Planning to release a new single? Don’t want to miss any steps?

Putting out a new song is relatively straightforward, but there are a lot of things that go into the process of a successful release.

In this blog, I will discuss everything independent artists need to know about releasing singles. On top of that, I will share my checklist that I use for my clients. I will cover the entire process in depth so you can feel confident you’re doing all you can to reach your goals with the release. Whenever you release music, feel free to use this blog as a reference so you have all your bases covered.

My single release process is broken down into 6 phases:

1. Preparation
2. Distribution
3. Promotion Planning
4. Days before the release
5. Day of release
6. Post-release

Before jumping into the process, I’ll go over why you want to release more singles and how often you should do it. If you want free downloadable checklists, links will be at the end.
 

Why release more singles?

 
Many claim the album is dying in this digital age. Although it’s never going to be dead, the traditional “release an album every year or two” model is incompatible with how emerging independent artists build momentum and grow a fan base in this music climate. Releasing singles makes the most sense for those objectives, especially for newer artists on a tighter budget.

1. Releasing singles consistently is more effective for growing your audience. To grow a fanbase, releasing content on a regular basis is needed to build momentum and stay top of mind. Fan loyalty is fickle when we have more music options than we can keep up with. Going silent for an extended period of time can set your progress back.
2. You get more out of each song to engage fans. Producing professional quality music can be expensive. Releasing singles allows you to focus attention on one song and maximize its potential. When releasing an album, you may have a few lead singles, but other songs will not get the attention it deserves. This is particularly true if you haven’t established yourself as an artist and don’t have a strong following yet. Plus, with so much more music being released now, the attention an album gets, even for the biggest music stars, is often a couple of weeks.
3. A single is easier to consume. At the end of the day, music listeners prefer short, consumable pieces of content like a single song or video from artists they never heard. Before serving people full meals, you gotta break it down into snackable servings until you find enough hungry fans who want a buffet.
4. Professionally recorded, mixed and mastered albums can be expensive. Unless money is not a problem, it doesn’t make sense for new, emerging or developing artists to fund an entire album out of pocket without any traction and an existing audience to market to.

This does not mean you should never release larger projects. A collection of songs from an album or EP can allow fans to fully dive into your essence as an artist. Since anyone can release singles, an album release signifies an important milestone in an artist’s career. You’re more likely to get coverage from media, press and blogs for an album than just a single. Lastly, albums and EPs are more eventful, which opens up bigger monetization opportunities like tours and merch.

In today’s music industry, releasing singles and shorter songs is a new reality, but it doesn’t mean you have to conform or compromise your artistry. Just understand that pouring thousands of dollars into an album, when you’ve never released a single song and don’t have a fanbase, is very risky gamble.

How often should I release a single?

 
A singles-oriented strategy to grow a fanbase will work best if you can release singles on a consistent basis. A song every two weeks or once a month is an ideal pace, but this depends on a number of factors.

• Do you have enough music ready to be released? It would be smart to have a handful of completed songs stocked up rather than releasing it as you complete it. This way you’re not stressing out to meet your deadlines.
• Do you have the ability to record and produce the music professionally? Unless your music aesthetic is intentionally lo-fi or rough, it’s important to have your music mixed and mastered. You want your songs to sound great on any device it is being played on. It doesn’t matter how much music you put out there, if it’s not the best version it can be, it will probably not attract much attention.
• Do you have a marketing/promotion budget for each single? You need a dedicated budget set aside for each release. I would say a few hundred per single at least, with the majority of going into video content creation and possibly social media ads. After all, it is pointless to release music consistently if you’re not effectively promoting it to reach new potential fans.
• Are you able to create video content for each release? The most important promotional asset you need to push your single is video content. Pushing your single by itself with only cover art has very limited potential in social media news feeds.
• Do you have the physical, mental and emotional capacity to handle the necessary tasks for each release? If you have a lot going on in your life, maybe like a full-time job, it may not be the best idea to commit to releasing a song every two weeks. Figure out how much time you can set aside to create and release music.

Hip hop artist Russ released a song a week for two years straight before one of his songs took off in 2015 and charted on the Billboard Hot 100. This was how he became a global success, but that’s what worked for him. It’s not feasible for most musicians to attempt this and risk burning out. Depending on your individual circumstances and resources, you need to decide on a release schedule that works best for you.

Find a pace that you’re comfortable with at first and stick with it, even if it’s 1 single every 3 months. You can always pick up the pace later. Consistency is key to build momentum and the better you can stick to your plan, the quicker you’re likely to find success.
 

Phase 1: Preparation

 
Checklist

• Mix and mastered audio file (.WAV)
• Design cover art (.JPEG or .PNG)
• Plan out promo content (videos and photos)
• Register song with copyright office
• Cover song? Secure mechanical license
• Decide on songwriting splits with collaborators​ (song split sheet)
• Register song with PRO (Performing Rights Organization) and MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective) or publishing admin
• Let your music licensing / publishing company know about the release (if you have one)
• Set a release date
• Explore merch opportunities

Mixing and Mastering

After the song is written and recorded, you’ll need to mix and master it so it can sound its best wherever it’s being played. Unfortunately, anything involving music recording, engineering and production are out of my scope of knowledge so I can’t help you there.

But if you’re unfamiliar with the importance of mixing and mastering, you can easily do a search on YouTube or Google to learn more about it. Although it’s best to pay a producer or audio engineer who knows what they’re doing, you should still educate yourself with the basics.

 
Want an affordable service to get your song mastered? Landr offers a mastering service that only takes a few minutes and they let you try it for free. An artist I work with has used them in the past for the projects we released.

Design Cover Art

 
In order to distribute your music to stores, you will need cover art to go with your release. The image format you want is JPEG or PNG.

For distributors like DistroKid, the minimum resolution should be higher than 1400 x 1400. Because your cover will be used in various placements on these digital platforms, you want to make sure it looks good, even on large screens or TVs so aim for 3000 x 3000 resolution.

If you need a tool to increase the resolution of your cover art with minimal quality loss, try this free tool called Let’s Enhance. For example, if you export cover art from Canva at 1400 x 1400, you can scale the resolution up to 2800 x 2800 while keeping the same quality. You get 5 free image enhancements with a free plan. Another option is using CapCut’s Upscale Image tool.

Plan Promo Content (Videos and Photos)

 
Having video content to release with your single is necessary to see the best results. Watching a video creates an active listening experience that makes it more likely for viewers to be engaged and listen to your new track. You don’t need a big budget, high production music video, but you do need visual content to go with your music. A traditional lyric video or live performance footage of the single can be included in the mix as additional content. I mention this early in the preparation stage because you may need extra time to get the video content done in time for the release.

The traditional music video can work fine, but it should not be the only video you have. If your goal is to grow your social media following and reach new potential fans, I highly recommend leaning into creating multiple short-form videos. Chopping up your traditional music video into shorter vertical clips to post on socials is a viable option, but I would recommend doing more.

In the age of TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts, it is essential to have a handful of short-form videos, shot vertically of course, to promote your single. Not just your typical, “hey, I have a new single out” to promote the day of release, but even multiple short teasers leading up to the release. Typically, these are about 15 – 30 seconds in length but generally under 90 seconds.

Additionally, you want to focus on video content that can get the attention from people who don’t know who you are, but can be entertained by or find value in it. Just think, if you were on a crowded street in a major big city, what would you do to get attention as an artist? For video, it doesn’t have to be anything crazy or super creative. It can be simply you performing your new single on video with the lyrics on it. This is the case if you want to post videos for organic growth or use the videos as creative for your ad campaigns.

Depending on what the song is about, there may be an opportunity to get creative with your promo content. Maybe there’s a strong theme or visual component that you may want to commission as an art piece from a local artist you like, specifically for the single. That art/design can be used as the cover art and merch to promote that specific song.

Here’s some other content you may want to have to go with your single release:

• A video that breaks down the story behind the song.
• A video breaking down your favorite lyrics.
• Use video to create a story around the song.
• Performance videos (could be as simple as you lip syncing the chorus/hook in different scenarios or dancing to it).
• Behind the scenes footage of the song being recorded, if it’s interesting.
• Don’t limit it to just video. Make sure to also get behind the scenes photos from the recording of the song and the music video.
• For music videos, take some actual photos (not just stills or screenshots of video). This could be used for video covers on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.
• Have new photos that can be used for the cover art or single announcement.
• Crowdsource footage from fans to make a video.
• Live performance of the single from a previous show.

There are other simple video options out there if you don’t want to invest much money or you want to be more anonymous in the videos. I personally wouldn’t recommend it, but you may have your specific reasons for going this route.

For DistroKid users, you can try their music video generator Vizy for a simple visualizer you can post or to use for running Meta Ads. It costs less than $10 each. With the rise of AI in the past few years, you can easily find other options to create quick visuals with a Google search.

The more video content you have to promote the single, the better. Get creative and have fun with it. For artists, marketing with video content is where I would dedicate the most time, money and energy into for the release campaign.
 

Publishing Tasks

 
Are you a songwriter? Make sure you’re a member of a PRO (Publishing Rights Organization) so you can register the song credits and receive performance royalties you’re owed from publishing. Avoid making these mistakes when registering your songs.

Is the song a collaboration? If you wrote the song with other co-writers, get your ownership percentage splits in writing based on how much each person contributed to the song. This document is called a split sheet. Be sure to collect their publishing information like the IPI (Interested Party Information) for each person being credited so you can register it properly. Remember the IPI number (11 digits) is not the member ID from the PRO.

