How to Choose the Right Digital Distributor For Your Music (Part 1)

Are you working with the digital music distributor that is best suited for your music? Or if you don’t have your music on streaming sites yet, do you know how to choose the right distributor for your music?

Digital distribution is a very competitive market. Disc Makers CEO Tony van Veen gets asked all the time which distributor he prefers, so he created a three part series to answer the question.

In part one, Tony starts by discussing the two areas that are talked about all the time by artists and distributors as being important factors in deciding who to use as your digital distributor, but which actually don’t matter!

Even if you are already working with a distributor like CD Baby, DistroKid, or Tunecore, we are confident you’ll find the information worthwhile.

LET'S CONNECT!

#indiemusicminute #cdbaby #tunecore #distrokid #digitaldistribution #distribution #music

[adde]

The biggest issue with all major distributors at this point is customer service. In 2008 I could shoot CD Baby an email and expect a reply within a day. It can take months now, going by my recent experiences. Distrokid is no better. I realise that the business model has changed from a few thousand artists selling CDs, to more than 100k artists constantly releasing singles online.

[hitmanbluesband]

I have been using Discmakers to make records, cassettes, and then CDs since the 80s, and CD Baby as my distributor almost since they started. But I will probably use Distrokid to distribute my next release.

Why?

Because I've always released albums "all at once", and once streaming became inescapable I used Spotify's pre-save features and Release Radar. Because some Spotify playlist editors added a couple of tunes from one of the releases, we got over 500, 000 streams on that album. The next one, which is (to me) a better album, didn't do anywhere near that, probably only around 40, 000 streams. You know, almost enough to buy a Big Mac.

But it occurred to me (I'm a bit slow, so it only took 30 years) that record companies don't release "all at once". They release a single, and then another, and then another, and THEN release the album. And if you do that with the streaming platforms, that should greatly increase your chances of getting some attention.

So now it's economics. CD Baby wants $10 per release, whether single or album. Three singles, one album, that's $40. Plus 9%, which actually adds up.

Distrokid wants $23, unlimited releases, I keep all of the massive $0.0044 payout per stream, or less depending on the platform. But I can stagger the individual releases and get at least 3 more opportunities to push a song.

I've written to CD Baby about this, more than once, and the answer I got was "So go use Distrokid."

Ok then. I'll give it a shot with this upcoming album and see what happens.

[markshveima]

Fantastic! Simple, concise and illuminating.Thank You! 👏👏👏
Looking forward to parts 2 and 3.

[IronWrath]

Great stuff, brother. Thanx for taking the time... it's much appreciated!

[josearodriguez]

For my music cd baby. The reason why is because I am a part time musician, and all the extra charges from distrokid beside the yearly fee (one of them for check your music in YouTube, 9.99.) doesn't work for me. Looking forward for part 2 and 3. Thanks Tony and like you say, see you next time.

[joycerouse]

Very helpful explanation. thanks, Tony.

[DebbieWestCoon]

Thank you so much! I’m so disconnected with latest marketing. The small distributor I had went bankrupt and kept almost 200 of my cd’s. Someone I don’t even know is selling them on Amazon cheeper than I can. Im fed up and set my Amazon site listed as cd’s out of stock because I can’t compete with their price. There is the hassle of Amazon returning broken Cd’s to me when I stocked their warehouses with perfectly new ones. I need help! I’m so excited for any opportunities to share my music. Looking forward to learn more be better.

[robertkeats]

Thanks, Tony. Very helpful. I'm looking forward to the next 2 installments.

[amysorinio-crossoversinger]

Thank you for the informations. Very helpful.

[GuillermoCuellarTrovAutor]

Very well, Tony. Brief, accurate, and relevant info. An overview so nitid-like crystal water. Nice Job. And thanks for the downloading gift.

[faithsroad]

There is a big difference and that is that DistroKid won’t touch your royalties and the others will. If you have a song that gets on a playlist or blows up you can lose a lot of money, so why risk it? DistroKid for the win!

[DangerousDevilOfficial]

I had posted a sort of lengthy post and it appears to be gone… Lame. Why does YouTube do that?

[KjiehTV]

I have a question I have a spoken word album but I’ve been rejected by both tunecore and distrokid both told me they didn’t accept albums of my kind. It has more of me speaking than music so would you have an idea of which platform would be best for me and my work.

[gretschkatmusicproductions]

I have learned allot from your series of digital distribution and fixed media. For digital distribution I would like to ask you to do a series on "BRAND". In my experience in the digital distribution platform I have seen many participants just completely convolute the artist brand. And getting through to the provider is like pulling nails.

[karadytube]

You’re amazing, thanks a lot ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[annimax]

😡😡😡CD Baby email I received on 05/22/2023, without any prior warning: "Today, we’re announcing that CD Baby will stop distributing physical products on June 22, 2023. We will discontinue physical sales and fulfilment and stop warehousing, shipping, or distributing physical products like CDs and vinyl on all channels (Alliance, Amazon Marketplace.
If you have any remaining inventory [...] you will have up to 60 days to tell us to:
- Remove and return your remaining inventory to you (you pay shipping fees) OR
- Recycle your remaining inventory for you (no cost to you)"

...with no info on how to contact them within 60 days.

Beware of a company that terminates a legally binding agreement by just sending an email that says, "we don't feel like doing our end of the deal anymore, " and adds insult to injury by making you pay shipping charges to get your property back.

[GaryHudsonsMusic]

This is not helping me at all. I have my CDs made at DisMakers. I want to go digital, but I do covers. What do I do? What's the best service to use for paying the royalties on the music I record and getting it streamed?

[mathew]

If your smart and really want to put the large corporations in their place, don't release your music on any platforms that charge money. All you will do is give money to the corporations for the chance to have people listen to your music. Music is free now it must be accepted, only release your music on sites that are free.