE aspect. You can always record as you go…
Mary Barbour on Fri, 2nd Nov 2007 2:06 pm
Hi, I’m the marketing manager at TuneCore. I just came across your post and wanted to mention a few relevant things.
First of all - I’m so glad artists are becoming more cognizant of the current state of the industry and the fact that they should never have to relinquish their rights or royalties, especially if they are using the expansive free resources available to them (MySpace, blogs, etc) to market and promote themselves!
What’s happening in the industry right now is really exciting and we’re happy to be a part of it. TuneCore is a digital music aggregator and we have arrangements with all the leading digital stores (iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, AmazonMP3 etc.) that allow us to get your music online quickly and cheaply. The average cost to a customer to get a ten song album into all of our stores is around $35. That is a FLAT fee which means every cent of profit you make is yours to keep. Its as simple as that.
It’s also helpful to go through an aggregator like TuneCore because we offer all sorts of marketing and promotion tools to help our customers get their music heard.
Hope your readers find this of interest - i think services like our are central to your take on the industry. Let’s continue to encourage empowerment of independent artists.
Thanks for the post.
-Mary Barbour
Marketing Manager
TuneCore
Eric Hebert on Mon, 5th Nov 2007 6:00 pm
I agree that Tunecore is THE service every band needs to be using!
http://www.evolvor.com/2007/04/26/how-to-sell-your-music-on-itunes-using-tunecore/
wylisa on Thu, 3rd Jan 2008 1:18 pm
wyplanet pays bands to promote there music, no other site has ever done that. wyplanet has been whispered about in all the major label board rooms and now its becoming a reality. you dont have to sell any music just post it for download and build your fan base and get paid!!! the more fans who visit the more you get paid.
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Eric Hebert on Thu, 3rd Jan 2008 8:45 pm
I’ll def check it out!
Peter Simmons on Tue, 8th Jan 2008 7:00 pm
The music business is DEAD. FINISHED. OVER. This new business model is a waste of time and people getting their music FREE is not going to work for all you struggling artists. People will no longer pay for music and live shows are slowly disappearing for the smaller acts. Yeh, the 1% like the Stones, Sting, McCartney etc. will continue to make money but forget it for the unknown 1% of you unknown bands. So don’t waste your money trying to become ‘rock stars’ — those days are over. And, any of you who actually start to make ANY money on the Internet selling music let me know. Cos, I have been trying for five years with a solid fan base and everyone is buying music from free Russian sites.
michael jones on Thu, 17th Jan 2008 2:17 am
i am a aspired record producer that would like to sell my beats on the internet could someone please tell me how i can sell my beats on line i would really appreciate the help thankyou
Eric Hebert on Thu, 17th Jan 2008 3:52 pm
Um, did you read about Tunecore dude?
jean blanes on Sat, 26th Jan 2008 1:20 pm
Hi , my name is blanes i’m french and i sing bachata
i’m looking for distribute this work.
j.blanes1@ool.fr
William Stenner on Wed, 30th Jan 2008 10:33 pm
There are millions of great musicians out there, I really enjoy writing music and sharing it. I would love to get paid for it but with the way things are Im not going to get my hopes up. If people really like your stuff it is almost definate they will purchase it. Most of the sales I make are when I play live gigs. I sell merchandise and my only merchandise is a 3 song EP. That’s pretty funny but hey it makes me gas money. Im pretty new at this but I am also finding that the money is within licensing deals. What Im looking for is an investor. That way I don’t have to sign with a record label. My offer is 50/50 the investor’s name will go on the copyrights that way for the lifetime of the song payment will always come in some way shape or form. Maybe Im getting ahead of myself but a recording deal is such a rip off. I don’t want an exec mentioning my name at a lunch and then charging it to me or taking it out of my royalties just because my name was mentioned in a “Business Luncheon”. I would need someone to pay to get my album recorded. It runs me about $600.00 per song, I need to get 10 songs recorded, I already have 3. So thats about 6 grand. Then I’ll need to get them printed and pressed which would be an additional $2500.00.
I am a semi-finalist in the international songwriting competition (ISC)
I’ll find out if I become a finalist February 4th
If for any reason I win (Which I highly doubt)
I would win $25,000.00
Then I would not need an investor and I would make 100% of my profits.
But I don’t really think I’ll win. Heck
I’ll be hugely suprised if I even make it as a finalist.
So If I can find an investor, I will do the leg work and work hard is what I do.
Call ME (760)680-9871 lets talk
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
-William Stenner
William Stenner on Sun, 17th Feb 2008 1:42 pm
I didn’t make it. There goes my Ego
Eric Hebert on Sun, 17th Feb 2008 5:56 pm
Sorry to hear that brother. Please, don’t ever lose your ego!
david hyman on Fri, 22nd Feb 2008 11:00 am
great minds think alike. : )
Volume Eleven — An “Investor” Approach to Replace Music Labels on Thu, 20th Mar 2008 10:24 pm
[...] that regard, musician William Stenner’s request on music blog Evolvr.com reveals the true need for emerging artists before they can worry about marketing and branding: [...]