Is the song an original? If it’s a song you wrote or co-wrote with other writers, make sure it’s copyrighted. If you don’t use a publishing admin, don’t forget to register your song with the MLC to collect mechanical royalties for the musical composition when DSPs, like Spotify and Apple Music, stream your song on their platform.

Is your song a cover? If you’re releasing a cover song for a physical format, downloads or streams, you need to get the proper mechanical licenses. Usually, your music distributor should offer you an option to secure the mechanical licenses for your cover song when you upload your music. For example, here are the instructions for DistroKid. If your music distributor doesn’t offer the service, try Easy Song Licensing or Royal Solutions (TuneLicensing).

Do you work with a music licensing or publishing company? If you work with any companies that pitch your music for sync opportunities in T.V. shows, movies, commercials or video games, be sure to let know ahead of time and send them the proper assets.

Are you using a publishing admin? If you use a publishing administrator (as you should if you’re an independent songwriter) like SongTrust, then you only need to register the song with them and not your PRO. For those who are not familiar, a publishing administrator helps you collect money that you’ve generated around the world for the songs you wrote. Although not related to publishing, this is a reminder to also register your song with SoundExchange since it’s an administrative task typically grouped for collecting royalties from your music.

Set a Release Date

 
You should always give yourself a minimum of 2 weeks between the day you upload the music to your distributor and the release date. I would aim to schedule the release 3 to 4 weeks in advance, especially if you want to give yourself plenty of time to properly promote and pitch to playlists. Even if you upload the track far in advance, it doesn’t mean you have to announce the single right away either.

Although the music industry usually releases new music on Fridays, you can technically release it on any day of the week. I would avoid the weekends though. I personally like Wednesdays or Thursdays.

Lastly, be aware of other big name artist releases, events or holidays that may be going on around your tentative release date. It’s not going to make or break your single release, but it’s always better to minimize any distractions that can takeaway focus from your song.
 

Explore Merch Opportunities

 
Creating new merch with a music release is more common with an EP or album. For singles, it may be a bit more challenging and riskier.

But depending on the song, the story, message or theme behind it, there may be an opportunity to create a design to go with the release of the single.

If it’s something you want to explore, be sure to do it early in the process so you have the proper time to execute.

Phase 2: Distribution

 
Checklist of what you should have:

• Mastered song (Typically 16-bit, 44.1 kHz WAV)
• Cover art file (3000 x 3000 resolution JPEG or PNG)
• Lyrics
• Songwriter credits
• ISRC code
• Release date

Once preparation is done, you should be ready to schedule your release for distribution. To get your songs on services like Spotify and Apple Music, you need to go through a music aggregator (music distributor). Although you can easily get your music in over 150 digital stores this way, you will have to manually upload your music to Bandcamp, SoundCloud and Audiomack. Remember to add the ISRC code (discussed below) to those other platforms once you get it from your distributor to link the master recording.

Make sure your song is going to the top platforms:

• Spotify
• Apple Music
• Amazon Music
• YouTube Music
• YouTube
• Pandora
• SoundCloud
• Bandcamp

Make sure to select every store so your single is everywhere. If you’re using DistroKid, be sure to also select Facebook, Instagram, Instagram Stories and TikTok so they are available there.

Bandcamp

You can upload your single on Bandcamp ahead of time as a draft or private song. Once it’s time to release, you can manually set it to public and your followers will get an email notification that it’s available. Unfortunately, you can’t schedule it to go public automatically. If you’re not selling digital downloads of your music on your website, I would consider doing so with Bandcamp.

SoundCloud

You can get the song ready on SoundCloud by uploading it as a private song. You can schedule a release to go public at a specific date and time, but it’s only available for SoundCloud Pro Unlimited users. If you have free basic plan, you’ll have to do this manually.

Audiomack

If you do hip hop, R&B, electronic/EDM, reggae/dancehall or latin music, Audiomack is another music distribution platform you can upload your music. Similarly to SoundCloud, you can schedule your single to go public automatically. Just keep in mind they only focus on those specific genres. Also, they only pay out master recording royalties and no publishing royalties.

Is the single going to be released again on your upcoming EP or album? When you upload a song to your distributor, they will generate an ISRC code for your song recording. Make sure to use that same ISRC code when you upload the song again for the album. Doing this will allow digital music stores to treat the previously released single and the song on the album as the same song/master recording so your streams numbers are linked.

What is an ISRC code? The International Standard Recording Code is an international standard code for uniquely identifying sound recordings and music video recordings. Every song you upload will have a unique ISRC code like how every product in a supermarket will have a unique barcode to identify the item. You should be able to get this code when you upload your music to your distributor. If you use DistroKid, click on your release in your account dashboard to see your ISRC code. Be sure to include your ISRC when uploading your song to Bandcamp and SoundCloud.

ISRC code location for DistroKid users

Lyrics

Music distributors like DistroKid will allow you to add lyrics so they can submit them to platforms like Apple Music, iTunes and MusixMatch (for Instagram Stories). Here are guidelines on how to format lyrics for Apple Music and MusixMatch.
 

Phase 3: Promotion Planning

 
Checklist:

• Start a task timeline or calendar
• Submit for Spotify editorial playlist consideration
• Submit for Amazon Music Editorial playlist consideration
• Add a Canvas video to Spotify
• Launch pre-save / pre-order campaign link
• Create smart link or pivot/landing page for the release
• Prepare single announcement post
• Day of release post
• Incorporating Patreon
• Upload audio message to Pandora AMP
• Consider windowing your release to maximize revenue
• Consider live streaming to promote the single

After you upload your music to your distributor and a set release date, your primary focus is going to be on promotion and marketing. To make sure everything runs smoothly, create a schedule or timeline of what needs to be done on each day leading up to release day. Set deadlines to make sure you stay on task.

In this section, I will go over tasks for you to consider in your planning process and what you should have ready for promoting your single.
 

Submit for Spotify Editorial Playlist Consideration

Once your single is uploaded, you should submit your song for Spotify editorial playlist consideration. It’ll take a few days for Spotify to get your single into its system. You should receive an email from Spotify saying that it’s been added and scheduled for release.

Submit for Amazon Music Editorial Playlist Consideration

Now you can pitch your new release to Amazon Music’s curation team to be considered for, not just their playlists, but their (radio) stations as well. The process is the same as Spotify, but done through your Amazon Music for Artists profile.

Add a Canvas Video to Spotify

According to Spotify, adding a Canvas video to your song on their platform are likely to see the following benefits:

• 145% more likely to get track shares
• 20% more likely to get added to playlists
• 9% more likely that fans will visit your profile
• 5% increase in streams
• 1.4% more likely fans will save your song

When you share your song to Instagram Stories that has a Canvas video on Spotify, it will show there as well.

If you just need something quick and basic, you can use DistoKid’s free Canva generator as a member.

Launch a Pre-save / Pre-order Campaign

Update: Spotify now has a new feature called Countdown Pages that allows fans to officially pre-save your album release through their platform. Unfortunately, it does not work for singles. My views on a pre-save campaign have changed and I don’t feel it is necessary or worth the trouble.

If you have the time and energy, you can consider launching a pre-order or Spotify pre-save campaign. Pre-orders can help you chart, but the focus should be on pre-save since most people stream music. Pre-add is Apple Music’s version of a pre-save, but it’s only available for albums and not singles.

To improve your chances of getting on algorithmic Spotify playlists, you want to incentivize people to pre-save your song on Spotify. I believe getting pre-saves for your release is the only engagement signal you can build up before it is released. I would like to think that pre-saves can help with getting placed on Spotify’s Editorial playlists, but there’s no real way to test that. At the very least, you’ll be able to make a bigger splash with all your pre-savers getting a notification that the new single is out.

To make a pre-save link, you may have to use a smart link tool to generate one. Not all of them will let you create it for free so refer to this blog to find the tool that works for you.

If you use DistroKid, they will automatically create a free pre-save link / pivot page for you called a HyperFollow page. On this pivot page, Spotify is often on the top of this list so it makes it easier for you to push for pre-saves. Just asking your fans may not be enough incentive for them, so you may want to offer something of value if they do pre-save.

Here’s an example of DistroKid’s HyperFollow page you can use for a Spotify pre-save campaign.

You can check to see how many people saved your release and it will also give you some data about those people. More importantly, it will give you their email address. This is how you can offer something in exchange for the pre-save. It could be access to unreleased content. It could be a free download of the song. It could be a one-time coupon code for your merch store. It could be a giveaway where you will randomly select anyone who has pre-saved the song.

Butterscotch offered to do a beatbox shout out for those who pre-save

Create a Smart Link or Pivot Page

A smart link or pivot page is a web page that contains links to all the different places people can buy or listen to your new release. This a link you would use to promote in your social media posts, Instagram profile, newsletter, IG Stories, etc.

Whether or not you want to want to do a pre-save campaign, you should still have a smart link/pivot page for every release. The easiest option is to use DistroKid’s HyperFollow page because it’s automatically generated for you after you upload your release.

Lastly, you may want to make a shortened bit.ly link for presentation purposes. Insert this link on your social media profiles, posts and video descriptions when the single is officially out. It can also help with tracking clicks and where they are clicking from.

https://bit.ly/sade-life

https://bit.ly/gtap-walk
 

Prepare Single Announcement Post

Example of an announcement post

This is essentially your first post mentioning you are releasing a single. It can be done on social media and through an email newsletter. Some may want to post the cover art for this initial announcement (assuming you have other content like a music video) or save it for the day of the release.

