In short, music publishing should work something like this:
- Make some music.
- Make the music available.
- Market the music.
- Merriment and jubilation.
- Money (hopefully)
And yet, it’s not really that simple, is it? I mean, making some noise is simple enough and the time it takes will vary with the quality you want to settle for. But making music is something I know. I don’t know all of it and I’m constantly learning new things, but in general it’s doable. Marketing shouldn’t be too much of a problem either. This isn’t going to be how I make a living so if I can’t reach the masses it’s not really a big deal. Hopefully enough people will find it to make step four come true. At least a little bit. I know what kind of music I make; I’m not expecting worldwide fame and statues. A nice word every now and then will suffice.
But while I have a decent grip on steps one and three, and steps four and five is mostly up to others, step two is proving to be a bit elusive. It’s easier than ever to self-publish, but still not easy.
You see, this is how it works: In order to get my music on, for example, Spotify I need to work with a distributor. A distributor is a company that works with Spotify (or whatever service you want to upload your music to) to make sure everything is handled properly. This includes stuff like metadata for the music, an artist profile and so on. Sure, I can ignore services that require me to work through a distributor, but I’ll be missing out on a large chunk of the potential market. There is also stuff like copyright enforcement that I’d have to deal with on my own. The bottom line is; I will need a distributor. But which one?
The first thing I did was to find out what my options were. Get a list of distributors and maybe a word or two about them. These review lists are easy enough to find. Second, I started looking at features and what people thought about the different services. And, sadly, that’s where we still stand today. It takes a bit of time to find a nice set of sampled strings or a good webhost, but with music distribution it seems that the different things to take into account are both numerous and diverse.
Options I’ve checked out
There’s a plethora of services to choose from and I’ve looked into some of them. This is what I’ve got so far:
Distrokid
A lot of people seem to really like them and I’ve seen a lot of praise for them. The things I’ve read are not so good is customer service, the web interface, statistics and some people having problems with music being pulled due to some agreement with Spotify. Most reviews are positive though and in all, it seems like a reliable service. What might be a problem is their pricing. You pay a flat subscription fee to upload as many albums as you like, which seems cheap, but then you have to pay more yearly fees for extra services. It seems to me it can become fairly expensive to have your music there.
Ditto
Seemed like a solid choice at first. Flat rates like Distrokid, but many of the things Distrokid offer as add-ons are included in that price. They have a nice interface, which is always a plus, but there are some downsides. Many people have had problems with getting their money on time. Also, they’re more aggressive about pulling albums and it seems their customer support is really bad. Sure, the series of videos I watched was from one person, but it still left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. I simply don’t want a problematic distributor. I’ll stay clear of them.
AWAL
They seem nice and I’ve heard good things about them. The problem is that they’re basically a record label and won’t just let anyone use their services. You have to already have your music out there and have a growing fan base. As an unknown hobby musician it’s not really an option for me. I don’t know where my music will take me, but I’m just looking to put my stuff out there, not to make a career out of it. That makes me a low priority for a company that only accepts customers through referral or review. I don’t know about their pricing strategy, but assume it’s free to join and that they take a precentage of the revenue.
ONErpm
Hmm, can I use “seem” a fourth time opening a segment such as this? Maybe I shouldn’t. But I will. ONErpm seems to be a big player with a lot to offer. It’s a free service, but they take a cut of your revenue. The more interesting fact though is that if you supply them with digital masters, they have exclusive rights to them. Basically, as long as you’re signed up with ONErpm you can’t upload the same song – not even a remix – to another service. You can still release your next album somewhere else and if you terminate your contract with them you can re-upload your album with another service. I get why they have those terms, but still I’m a bit reserved when it comes to terms like that.
United Masters
I haven’t read as much about them as the others, but they seem fine. The thing about them seem to be that, if you want, they try to get your music into ads and have it used by companies. I suspect that my music isn’t really fit for that type of stuff, but you never know for sure. UM is also free with them taking a cut, but the cut will be much bigger if they get it in an ad or to be used by the NFL. A bit strange, but also a bit understandable. They spend active time to get your music airtime so they want something in return for that time spent.
Amuse
The price for the basic service is hard to argue – it’s free. No subscription fee, no percentage cut. But what you get is pretty basic. Your music goes out to the major services, but not many others. Also, YouTube content ID isn’t included. There is a subscription service that adds a few stores and some functionality, but it costs $60 per year. I’m not sure how much money I’ll make from my music so I want to keep the fees to a minimum. It’s a swedish company though, so that’s a plus I guess.
Options I haven’t checked out
Yeah, that’s pretty much the rest, isn’t it? I’ve seen a few comparisons and I guess most of the others are OK options as well. The pricing and what stores they send your music to differs, but they all have pros and cons. Some you have to pay a larger price per album, some are cheaper but take a percentage as well or offer fewer stores. And I can’t shop around forever. Gotta decide.
Options I’m considering
So, with all of the options I have, there are a few that stand out. Amuse is completely free and therefore you’ll always get more out of it than you pay. United Masters don’t seem to be profiled for my kind of music, but they seem to be a good option nonetheless. And ONErpm does tie you in while you’re with them, but I’m not sure if that’s really a problem. Right now it’s a race between those three. It might change, but probably not. I’ll continue looking around until I’m ready to actually release the album.
And that’s about it for distribution for me. If you have comments or advice you can post them below.