Which music digital distribution service is best for musicians? A comparison list.
Even though we are a CD and Vinyl manufacturer, we know that picking the right digital distributor is not as easy as it seems. Each of them offer different perks as well as the pricing structure around their plans.
We’ve compiled positives, negatives, fees and best selling points of each music distributor.
Hope that helps in choosing the right one for your band!
Fees:
– around £15 for unlimited uploads for a year
Positives:
- 1 million + artists have signed up
- 100% of earning go to the artist
- You can establish “splits” where earnings can be divvied to multiple people
- Distributed to major streaming platforms immediately
- Allows
Negatives:
- Additional optional (e.g. certain monetisation options) are charged on top of original fee
- Not a pay-per-release model, there requires continued output to become cost-effective
- You can’t choose specific release date for music (which makes it harder to promote)
Best selling point:
– Hyperfollow – a personalised page is created for your music so fans pre-save your upcoming releases. Therefore, giving fans a reference point for your campaigns. Also, when a fan signs up, you’re given their email address which helps you compile mailing list.
Fees:
– Around £22 to ‘sell your album’
Positives:
- Can produce physical CDs of music
- Registers your songs with royalty collection societies globally
- Access to 150+ streaming and download services
- Offers the chance to premier a YouTube video
Negatives:
- CD Baby keeps 9% of your digital distribution revenue
- Royalty protection may exist in your country already
- Extra cost to be assigned a barcode for digital distribution
Best selling point:
– Set up by an independent artist (who sold the company and donated the fees to charity), so is the model for “caring about artists”
Fees:
– Initial fee of around £26, but rises to £44 in coming years
Positives:
- They don’t take any royalty fees
- Therefore, this royalty money can pay for a higher subscription fee
- “200 free radio plays” for your music
- Bumps up previously selling music e.g. if your last release sold quickly, TuneCore increases the likelihood of your next release being featured on ‘Recent Releases’ playlists
- Their artist support team works 7 days a week
Negatives:
- The exact radio station where these plays take place is not specified
- They charge you per music release
Best selling point:
– TuneCore are the professionals in this market seemingly. They have existing relationships with labels, promoters, and stations. So that extra fee seems to be worth it
Fees:
– Basic subscription, £4 per month. Advanced subscription, £9 a month
Positives:
- You can ‘bulk upload’ your music. Which is both cost and time effective for mastering
- It is cloud based, and therefore, has cloud backup storage
- Volume matching ability
- Can deliver music to major streaming platforms
- Unique SoundCloud feature (uploads straight to the site and optimises the sound)
Negatives:
- Probably too basic a mastering package for a professional
- Slightly confusing price structuring, with some plugins costing extra
Best selling point:
– The AI and cloud based mastering interface is perfect for the amateur mastered. For music distribution, Landr will monetise your music on Youtube and SoundCloud without charging you extra.
Fees:
– Different types of account which range from free to £15
Positives:
- Will get you feedback from a “target sample of real music fans” to help progress your work
- Your music can be sent through email, Facebook and twitter
- Gives you a electronic press kit when you sign up
Negatives:
- Three different types of account, so confusion on what you’re signing up to can occur
- Really poor consumer ration of 1.74 stars
Best selling point:
– The free EPK is very useful for artists just starting out
Amuse
Fees:
– None
Positives:
- You keep 100% of royalties
- No charge for music distribution
- You are offered a 50/50 label deal which includes advances and free marketing
Negatives:
- There is no songwriter royalties offered
- Takes a long time to publish/release your music
Best selling point:
-Technically, they are a record label who offers music distribution. So you are benefitting from their connections/promotional tools from the get-go. Plus, it’s completely free.
Fees:
– Free, you can pay when you make money
Positives:
- AWAL has its own A&R team
- Well-performing artists will be treated with label-like attention
- You may benefit from Kobalt (high-profile publishing company) services as they own AWAL
Negatives:
- 15% commission on your streaming royalties
- You have to apply to become part of AWAL, it is not accessible to all
- Support team is reportedly slow
- 4 week distribution time for music
Best selling point:
– The exclusivity of this network makes it seem extremely beneficial to an artist, if accepted. This can reportedly accelerate an artists journey
Fees:
– Unlimited releases for an artist, £37 per year
Positives:
- Reportedly a very good customer support network
- Ease-of-use interface
- Allows artists to look at Spotify trends, to see how your music is performing on different platforms
- Comes with an EPK
Negatives:
- Does not have any advertising tools/no social media integration
- Only the first release is free (and that’s if you have a referral/invite code)
- Three month wait to see your sales report on music
- 10 day wait for music publication
Best selling point:
– Range of payments means that you can pay-per-release if necessary. However, this may come with significantly reduced add-on options.
Hope that was helpful!
Cheers, Rory
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