Some artists also like to post a teaser before the official announcement. For example, you can post a photo (not the cover art) and mention in the caption you’ll drop a new song if you get ‘x’ amount of comments or emojis.

You’re not limited to some static photo or cover art either. Nor are you limited to doing it with one post. You may want to make multiple, short form promotional videos to use leading up to the release day. You can maybe perform some of the lyrics acapella in one video. In others, just perform the chorus/hook in a bunch of different ways. A powerful device for promotion is repetition. Usually it’s the chorus that you want to have stuck in people’s heads (earworm effect), so lean into that with these announcement/promotional videos.

In terms of timing the announcement, I would minimize the time between the first announcement about single and the actual release date if you don’t a way to tease or engage your fans until its out. In other words, I would avoid announcing a new single is dropping in 4 weeks and not mention again until release day. Most of the marketing for the single should be happening after the song is out anyway, so it’s okay to have a shorter lead time for the release. You can still upload the single to the distributor 4 weeks in advance and announce the single is coming 1 or 2 weeks before the release date.
 

When and how to release a traditional music video?

If you do decide to have a long-form music video to go with your single release, you ideally want to launch them together. But it’s okay to release the video after the song is already available too. However, avoid releasing a music video before the song is available on digital stores. You need to make sure people have someplace to go to hear and download the song after they’ve seen the video.

If you have enough promotional content, you can release a video with a song the same day. If not, space them out by releasing the song first then the music video shortly after.

With a few platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo) where you can release long-form music videos, there are generally two strategies when it comes to how to release it.

1. You can make it available on all platforms at the same time. It’s more convenient and fewer steps for people to watch natively on the platform they are on.
2. Upload to only one platform like YouTube and direct everyone there. This helps build traction in one place rather than having the views scattered.

To help with funneling views, you can also launch a video premiere on YouTube or Twitch to turn it into a watch party event. Be sure to schedule and promote the premiere ahead of time so people know exactly when to tune in. Let fans know that they can opt-in to receive a notification reminder if they choose. After the premiere is over, you may decide to upload to Facebook.

However, I find that it’s more difficult to pull this off as an effective funneling strategy, which is why I found it’s better to make the video available on all platforms. Deciding on which route to go with will depend on your business goal.

Update: The premiere video feature on Facebook was deprecated August 22, 2022 so you can only do video premieres now on YouTube.

Remember that YouTube favors creators who upload videos on a regular basis (a couple of times a week). The typical musician only uses YouTube as a vault to upload the occasional music video, which is not optimal to take advantage of YouTube’s algorithm. Funneling all your views to YouTube is not going to be helpful unless you’re already consistently active on their platform or if your video goes viral elsewhere first.
 

Day of Release Post

If you have a traditional music video to release with your single, this would be a good day to post a snippet for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X. Choose at least three short clips that are the most engaging. Avoid the intro if it needs to build. Make sure that there’s a smart link to your release in the description of your music video so fans can easily stream, save or add to a playlist.

For Facebook, you’ll likely just use the full music video as the release day post, unless you’re trying to funnel views to YouTube.

If you have short-form performance videos, you can also consider posting this first. Because you can post as much as you want over the course of the campaign, there’s no real right or wrong way to approach this. You can even save the traditional music video a week after the single drops.
 

Incorporating Patreon

If you have a membership business through Patreon, you should decide how you want to incorporate this single release. You may give your patrons early access to see the music video or listen/download the song before it’s officially released. I have a couple of clients that use Patreon, so it comes up naturally for me when I’m planning releases. If you don’t use Patreon, you can ignore this step.

Pandora AMP – Artist Audio Messages

If you have a presence and following on Pandora, you may want to use their artist audio message feature. You can add a 15-second custom voice message to your songs with a specific call to action. Use it to link Pandora listeners to your website to sell merch or target fans geographically to sell tickets.
 

Consider Windowing Your Release to Maximize Revenue

Windowing your release has become an increasingly popular strategy for artists. What this means is making your release available on platform that allows you earn money upfront before it is widely released through streaming. For example, you can make the single live on Bandcamp a week before its official release date so fans can listen to it early and possibly pay for the download.

Consider Live Streaming

If you have the following for it, you may want to go live on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube to promote your single. You can host a Q&A session to talk to fans about the release and share stories about the song or video.

A platform where I’ve seen this done well is on Twitch. When releasing her video Safehouse, JVNA went live on her Twitch to host a watch party for the premiere on YouTube. In the live stream, she explained what the song was about, broke down the music video, answered questions and shared insights about the process.

JVNA Release Party on Twitch for her new single.

Weeks prior to this, she was on Twitch teasing fans with the green screens as she was getting ready to record the scenes for her music video.

What JVNA did is a bit more “advanced” and she does have a larger following, but it gives you ideas of how you can build excitement and engage fans around a single. It can be as simple as live streaming the day before the release and play a teaser of the song or video.

We did something similar on Twitch as her first live stream on the platform:

If you do go this route, don’t forget to add the live stream event to Bandsintown so your trackers will get a notification. You can also add live stream events to SongKick so it shows on your Spotify profile.
 

Phase 4: Days Before the Release

 
Checklist:

• Have social media posts ready with captions and hashtags
• Design and schedule your email blast
• Get smart link / pivot page ready
• Schedule music video (YouTube and Facebook)
• Create a custom thumbnail for your video
• Prep video clips for social media ads

Plan Your Social Media Posts

You should have your posts all ready to go including captions, links and content you plan to use for your posts. If you have a traditional music video, you may want to use the full music video as the day of release post or just a snippet that leads to a full video.

Primary platforms to post on to promote your single:

• Instagram
• Instagram Stories
• Instagram Broadcast channel
• Facebook
• Twitter (X)
• Post on your Community tab in YouTube (If you have over 500 subscribers…)
• Post message in Bandsintown
• Send message in Bandcamp

Design Your Email Newsletter

Get your email ready to send to your list. Keep the email simple with one focus, which is to either to the music video and/or pivot page where fans can stream the song. Schedule it to send for the day of the release.

Customize Your Smart Link / Pivot Page

Depending on which smart link tool you use, you may need to do some customizations before your single goes live. This includes adding your music video, social media links and Facebook pixel for retargeting.

If you create your own landing page as I do, you will need to add the direct links to each digital platform your single is going to be available on. You should already have Google Analytics and your Facebook Pixel installed on your website. Usually what I do is wait for the song to release at 9:00pm the day before which is when it goes live for me in California (assuming you set it to release based on New York time). I create bit.ly links for each major streaming platform and add those shortened links to the landing page.
 

Schedule Music Video (YouTube and Facebook)

For YouTube, I recommend uploading your music video as close to when you start promoting. Because not all your subscribers will get notified of your new upload, so it’s important to maximize engagement and views within the first 24 hours of uploading it. This feedback is what YouTube’s algorithms use to determine if your upload is worth popping up on the home page or suggest videos of your subscribers. You can also schedule your video to go public from private at a specified date and time.

Fill in the video description with as much relevant data as possible. This includes:

• A link to your landing page or where people can listen/download the song.
• Lyrics
• A short bio
• Link to your website
• Link to your social media accounts
• Relevant tags

Another good option you have is to schedule your video as a premiere. This turns your music video into a livestream event where fans can gather and watch it together for the first time. After the video premieres, it turns into a regular Youtube video on your channel with the exact same link. If you want to be able to upload the music video to YouTube ahead of time and not have to wait for the day of the release to upload, I would recommend doing this.

The other convenient thing about doing this is that you can embed the video to your website/landing page, include the link in your LinkTree, start adding end cards, include the link in a scheduled email blast, add it to your YouTube playlists and set it as a featured video on your YouTube channel all before the video actually goes live.

An example of a video premiere page on YouTube

If it’s a cover song, make sure you optimize your headline, thumbnail and tags to be seen by those maybe looking for the original song.

For Facebook, you can easily schedule your music video to publish in Meta Business Suite.
 

Video Prep for Social Media Ads

Whether its snippets of your music video or a collection of short-form performance videos, get them ready so you can use them as creative to run ads for Meta and/or TikTok. Ideally, you want them to be less than 1 minute long. Be mindful about the video sizes (1080 x 1920, 1080 x 1080, 1920 x 1080) that’s needed for the various placements on Meta.

In terms of campaign objectives, you may want to drive traffic to the full music video or the smart link to get people to stream the new single. You can also be build up video views for clips you’ve already posted on socials as a strategy to build custom audiences from it to run conversion campaigns down the line.
 

Phase 5: Day of Release Checklist

 
Promote on social media channels

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Instagram Stories
• Instagram Broadcast Channel
• TikTok
• X (Twitter)
• YouTube Shorts
• Post on your YouTube Community tab
• Post message to your trackers on Bandsintown
• Send a direct message to followers on Bandcamp

Upload music video (YouTube, Facebook)

• Embed the video into your smart link, landing page or “Link in Bio” page (Linktree, Beacons page)
• Add smart link in the video description.
• If you upload to Facebook, pin the video to the top and make it a featured video.

Update YouTube channel

• Add your video as a featured video for your channel.
• Add to your playlist for music videos.
• Add a link card to take viewers to your website or landing page.
• Add the art track of your single to your channel as a playlist. This is autogenerated if you opted in to have it created from your music distributor.

Update your website

• Create a page for the single, add a smart link and embed the music video to your home page.
• If you have specific merch for the release, make it available for purchase.
• If you created a custom landing page, make sure to embed music video there and add links to the individual streaming platforms.​

Update social media profiles

• Add the smart link for your single to all your social media profiles.​ If you use a link-in-bio tool like Linktree or Beacons, be sure to update that to include the smart link to your single.
• If you created a banner or avatar graphic for the release, update it at this time.