Todd on Fri, 21st Mar 2008 2:39 pm
The comment to reffering to the music business is over is completely stupid. Yes in a sense it is just the old model of you wasting all your money for a company to sign you and take most of the profit while becoming a “pop” star and appearing on famous shows etc etc. Let me start by saying with sites like myspace, soundclick, etc. artist are doing more then fine with their music. Producers on soundclick such as Mr. Kooman, Epik, Sinima, etc have made a living off of just selling licenses to their beats let alone full songs. If you build anything of interest people will come!
Let me break down some numbers for you. there’s around 120 Million users on myspace. Say half of those are active users(Commenting frequently, updating, etc). Say 10 percent of that like YOUR style of music. That leaves 6 million. Say you spend a year to to make those 6 million listeners and end up with 10 percent of that 6 million. your at 600,000 fans. Say now 10 percent of them want to purchase a download for .99 dollars. You just made 59,400 dollars. It seems like a big number and not reachable but it is possible. If you actually AREN’T lazy and put the time in. I know a guy at Hampton beach in NH that sold 20,000 cds just by sitting out there everyday asking people. So marketing to the right people and being able to bring in a audience around the world filled with 6 billion people(120 Million of them registered on myspace). So you see there’s definetly a chance to make a living off of it.
William Stenner on Sun, 23rd Mar 2008 8:37 pm
Reply to Todd,
Dude your absolutely right. Except my situation is a bit different. Mine is time. I don’t have enough of it. I am a service writer for Honda. I work 12 hour shifts. I work Tues-Sunday which leaves me one day off. So that means on Monday, I sit on my computer all day throwing my website at people. I want out of the car business but I feel trapped. What I’m trying to do is generate some type of income in music and hold a steady part time job. I tried to quit music many times because of all the rejection but it is my passion in it that I just can’t stop. I am sucked in. I had a discussion Yesterday with Homer Jackson (The founder of Jackson Guitars) we had a conversation about the music industry. We both have a level of appreciation of the importance of music. People rely on it. Homer let me know that caterers make a whole lot more money on a movie set then a musician would make getting music licensed. It’s true. Music sucks you in and you can’t get away from it. Even if it causes you to go broke. But as I was saying in regards to Homer and my conversation I’m conveying the enormous hours I work but still make time for my passion. He said that I was a prime example for a book that he is writing but I don’t think that I should say anymore about that out of respect. Because of my living expenses I need to make no less than $70,000.00 a year to keep up with my debt. In the independent music business, that is a hard number for a musician to make.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
-William Stenner
Adam on Tue, 17th Jun 2008 1:59 pm
TarniusMusic.com has been doing this for a little while…their whole philosophy is getting the music back in the hands of its creators and giving them the power.
It’s much better than wasting time with aggregators like Tunecore and other because they just put you in stores that take all your profits. In addition to listing bios, cover notes, websites, etc., musicians sell CDs, 320kbps MP3s (I love the higher-quality MP3 aspect!), T-shirts and other clothing, accessories, vinyl, etc., and they keep 90% of all sales.
Tarnius only keeps 10% so artists can keep prices lower and sell more volume. Meanwhile they handle all the orders, shipping, bandwidth and storage costs, etc. Users can sample and rate…it’s just an awesome site that keeps getting better. I’ve been using it in addition to several others, but I’m moving more and more to only using Tarnius because they’re simply the best!
Check em’ out: http://www.TarniusMusic.com
Jeremy on Fri, 20th Jun 2008 12:22 am
I think that you need to cover as many online opportunities as possible to get exposure online. Also playing live shows in your are can help.
Here is a article I wrote on How and Where to sell your music online.