Add lyrics

• Genius
• Musixmatch: Sync up lyrics to your song to display on platforms like Instagram Stories, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. Some distributors, like DistroKid, offer these services too.
• Apple Music / iTunes (via a distributor like DistroKid)

Make the song public
If you uploaded as private and prepared these ahead of time, all you would need to do is make them public.

• SoundCloud
• Bandcamp
• Audiomack

Launch social media ad campaign

• Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram)
• TikTok Ads
• Spotify Marquee Ads
• YouTube Ads

Phase 6: Post-Release Checklist

 
You did all the planning and preparation. The single officially goes live and you made the initial announcement on your channels that the track is out. As many of you should know, it doesn’t end there. In fact, you’re just getting started.

How long you continue to promote the single is going to depend on your goals, how much promo content you have, your budget, other releases planned and how well the single performs. I would give yourself 2-4 weeks to promote the single

Here are some things you want to do to follow up with your single’s promotion.

• Resend to email List – Send another email to people who didn’t open it the first time. For MailChimp users, here’s how you do it.
• Promote multiple times on social media – Don’t just post about it once. Have multiple short-form clips ready to be used as promo. In fact, create a schedule and map out when you want to roll out all of the other content you have. Because algorithms control what shows up in social media news feeds, there’s a good chance not everyone has seen your post the first time. Avoid spamming posts throughout the day and using the exact same covert art multiple times. You should always have a variety of content to use so you’re not posting the same photo or clip.
• Mix up the type of content – Instead of music video snippets and performance clips, incorporate other types of content into your social media posting. Share behind the scenes. Get personal and tell stories related to the single or break down the lyrics.
• Encourage user-generated content – Think about ways your fans can use your song in the creation of their own content. Keep an eye out for trends and opportunities the song can used. For example, in a meme or dance challenge.
• Create your own themed playlist – Build a playlist around your single with other artists that match the mood, theme, genre or topic. Give it a proper title and create cover art to go with it. Here’s an example.
• Look for playlist opportunities for your song – You can read more here.
• Seek press and blog coverage – Getting coverage on bigger publications isn’t usually accessible unless you’re more established and go through a publicist. However, you can try submitting to these 44 independent music blogs.
• Set up automated payment splits for mechanical royalties – If there are other collaborators on the song, you can easily set up payment splits. Currently, DistroKid is one of the few distributors that offer this.
• Schedule your next release – Lastly, get your next single ready and repeat this process! You have to keep releasing music and build momentum. Remember, consistency is key.

Conclusion

 
My goal was to give you a complete overview of the most important things you should consider for a successful release. At this point, you may be a bit overwhelmed by how much work can go into a release.

Although this is a comprehensive break down of my release process, it doesn’t mean you have to do everything for every single you put out. Ideally, you want to but don’t be hard on yourself if you’re not able to. Even I don’t end up covering it all for various reasons from lack of ad budget to no opportunity to create promotional content. My best advice is to give yourself plenty of time to handle tasks so you’re not doing everything last minute. I’ve had to do that a couple of times and it’s not fun. Use the checklists as guides and do as much planning ahead to stay organized. If you’re just starting out, do the essentials and slowly add more aspects to the release as you get more comfortable.

The post The Ultimate Single Release Checklist for Independent Artist in 2026 appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

What is Windowing in Music?

 
Windowing is a content distribution strategy where you’re making your content(music) exclusively available on a platform, channel or format for a limited time before it is made widely available. The goal is capitalize on the initial demand by generating as much revenue upfront within a short window before it goes to other distribution channels that don’t pay as much. Essentially, it’s a practice where you intentionally stagger the availability to maximize how much you can generate.

For a music release, this means charging fans for early access to the new music and other perks before the release is on all streaming platforms. You want to generate as much money upfront so you’re not depending on any revenue from streaming royalties that won’t even start showing up until at least 2 or 3 months later.

The practice of windowing isn’t new, but the need and appeal for this strategy in music have grown over the years with the increasing popularity of streaming and low royalty rates.
 

How Should You Window Your Next Release

 
Before we get into specific platforms, I wanted to share some ideas and tactics to consider to ensure windowing can be successfully implemented.

The basic execution of this windowing strategy can be as simple as making your new release available to listen to and download on a specific platform (i.e. Bandcamp) before the official release date where it will be available on all streaming platforms.

For most artists, this is probably all you’ll need since it doesn’t require any lead time and is easier to execute. However, you do have the option to customize and test different tactics.
 

Physical Products
 
Windowing is easier done digitally but you can also do this with physical items like vinyl and CDs. Launch physical and digital download formats together a month in advance of the official release date on streaming platforms.

If you really want to try and milk the release upfront, consider windowing with a 3-step process where you separate the physical release first for a few weeks. Maybe another 2 weeks later, you make it available for digital download. Then after another 2 weeks, it’s available everywhere. The only thing is it requires much more planning ahead and having all the physicals pressed beforehand. 
 

Other Perks
 
You can also attach other perks to incentivize fans to purchase the music physically or digitally before the streaming release date.

• Signed vinyl or CDs
• Merch bundles and fan packs
• Raffle for merch, tickets, meet & greets, etc.
• Video shout-outs (i.e. Cameo-style videos)
• Deluxe album version as a download
• Invitation to listening parties (in-person or online)

If you’re someone who cares about charting on Billboard, you can do ‘fan packs’.
 

Time Frame
 
How long should you stagger each window before the official release on streaming platforms?

If you’re only doing a digital release window, I would say 2 – 4 weeks before the official release date.

If you’re incorporating physical releases, you’ll want to widen the window more to account for fulfillment and shipping so 4 – 6 weeks.
 

Best Platforms for Windowing

 
These are the 3 most popular and accessible options for you to window an upcoming release. There are other options out there, but what you’re mainly looking for is the ability to sell, listen to the music and potentially limit access.
 

BandCamp

 
Bandcamp is a great option because it has everything you would need to successfully window a release.

They have a storefront that allows visitors to listen to the new releases and purchase digital downloads or physical merch. Visitors are limited to only 3 full plays (can be disabled or increased) of a song before they are prompted to buy.

You can also host a listening party to celebrate with your fans exclusively on the platform.

The cool thing about Bandcamp is it’s built on a strong community around supporting artists on the platform. Fans also like the ability to select the file types for downloading, including MP3, FLAC, WAV and AIFF.

Although it doesn’t cost money to create an account and host your releases there, there are fees involved.
 

EVEN

 
Started in 2022 and officially launched in April of 2024, EVEN is a direct-to-consumer music platform that allows artists to maximize revenue from their releases in a world now dominated by streaming.

Understanding that low payout rates from streaming platforms aren’t changing anytime soon, they essentially positioned themselves as a windowing platform with an unofficial tagline of:

Empowering artists to sell their music first and stream second.

The growing popularity of EVEN has been largely due to rising independent Hip Hop star LaRussell, who initially put the platform on my radar. More recently, J.Cole has used the platform to monetize the 10 year anniversary release of his 2014 Forest Hills Drive album.

Like Bandcamp, EVEN offers a “pay what you want” model where you can set a minimum amount you accept. When setting up a release, you can include various rewards or perks (EVEN calls them access points) like bonus content, merch, events and fan experiences to incentivize fans to support.

Signing up is easy, but your artist account will need to be verified by their team before you start. As for fees, EVEN does a 80/20 revenue split so you keep 80% of the money you generate through their platform.

Check out their artist playbook for more information.
 

Patreon

 
Patreon is a monetization platform for creators to earn money from memberships/subscriptions. The tools and features available on Patreon give artists a lot of flexibility, especially for something like windowing. However, I would not recommend starting a Patreon solely for windowing a release.

This option is ideal if you already built a membership community and you’re looking for a way to window your release to attract new potential members to your Patreon. For example, you can promote early access to the new release on social media and an email list by encouraging fans to join.

Patreon supports audio files so fans can easily listen to the new release in the Patreon app, Spotify or other podcasting apps (via RSS feed). You can choose to enable or disable downloading as well.

However, the one drawback is you can’t upload multiple audio tracks into one individual post. You would have to create either a post for each individual song or an edit that contains the entire album in one seamless track. This is where Bandcamp or EVEN have an advantage since those are music-centric platforms that accommodate multiple tracks.

As for selling physical merch for windowing, your best option is to create a secret, password-protected shop page and give Patreon members access. You can easily do this with e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Squarespace.

Even if you have fans who don’t want to pay monthly subscription costs, you can sell access to an individual post containing the new release with a one-time charge. You can also include an album download for sale in your digital store.

For more on Patreon for Music Artists, I wrote some blogs and an ebook for you to check out.
 

Conclusion

 
As convenient music streaming is for the fans, the low payout rates on all platforms aren’t changing anytime soon. For artists looking to adapt, windowing new releases has become a viable strategy.

Just be aware that windowing a release strategy is typically reserved for artists who have a sizable fan base and multiple releases under their belt. In other words, this is not effective for newer or developing artists.

If you’ve tried windowing a release, I would love to hear your results. What platform did you use and how did you approach it?

The post How to Window Your Next Music Release to Maximize Revenue appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

Following in the footsteps of Spotify, Amazon Music has launched their own submission tool for artists to pitch a new song release for consideration on one of their editorial playlists and stations.

This is a brand new offering so I have yet to submit a song for any artists yet, but I wanted to put this on your radar. In this blog, I will go through how it works and why Amazon Music should be taken more seriously.
 

Why Care About Amazon Music

 
Before we get into submitting, I think it’s important to touch on where Amazon Music stands in the music landscape.

Although we commonly think of the Big 3 (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube) as the most popular platforms for people to listen to music, Amazon Music has the subscriber base to be up there with them with roughly over 60 million subscribers.

Back in 2019, they were touted as the fastest growing streaming service over Spotify and Apple Music. Aside from being the largest online retailer in the world, how did Amazon Music grow so fast? Their line of smart speakers, the Echo and the Dot.

The Amazon Echo, and their voice assistant Alexa, launched in 2014 and was a first of its kind. In the market of smart speakers, Amazon has had a commanding hold as the number one device. As of June 2021, they currently control 69% of the U.S. market share. To put their dominance into perspective, their next biggest competitor, Google, only has 25%. So If you were to ask Alexa to play music, of course it was going to be streamed through Amazon Music.

Just to clarify: Google’s YouTube Music is their music streaming service. YouTube is the most popular platform that people will find, discover and listen to music globally, but YouTube Music does not have the paid subscribers that the others have.

Amazon may not be the first platform you think of when you hear video and music streaming, but they are in the mix to compete. Don’t forget they also own the most popular live streaming platform Twitch, which is their gateway to a much younger demographic. Despite being known primarily for hosting live video gaming content, Twitch continues to increase their viewership in the music category.

With all this said, we should never discount the reach and influence Amazon has in music and content distribution. As independent artists, it’s important to take advantage of every avenue that makes sense, especially when it’s free.
 

Who Uses Amazon Music

 
Before submitting your music, you should understand the demographic of people who actually use Amazon Music and why it makes sense to submit your releases for their playlists.

In general, newer technology, like streaming, is more likely to be adopted by the youth. As the leading platform, Spotify skews to a younger crowd because that’s their target market.

The advantage that Amazon Music has is it reaches a wider age range but skews to middle-ages and older. “About 14% of subscribers to Amazon Music are aged 55 or older, compared with just 5% of Spotify’s customers,” said Steve Boom, the vice president of the Amazon Music Unlimited service. This is due to the success of their smart speakers and the convenience of having a music streaming platform easily accessible through these devices.

Do you know what streaming platform your fans use? If you’ve ever released music before in the past, you should know what streaming service/platform your audience prefers. Smart links are useful, but it would be good to know if a lot of your audience actually listens to your music on Amazon Music.
 

Get Access to Your Amazon Music for Artists Profile

 
Before you can submit your new release, you will need to claim your Amazon Music for Artists profile. It’s their version of Spotify for Artists and Apple Music for Artists. As of this writing their artist portal isn’t as polished as Spotify for Artists, but it will surely get better overtime.

If you’ve never released any music yet through a music distributor, you will need to do that first so that your Amazon Music artist profile is created. If you don’t have a music distributor yet, I recommend you check out what I recommend as the best music distributor for independent artists.

Aside from submitting new releases, having access to your Amazon Music for Artists account will give you access to helpful tools and analytics including how many times your music was voice requested through Alexa.

How to Claim Your Profile: Originally, you had to download their app (iOS / Android) to claim your Amazon Music for Artist page, but you can now also do it on desktop by going here:

https://artists.amazon.com/select

It’ll ask you to log into your Amazon account. If you’ve ever purchased anything from Amazon, this is the account you would use. Otherwise, create a new Amazon account. You don’t need to be subscribed to their Amazon Prime subscription service.

Once that is complete, you’ll be taken to the ‘Claim an Artist’ page. Search your name and choose the correct artist profile from the list.

You’ll be asked to verify that you are the artist or represent the artist:

• Input the artist name and the role (artist, manager or label)
• Link any of the artist social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)
• Connect your music distributor account. The only available options are: CD Baby, DistroKid and TuneCore.
• Add any additional information to show proof

Verification can take minutes or even several days depending on the information you submit. I find that connecting at least one artist social media platform and one of the three music distributors used (assuming you used one of those) will get your claim request approved more quickly.

However, if you’re a newer artist, it may take longer and require more proof. One thing you can try, if you’re having trouble getting approved, is adding the email address associated with your Amazon account to your social media profiles and website where it can be publicly seen. Instagram and Facebook allows you to add an email address that’s visible on your profiles/pages. You may even consider just temporarily adding your Amazon email address to your bio and point it out that both emails match up in the box where they ask you for more information.

If your claim is successful, you should get an email about it and you can move on to the next section below.
 

How to Submit Your Release to Amazon Music for Playlists

 
The process is going to be similar to submitting your song for Spotify editorial playlist consideration. One of the big differences is that you can actually submit a new song up to 14 days after it has been released. Spotify only accepts unreleased music for their playlist consideration.

First, upload your new song or release to your music distributor like you normally would.

Once you do that, your music distributor will send out your release, cover and metadata to the various stores/digital outlets. When Amazon Music receives it, it’ll show up in your Amazon Music for Artists account.

Desktop: From the ‘overview’ page in your profile, just look under ‘Artist Tools’ and click on ‘New Releases’. If you uploaded new music through your distributor, you should see it here.

Mobile App: From the ‘overview’ tab, tap on the bottom right icon of the person which will take you to ‘Profile & Tools’. Tap ‘New Releases’ up top to see new music you can pitch.

Unlike Spotify, you can pitch multiple songs as long as they are uploaded as separate releases and songs up to 14 days after its release date. This means you can pitch each of your songs uploaded as a single track, but you can only choose one song to pitch in a 10 song album uploaded for release.

There’s also a new feature called ‘Intros’ that allows you to record or upload a short audio recording up to 15 seconds that is played before your new release. As the name implies, Intros allows you to introduce your new song or release to your fans in a personable way. You should see it next to the name of your release next to the ‘pitch’ button.

A new feature on Amazon for Music Artists called Intros

The process to pitch your song is quite short and straightforward. Here’s a great infographic that Amazon Music provides that outlines the process for you:

Amazon Music Submission Questions

 
Why are you pitching this song? This is where you get to sell your song to Amazon Music’s curation team in 1,000 characters or less. You’ll want to focus on what makes this song special. It can be the story behind the song, how it came about, etc.

What genres best describe it? Choose up to three.

What version of the song is this?
– Original
– Remix
– Live
– Cover

Does this song have lyrics? Yes or no.

Select the primary language of this song? Search and select the languages that apply.

What artists have a similar sound? Select up to 3 artists that share a similar sound to you and the song you’re pitching. This is a question that the Spotify pitch tool does not ask you.

Where are most of your listeners today? Search and select the countries that apply. You should be able to get this data in your Amazon Music for Artists page, Spotify for Artist page, Facebook or Instagram Insights.

Song Mood? Select up to 3 that apply for your song.
– Angry
– Cool
– Dark
– Fast
– Happy Mood
– Heavy
– Intense
– Light
– Mellow
– Motivational
– Relaxing
– Romantic
– Sad
– Sexy
– Soft
– Upbeat

Song Category? Select up to 3 that apply for your song.
– Chilling Out & Lounging
– Happy & Upbeat
– Hard & Heavy
– Relaxed & Laid Back
– Work, Study & Reading

Review your answers then hit submit when you’re done.
 

Conclusion

 
That is how you submit your new song release to Amazon Music for playlist consideration. If you’ve done this for Spotify, it’s basically the same process with similar questions.

I highly recommend taking advantage of this free tool for every new release. There are no guarantees, but it’s worth a shot.

The post How to Submit Your New Release for Amazon Music Playlists and Stations appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

In this blog, I will go over everything you’ll need to know about cover art, including requirements to upload to your music distributor, cover ideas and other free tools you might need. It’s very easy for anyone to do, even without graphic design experience.

Most importantly, I’m going to show you how you can do it yourself with free apps online, so it doesn’t cost you anything.
 

The Importance of Cover Art

 
For many artists, the album cover was a reflection and artistic extension of the music itself, so it had to make a good first impression. It provided another medium for musicians to visually set the tone, mood, concept, theme or story for their music.

Not only that, the cover art needed to catch a potential buyer’s attention when your product was sitting on a shelf in a record shop or digitally browsing MP3s on iTunes. As we are well aware, times have changed as music discovery and consumption takes place predominantly through streaming. Whether it’s in physical form or digital, the cover art is the unique visual identifier of your musical release.

Despite this shift, cover art is still visible in various places online with your music. For Spotify users, the cover art shows up nice and big on Fridays in your follower’s Release Radar emails. Make sure to leverage this piece of brand real estate to represent you and your brand in a positive light.
 

Cover Art Requirements

 
In order to distribute your music digitally, you need cover artwork for your album or single release. Before jumping into the design, it’s important to go over specific guidelines and requirements that you need to know, so the cover doesn’t get rejected by digital stores and delay your release.

First off, your cover should be in a JPG or PNG image format. Although not necessary, it should have your artist or band name on the cover along with the name of the release. Just make sure if you do add this information, it matches exactly what is entered as metadata when you upload to your distributor.

The aspect ratio is 1-to-1 so a perfect square. The minimum resolution for cover art is 1,400 x 1,400 pixels. The recommended size is 3,000 x 3,000 pixels. Resolution is at least 72 dpi and RGB Color Mode. If you use the tool I recommend below, you won’t need to worry about meeting these requirements.