dcarr on Thu, 14th Aug 2008 6:35 pm
I want to give my 2cents to a few comments on this page well first of all I am an independant musician and have released projects on my indie label.I have given singles away free at download.com and while I agree it can be an effective way of getting people to listen to your music . Why buy it if you can get it for free?To say that in the futere music will be free anyway well that might be true. Unless we as musician’s put a stop to it. I think if your going to give away music posting low-qaulity downloads and then having a link where people can buy better quality downloads, might be something to look into . But why does it have to be free? It wasn’t free for music lessons,it’s not free to get your Cd mastered.and it’s not even free for you to be reading this online now because you pay for the electricity to use your computer. Is .99cents really that much to ask . Imagine if everyone’s job just decide to stop paying them.Or the people who were the customers decided they not only do not want to pay for your services but everyone else who does what you do.I see all these guys posting what a great time it is for indie musician’s and that’s true but if people are just going to use free or illegal downloads where is the difference between them and those labels that were robbing musicians of their royalties and payments.I have five songs avilable for free download.They each so far have average about 30′000 downloads and approximately 2 to 300 a week while I’m grateful for people taking the time to listen.I’d much rather that tranlate into .99 per download.(hmmm let’s see 5 songs $30,000 each that $150,000.Even a fourth of this would be great pay to any indie artist even just for one year I’m very aware that this buiness has changed because of the internet, and gone are the days of the superstars or so they say . But,has it changed for the better or are there just new robbers now but if musicians were just able to take care of the cost of living I’d bet we’d have even better music availabe.Musician’s if you really want to stop this I suggest only posting snippets of your music .Also before you release your Cd go to bittorrent.com and any other pirate websites you know of and upload fake versions of your Cd.Be sure to include the correct track numbers ,names nd correct listing order so hopefully when they do bootleg you and they will. Causing confusion amongst the freebandits may deter them. The other thing is to post your snippets in one mp3on your Myspace and set a release date but before th release build your fanbase as muchas possible.Well I Hope this helps in you have any questons. dornellcarr@predestinedmusic.com
dcarr on Thu, 14th Aug 2008 6:41 pm
Oh yeah and buy the way big companies only offer you merchanding, sponsorships and adverising from your the size of your fan base and unfortunatly thats not dicated by downlads but sales.dornellcarr@predestinedmusic.com
Adam on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:16 pm
Check out http://www.TarniusMusic.com. They’re an independent-only music store and they give 90% of all sales back to the artist so you can keep the costs low and sell more. You can sell CDs, DRM-free 320 kbps downloads, DVDs, t-shirts, etc. Whatever you want.
I’ve had the best success with them…check it out.
keez on Mon, 5th Jan 2009 2:09 am
how do I throw my web site at people & what r the way’s I can get my music copywriiten for cheap please help
Eric Hebert on Mon, 5th Jan 2009 2:33 am
first, learn what a copyright it first. It doesn’t cost much to do it. Use google and do some research, and you’ll find you can protect yourself from simple things like digital copyrights from your computer to mailing yourself a cd. Then of course for a little money you can apply for federal copyrights, which aren’t that expensive.
“how do I throw people at my site?”
Learn about the web through sites like this, learn about social media and networking, learn how to get your fans to visit your site regularly. There’s so many ways to answer this.
Twitter Me This - Will Twitter Help You Market Your Music? | Evolvor Media on Mon, 5th Jan 2009 6:19 am
[...] While many ask themselves, “how am I going to make money when people are just going to steal my music?”, there is an increasing number of opportunities for them to eliminate some of the marketing [...]
William Stenner on Tue, 20th Jan 2009 9:56 pm
Well since I last posted a while ago financially things are a bit slow. But my recognition is building. Such as airplay and downloads. I would love to earn an income being an artist but since my living expenses require me to meet $70,000 a year I don’t believe they can be met at this time. I have decided to continue pursuing my passion and enjoy it whether I get paid or not. I just like to write music. By the way I just recorded a new song called Sunrise to Sunrise. You can download it for free at http://www.williamstenner.com in the free download section. It is yet another one produced by the great Marty Rifkin of Bruce Springsteen, Jewel, Tome Petty and many others.
Eric Hebert on Wed, 21st Jan 2009 1:23 am
Nice to hear from you again William. Downloading it now…
Volume Eleven — An “Investor” Approach to Music Labels? [revisited] on Thu, 26th Feb 2009 1:55 am
[...] that regard, musician William Stenner’s request on music blog Evolvor.com reveals the true need for emerging artists before they can worry about marketing and branding: [...]
Black Zodiac on Fri, 8th May 2009 10:24 am
Anybody have anything to say about CDBaby? I am trying to pick which distributing service to use and they are all pretty close in cost. I have over 15,000 friends on myspace as well as a good relationship with the Metal community for interviews etc. I just need to get the music available. Any suggestion appreciated.
Black Zodiac on Fri, 8th May 2009 10:31 am
Without Art there is no life
William Stenner on Wed, 24th Jun 2009 3:27 pm
Reply to Black Zodiac:
CD baby works hard for you. I highly recommend them….
Have a great day!
Will
Nathan Harms on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 2:00 pm
O.k. Good read for one… But I do have a question that I can NOT find the answer to. How can i just give my music away for free online??? Like a web site or something that i could just upload full albums to then put a link on my Myspace so that whoever wants to could just click on the link and down load the album 100% free. I need to get the word out and get people to love my music (And not try and sell them something they wont buy anyway.) I Have two solo albums that i just want to make free online downloads. No money out of my pockets and no money out of anyone elses. PLEASE HELP? A website or something? It should also be noted that all songs are copywritten so i have no worries there, Thanks and hope to get SOME feedback.
Eric Hebert on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 3:36 pm
Nathan - get a ReverbNation account NOW - it will handle everything you need to give away music and track your downloads.
Eric Hebert on Wed, 1st Jul 2009 3:36 pm
http://wwww.reverbnation.com