Because the cover artwork is used in all different sizes and displays, a larger resolution allows your image to look good on any screen. If the resolution is too small, don’t expand the image because it can make the cover blurry. If the image is poor quality, blurry or pixelated, digital stores will reject it, and it can delay your release.

The parental advisory sticker on the cover art is not necessary for releases with explicit lyrics. I would just not include it in your design, but make sure you mark any songs that do have explicit lyrics when you upload it to your music distributor.

Other reasons why a cover might get rejected:

• Metadata of the release (artist or band name and title) doesn’t match what’s on the cover art exactly.
• Contains prices, barcodes, email addresses, social media handles, hashtags, URLs or any unnecessary text.
• Includes names other brands or logos of digital stores (Spotify, Apple).
• Using the same artwork for multiple releases.
• Has a lot of white space around the cover like a white border. I had to change it to off-white / light gray to get it through.
• Has any copyrighted images or works that you don’t have permission to use.
• Contains pornographic or graphically violent images.
• For cover songs, making any references to the artist you’re covering other than the title (this can be confusing to listeners)
• Cut off images or text

Cover Ideas and Inspiration

 
With all that being said, there are 3 general sources to get inspiration for cover art ideas.

1) The music itself and your brand. As an artist and creative, let the music you created give you ideas. If your brand has incorporated thematic visual elements already, it may help to keep those things going, for consistency. Artists like Russ (single releases) and Run the Jewels come to mind.

2) Look at cover artwork from your favorite artists, others in the same type of music you do and even those you don’t know in different genres. Browse around on Spotify or Apple Music. Look for trends and patterns. It doesn’t mean you need to copy or conform, but just

3) Study classic and iconic album covers from the past. It’s always good to look back at covers that have made a big impression in popular culture. Here are some links to check out:

Rolling Stones – Readers Poll: The Best Album Covers of All Time

Wired – Best Album Art of All Time

Billboard – The 50 Greatest Album Covers of All Time

udiscovermusic – The 25 Most Iconic Album Covers Of All Time

udiscovermusic – The 100 Greatest Album Covers
 

Art Directions

 
Once you have some ideas, there are a different number of art directions you can go with, often influenced by the type of release (album vs single), time period and the genre. Singles and remixes, as you would expect, are more likely to be more simple and text-centric than album covers. For genres like pop, R&B and even country, portrait appears to be the dominant direction. Instrumental / Ambient based music tends to be more scenery or photographic based.

A lot of covers will incorporate multiple directions and elements so it’s never going to black and white. I will say portrait and illustration based cover art seems to be the most common ones I’ve seen overall.

Below are examples of cover art for each type of art direction from the type of artists I listen to, which is predominantly hip hop and R&B. There’s an unlimited number of covers so this is by no means what I think are the best, but whatever I could find that I felt fit the category. Over time, I’ll definitely update and refine this list.

If you have any recommendations or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.
 

Portrait

 
Alina Baraz – The Color of You (Album)

Aloe Blacc – Lift Your Spirit (Album)

Kendrick Lamar – DAMN (Album)

 

Drawing / Illustration

 
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Bandana (Album)

Hiatus Kaiyote – Tawk Tomahawk (Album)

Logic – Everybody (Album)

 

Photographic Representation of Title

 
Anderson.Paak – Bubblin (Single)

Eligh – Last House on the Block (Album)

Bloc Party – Intimacy (Album)

 

Photo Manipulation / Photoshopped

 
Childish Major – Woosah (Album)

Emancipator – Safe in the Steep Cliffs (Album)

Nas – Untitled (Album)

 

Minimalist / Simple

 
Dr Dre – Chronic 2001(Album)

Russ – Ain’t Goin Back (Single)

Atmosphere – Whenever (Album)

Type Based / Text-Centric

Doja Cat – Mooo! (Single)

Drake – If You’re Reading This Its Too Late (Album)

Rage Against the Machine – Renegades (Album)

 

Abstract

 
Lupe Fiasco – Tetsuo & Youth (Album)

Russ – Snow Globe (Album)

Tycho – Awake (Album)

 

Conceptual

 
Chance the Rapper – The Big Day (Album)

Lupe Fiasco – The Cool (Album)

Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass (Album)

 

Symbolic

 
Run the Jewels 3 (Album)

Dead Prez – RBG (Album)

Lupe Fiasco – Food & Liquor 2 (Album)

 

Free Cover Artwork Tools

 
Once you have a good idea or concept for your cover artwork, you’ll need to design it. Or even if you don’t have the idea just yet, you can browse the different templates in the tool I’m about to talk about.

The main tool I will be using in the demonstration is Canva. It’s a really great, user-friendly graphic design tool that I highly recommend for independent artists. They actually have album cover templates that you can edit and customize for free.

In case you wanted to try their Canva Pro paid plan to access 20,000+ templates, export higher quality resolutions, unlock other features, use extra fonts (or upload your own), they offer a free 30-day trial. You can cancel before the period ends and you won’t get charged.
 

How to Use Canva

 
In this video, I’ll walk you through how to create cover art using Canva (Affiliate Link Disclosure) on a desktop. They do have a mobile app where you can create cover art as well.

Although you don’t need graphic design experience, it does help to understand some basic design principles so you can apply it to your cover art designs. Canva offers a free online design course you can take on their website, but I’ll be sharing some of the principles in the video. I’m not a trained graphic designer myself, but I do know the basics and how to use tools like Photoshop.

Other Free Tools You May Need

Royalty-Free Shock Photos

In case you didn’t know, you’re not allowed to use any images you find online, especially in Google Images. You need to make sure it’s royalty-free and free to use.

My favorite go-to sites free stock photos are:

• Pixabay
• Pexels
• Unsplash
• Free Images

You can upload the photos you find on these sites and use them for your covers in Canva.
 

Prisma and PicsArt

If you’re looking for ways to manipulate a photo into something more artistic to use in your cover art, you can try using this mobile app called Prisma.

Canva has some filters and a few plugins, but Prisma has over 500 different art styles you use to transform your photo into something cool and unique. Unfortunately, you’re limited to a few styles in their free plan, unless you pay for a subscription. They do offer a 3 day trial in case you want to explore all the options.

Another app that can do something similar is PicsArt. When in edit mode, click on the ‘Effects’ tab on the bottom. It looks like there are more free effects than Canva at the moment so check them out.

Using these photo effects in these apps is a great way to make your cover art more artistic, rather than posting the standard portrait shot.
 

Remove Background

On Canva, if you want to remove or cut out the background of a photo of you, for instance, you have to pay for a Canva pro plan to use this feature. It’s very convenient to do in the app itself, but if you are on the free plan, there is a possible workaround.

Of course, you can also do it in Photoshop. But if you don’t have access, there are other sites and apps that can remove or clip out the background so it becomes transparent (saves as a .PNG file), but they usually charge a small fee.

I found this service to be really good called Remove Background, and they give you one free full resolution download.

Just like other sites who do the same thing, Remove Background will allow you to download as many lower resolution cut-outs.
 

Enhance Lower Resolution Photos

Like I mentioned earlier, you don’t want to stretch out a small resolution photo or image because it may reduce the quality. This is a tool I found a while back called Let’s Enhance, which allows you to increase the resolution of the photo while limiting blurriness and pixelation. You get a limited number of enhancements to try out for free.

Aside from increasing the size of a photo, you can also use this tool to double up the resolution (2x option) of your cover art on Canva without any noticeable quality loss. With a lot of these services I recommend trying, there is a limit of how much you can do for free. At some point, it may make more sense to subscribe to Canva’s Pro plan if you find yourself using Canva a lot anyways.
 

Color Schemes

Having a good color harmony in a cover is a good way to make it feel cohesive and look professional. For example, maybe what you’re wearing is blue and you want the text color and background to complement that blue. If you need help finding the right complementary colors that go well, here are some tools to help with that.

paletton.com – Paletton operates more as a color wheel where you choose a starting color and it gives colors that go with it.

coolors.co – Coolors operates like a random color generator, but you can select starting colors and it will spit out different options that go with the choices you lock-in.
 

Conclusion

 
You should have everything needed to create and successfully upload cover art for your upcoming release. Canva is a great tool to do things yourself when money is tight, especially for single releases. For a bigger project like a full-length EP or album, you may want to consider investing in an experienced graphic designer.

The biggest advice I would say is to make sure you understand and apply basic design principles, to make sure your cover art looks professional. How you present yourself online is a reflection of your brand, so you don’t want your cover art to look amateurish.

Lastly, even before the music is done, start thinking about the cover artwork ahead of time. I’ve had situations where a release would be delayed because either coming with an idea or trying to execute an idea takes too long. Although it’s always better to do things right the first time, just remember that you can always change the cover after it has been released.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

Don’t want to do the cover art yourself?

 
If you’re blanking out on a idea or concept and have budget to pay someone, a service I would recommend trying is 99designs (Affiliate Link Disclosure). It’s a platform that helps find freelance designers for your project. For example, if you need cover art, they can help you find a designer to work with 1-on-1 or you can host a design contest.

The design contest is what makes 99designs cool because you can have over 20 designers submit their ideas and concepts for you to choose from. The person with the winning design you decide on is the only one that gets paid. If you don’t like any designs submitted, you can get 100% money-back (for non-guaranteed contests).

They are an affiliate so I do get a small commission if you try them out by clicking my link at no extra cost to you. Using my affiliate links is a great way to support this blog with services that I can vouch for and would use myself. A musician I work with used them a couple of times for cover art designs in the past with no issues.
 

The post How to Make FREE Cover Art for Your Upcoming Album or Single Release appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

Looking to get your songs in places like Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play and Amazon Music? You should, because as of 2020, music streaming now makes up 83 percent of the U.S. music industry’s revenue.

The good news is, getting your music into digital music stores and streaming services as an independent artist couldn’t be any easier. Finding the right company that makes sense for you can be a challenge. There are a bunch of music distribution companies you can go with to make your music accessible all around the world, but there are pros and cons with each of them.

In this blog, I will go into detail of 3 popular options to help you decide which one may be best for you as an independent artist.

We’ll look at the following points:

• Distribution / Release Fees
• Additional Costs
• Commissions
• Distribution Networks
• Publishing Admin Services
• Sync Licensing Services
• Cover Song Licensing
• Payouts
• YouTube Monetization
• Payment Splitting
• Marketing Tools
• Physical Music Support
• Customer Service Response Time

Before Diving In…

 
I just want to address a couple of quick points.

None of these companies are record labels, so they don’t take ownership of any of your releases. Music distribution companies work directly with these various digital outlets so they can get your music into stores and streaming services. Some of them will take a commission from your revenues, but you still retain 100% ownership of your music.

The amount of time it takes for your release to be received by these digital outlets and register into their system should vary the same, regardless of which distribution company you go with.

I do talk about music royalties in this blog so if you’re not sure what mechanical licenses or songwriter royalties are, you can read my music royalties simplified blog. Understanding the contents of this post should help you make a more informed choice in which digital distribution company to use.
 

CD Baby

 
Founded in 1998, CD Baby originally started as an online CD store. The founder, Derek Sivers was a musician himself who created the website to sell his own CDs and later the music of local bands and friends. In 2008, Sivers sold CD Baby to Disc Makers because he wanted to focus on new ventures to benefit musicians. As of 2019, CD Baby is under the ownership of AVL Digital Group.

CD Baby is considered pioneers of the independent music revolution and has become the largest global digital distributor of independent music. Because they have been around for so long, they’ve become a very reputable and trusted company that is committed to helping independent musicians thrive.

One of the great things about CD Baby is, they offer a wide range of services that musicians would need all in one place. They really try to streamline everything to become a one-stop shop. The bad news is that this is what makes them also somewhat pricier upfront compared to their competitors. (It’ll make more sense once you see the side by side cost comparisons below.)

– Fees: A big selling point for them is no annual fees, unlike TuneCore and DistroKid. You pay a one-time fee (varies for type of release and distribution package) for each release, and your music stays in digital outlets forever. A single costs $9.95 US for Standard, or $29.95 US for Pro. An album costs $29 US Standard or $69 US for Pro. Occasionally, they’ll have deals too for less.

You can find more on their fees here.

The Standard release option means they will only collect mechanical royalties for downloads and streams as the performing artist of a master recording. So if you wrote or composed the music being released, they will not collect the publishing royalties for it with this option.

The Pro option means they will collect mechanical and performance royalties worldwide for you including those related to publishing and songwriting through SongTrust. They are also partnered with SoundExchange to collect digital performance royalties from sound recordings if you choose to opt-in during the upload process.

Otherwise, you need to register with SongTrust and SoundExchange separately to help collect those royalties. CD Baby makes this process more seamless and convenient for you.

Pro makes more sense if you’re a songwriter who owns rights to the songs you release because you get all the publishing royalties worldwide. PROs like ASCAP and BMI only collect publishing from performance royalties. Note that CD Baby will take a 15% commission if you have them collect publishing royalties on your behalf.

– Digital Distribution Commission: CD Baby keeps 9% of your digital distribution revenue that you earn from download sales and streams. Their reason for taking this much is to “incentivize them to keep finding opportunities for ALL your music, not just your newest single.” TuneCore and DistroKid don’t do this, but they charge annual fees.

– Additional Costs: You also need to have a UPC (Universal Product Code) barcode for your digital release so add another $5 for each single and $20 for each album. Read more about what the UPC is for and why it is required.

Other than the fees, UPC and commissions discussed already, there are no other add-on feature costs like TuneCore and DistroKid has.

– Distribution Network: 150+ digital outlets like Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon. They will also distribute to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. No extra charges for adding your music into new digital outlets.

– Publishing Admin Service: They are partnered with SongTrust and SoundExchange to make it easier for you to collect all your royalties from your music. They take 15% commission from the publishing royalties you earn, which is the same percentage SongTrust charges.

However, if you are both the performer and rights owner of the release, you will still need to register with SoundExchange as a Performer separately. This is because they only sign you up as a rights owner of the sound recording.

– Schedule Release: Yes, you can schedule a release for a future date at no extra cost. However, to ensure that your release is available in all outlets on time, it’s best practice to schedule the release at least 4 weeks in advance.

– Payouts: Payouts are weekly (every Monday), but understand the schedules that different digital outlets operate under can range from weeks to months. This means it can take some time for your money to get to CD Baby before it is distributed to you. You also required to set a minimum threshold that needs to be met before funds are automatically distributed to you. The amount ranges from $10 to $10,000.

– Sync Licensing Service: Yes. One of the free perks with releasing music through CD Baby is that they help to promote your releases to music supervisors and licensing professionals for things like TV, films, commercials and games. The drawback is that it will take 40% commission if they do get a placement for your song.

– Cover Song Licensing: They no longer secure the mechanical licensing needed for you to distribute cover songs you are releasing. You will have to do it separately.

– YouTube Monetization: Yes, this service is included for all releases at no extra cost. They help to collect ad revenue generated from any video that contains your music, but they take a 30% commission.

– Payment Splitting: No, they don’t split the royalties and payout revenues for songs when you collaborate with other artists. However, they did say they are working on adding this in the near future.

– Marketing Tools: Show.co is a marketing tool that is offered to help with things like pre-save campaigns, growing Spotify followers and building an email list.

– Physical Music Support: Yes, they partnered with Alliance Entertainment, Super D and Amazon to help get your physical releases in over 15,000 record stores worldwide. One of the big strengths of CD Baby is the physical music distribution.

– Customer Service Response Time: You can submit a ticket to get a response within 5 business days if you can’t find your answer in their Help Center. They do have a live-chat support option for certain hours each day of the week.
 

TuneCore

 
TuneCore is a New York-based independent digital music distribution, publishing, and licensing service founded in 2005. The co-founder and former CEO of TuneCore Jeff Price is known as an outspoken, some may say aggressive, advocate for protecting artist rights and helping them get paid. Price was fired from his position and ousted the board in 2012.

In 2016, TuneCore was acquired by a competitor, the France-based digital distribution company for independent artists, Believe Digital. They know tout themselves as the world’s leading digital distributor of independent music.

They’ve distinguished themselves from competitors like CD Baby by not taking any commission from your royalties (you keep 100% that you earn). Additionally, they have a money advance program called Direct Advance where TuneCore advances you money for future releases if you are qualified based on revenue from past releases. This is only relevant for more established artists with a proven track record

– Fees: TuneCore’s previous per-release pricing structure was not ideal for new or emerging artists. However in 2022, they finally added an unlimited release option, which is a similar model to DistroKid and Ditto Music. Starting at $14.99 a year (Rising Artist Plan), you can release as much music as you want to all of their digital stores.

It looks like you can still pay per release, but it doesn’t make sense why you would so I will leave it out of this blog.

Unlike the other distributors, TuneCore offers a new free plan called the ‘New Artist’ that allows you to release all the music you want to social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) but they will take 20% of your earnings you generate. This is their strategy to onboard newer artists into their system.

You can find more on their fees here.

– Digital Distribution Commission: Unlike CD Baby, TuneCore does not take a commission on your download and streaming royalties. You keep 100% of the money you earn from your releases.

– Additional Costs: No

– Distribution Network: 150+ digital outlets like Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon. They will also distribute to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

To add your music to new retail partners, TuneCore has a feature called the ‘Store Automator’ where they charge a flat $10 per release to automatically add to all new distribution outlets going forward. However, any stores missing prior to activating this feature will not be added and you will have to pay to add them.

DistroKid also has a similar fee, but CD Baby does not do this. If you pay for the ‘Breakout Artist’ plan ($29.99/year) or ‘Professional’ plan ($49.99/year), ‘Store Automator’ is included free for all releases.

– Publishing Admin Service: Yes, TuneCore Publishing will collect songwriter royalties on your behalf with a 15% commission just like CD Baby / SongTrust. A one-time setup fee is $75, which covers all current and future single / album releases.

– Schedule Release: Yes, you can schedule a release for a future date with any paid plan. However, you can’t schedule releases to go live at a future date with ‘New Artist’ free plan.

– Payouts: TuneCore deposits royalties 45 days following the end of each calendar quarter. There are no automatic withdrawals, but you can take out any amount of money from your TuneCore account via PayPal only.

– Sync Licensing Service: Yes. They require exclusive synchronization rights over your compositions. This means you can’t work with other sync licensing agencies or accept other placement opportunities for your releases through TuneCore. They will take 20% commission from sync placements.

– Cover Song Licensing: They are partnered with Royalty Solutions so you can request the proper mechanical license through TuneCore to properly distribute cover songs. For artists who intend to sell less than 500 digital downloads, a limited license costs $15. For artists who intend to sell more than 500 digital downloads, standard license costs $59.

– YouTube Monetization: Yes. YouTube monetization to collect money from the sound recording is free so no annual fees, but they take a 20% commission from YouTube revenue.

– Payment Splitting: Yes, TuneCore now has the ability for you to set up and accept royalty payment splits. This feature is included free with an unlimited distribution plan starting at $14.99/year.

– Marketing Tools: They offer a set of free social media tools called TuneCore Social, but it is underwhelming. If you want to use their smart link tool linkShare to easily share links to each digital outlet for your releases, you need to be a TuneCore Social Pro subscriber. It costs $7.99 a month or $85.99 a year.

– Physical Music Support: No physical music distribution. They only do CD and DVD pressing.

– Customer Service Response Time: Their guaranteed response times will decrease with the higher plans. At their base paid plan of $14.99, it’s within 3 business days and 1 business day for their most expensive plan. They make it easier to contact them and submit a request, but they still want you to go through their Help Center first.

– Other Notes: TuneCore only sends a notification once everything is fully uploaded. Unlike DistroKid, they don’t provide updates as your release goes live in various digital outlets.
 

DistroKid

 
DistroKid is an independent digital music distribution service founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Philip J. “Pud” Kaplan. They are the newer company of the bunch, but they’ve managed to make a name for themselves by being the first music distribution company to offer unlimited music releases. Rather than charge per release like CD Baby, you pay an annual subscription fee to upload as much music as you want.

The interesting twist is that the founders of CD Baby and TuneCore (they no longer work for the companies they founded) both recommend DistroKid.

“This is amazing. I’ll be sending everyone I know to DistroKid now.”
– Derek Sivers, Founder of CD Baby

As the founder of TuneCore I hate to say it but #distrokid is the single best music distribution company in the world. Light years ahead of CD Baby and TuneCore and far less expensive. https://t.co/ShlKxzAY9G

— Jeff Price (@TuneCoreJeff) January 9, 2018

It is interesting to note that Spotify has financially invested in DistroKid so they have a small stake in their company. There is no known advantage of releasing music to Spotify through DistroKid, but it may be a possibility in the future.

– Fees: DistroKid is a subscription model that you pay annually to upload your music and to keep them in stores. The best part is that you can upload as much music as you want without the per-release charge that CD Baby does.

The basic Musician plan costs $22.99 a year for unlimited single and album releases. The major drawback with the basic plan is you can’t schedule releases for a future date. This also means there are no pre-save or pre-order features in this plan.

The next plan up is Musician Plus at $39.99 a year, which includes extra features like allowing you to schedule a release on a future date and do pre-save campaigns. This means that if you want to submit your song for Spotify’s playlist consideration, you need to subscribe to this plan. Plus, you can release unlimited music for 2 artists / bands.

You can find more on their fees here.

– Digital Distribution Commission: Like TuneCore, DistroKid does not take a commission. You also get to keep 100% of the royalties your music earn through streams and downloads, unlike CD Baby who takes a percentage.

– Additional Costs: No, but there are other optional features that you may want to consider paying for.

Similar to TuneCore, you have to keep paying the annual subscription fee to keep your music up. If you miss an annual payment or are unable to pay, all your music will be taken down until it’s paid. DistroKid does have an option when uploading called “Leave a Legacy” that keeps your releases in stores and streaming services forever, regardless if you pay the annual subscription fee. It costs a one-time $29 for a single and $49 for an album.

Another service you can opt-in for is Shazam & iPhone Siri. It costs $0.99 a year for each song to allow your music to be identified on Shazam (owned by Apple now) or with Siri on iPhones. This is normally free on other music distribution companies, but DistroKid charges for it.

– Distribution Network: 150+ digital outlets like Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon. They will also distribute to YouTube, Facebook Instagram and TikTok. For $7.95 a year, the Store Maximizer option will automatically deliver your releases to new online stores and streaming services as they become available.

– Publishing Admin Service: DistroKid does not currently have a publishing admin system in place, nor are they partnered with any admin publishing company. If you want to collect your publishing / songwriter royalties, you would need to sign up with a service like SongTrust, which is what DistroKid recommends. This is the same company that CD Baby partners with. They take a 15% commission as a fee for their service.

– Schedule Release: You can only schedule a release for a future date with the Musician Plus plan ($35.99) or Label plan ($79.99). You can’t with the basic Musician plan ($19.99).

– Payouts: Money can take up to 2 weeks to be sent out once a withdrawal request has been made. Just make sure you verify your physical address and provide the requested information for taxes on their bank page.

– Sync Licensing Service: No

– Cover Song Licensing: Yes, Harry Fox Agency handles their cover song licensing. You need to make sure to select “Another artist wrote it (it’s a cover song)” in the Songwriter section when uploading your new release. Even if you obtained the mechanical license to distribute the cover song elsewhere, you will still need to opt in this cover song service. DistroKid charges a fee of $12 per year, renewed annually, to manage each cover song for you. You can read more about it here.

– YouTube Monetization: It costs $4.95 a year and they take 20% of YouTube ad revenue from matches they detect.

– Payment Splitting: DistroKid can split earnings from any song or album and automatically send those earnings to your collaborators. A DistroKid account is required for any collaborators to receive any splits. Good thing is if they don’t have one, Distrokid offers a 50% discount so it will only cost $10 dollars a year for them.

– Marketing Tools: For all releases, DistroKid creates a Hyperfollow page for you to use for pre-saves and pre-orders. It’s basically a link that lists the different stores and outlets where your release is available. The cool thing is it helps you to get more Spotify followers, collects emails to build your list and provides additional analytics. Read more about how it works here.

– Physical Music Support: No

– Customer Service Response Time: DistroKid claims they respond to inquires within 1 or 2 business days but I feel like it’s more like 3 to 4 days the few times I’ve had to reach out. Like with many companies, they want you to go through their Help Center or FAQ database first before you interact with a human because the answer to your problem is often there. When you submit a request for contact, you’ll likely be going through their chatbot Dave first. You can also send them a tweet on Twitter if you have an issue. The one time I had to do this, they responded within 3 hours.

– Other Notes: Unlike TuneCore, you will get an email notification of your music each step of the process, and when your release is live on a particular platform.

DistroKid stores all the songs you’ve uploaded to them as backup in their vault and allows you to download them whenever you need.

Lastly, they support lyrics. Unlike the other music distributors, DistroKid allows you to upload lyrics with your release to be distributed to places like Apple Music. You can now get your lyrics on Instagram Stories easily through their platform through their partnership with Musixmatch. I show you how to do it manually in this Instagram for musicians blog.
 

Summary

Costs Comparison

 
Here’s a breakdown of the total costs if you were to release one album and one single in one year. This will include any features to maximize royalties as songwriters and performers, like a publishing admin service and YouTube Monetization.

Notes:
– I will not factor cover songs or sync placements into this example.
– Since DistroKid doesn’t offer publishing admin, I will include the costs of SongTrust, which has a $100 setup fee. The set up fee publishing admin with TuneCore is $75.
– I didn’t include fees to add to new outlets on TuneCore or DistroKid because I don’t think it’s necessary. This penalizes CD Baby in this comparison because they offer it for free. Add $10 to TuneCore and $7.95 to DistroKid if that is something that you want to factor.
– DistroKid’s and TuneCore’s big value is in unlimited releases so any additional releases in this example is when you see the costs you are saving from their service.

CD Baby

 
Upfront Costs: $29.95 + $69 + $20 +$5 = $123.95
Recurring Costs (Annual): $0
Variable Costs:
– 9% of digital distribution
– 15% of publishing
– 40% of YouTube
 

TuneCore

 
Upfront Costs: $14.99 + $75.00 = $89.99
Recurring Costs (Annual): $14.99 = $14.99
Variable Costs:
– 15% of publishing
– 20% of YouTube

DistroKid

 
Upfront Costs: $39.99 + $4.95 + $100 = $144.94
Recurring Costs (Annual): $39.99 + $4.95 = $44.94
Variable Costs:
– 15% of publishing (sign up separately)
– 20% of YouTube

Which one is best for you?

 
If you don’t plan to release music too often or you don’t want to pay any recurring fees out of pocket, CD Baby may work best for you. It is pricier initially each time you upload your release, but their service is structured so you don’t pay out of pocket for anything else after, such as an annual fee. They only get a small commission if you’re bringing in revenue through your releases. You also may find peace of mind of just having all your music and royalty collections under one account.

As for TuneCore, their new unlimited release pricing structure makes things a lot more interesting with their competitive rates. For the very basic functions you would need (unlimited releases to all stores and scheduled release dates), it would cost you $39.99 a year with DistroKid but only $14.99 a year is with TuneCore.

For newer independent artists, I would completely avoid TuneCore’s pay per release model. I feel this old pricing structure was specifically catered for bigger named artists who can bring way more revenue in from royalties to cover the high annual fees per release. Even though TuneCore doesn’t take any commission from digital distribution revenue, releasing a lot of music on TuneCore puts a large recurring cost in the form of annual subscription fees that the average independent musician can’t cover in royalties alone. From a cost standpoint, 9% of your digital distribution revenue (what CD Baby takes) needs to exceed the total annual fees for all your releases with TuneCore to make sense as a company to consider.

If you plan to release music consistently, as you should in my opinion, it would make sense for newer independent artists to go with either DistroKid or maybe give TuneCore a try.

DistroKid is currently the most popular music distribution option for independent artists and I would use and recommend them despite TuneCore being cheaper. Why? I’ve been a fan of DistroKid’s simplicity and constant push to be innovative with their free bonuses and features (even if they’re not all useful). Not to mention, most of my experience with music distribution has been with DistroKid since a majority of the artists I work with use it. So far, no negative experiences.

At face value, TuneCore seems to be the better value at nearly have the price of DistroKid for the same base functionality. Plus, TuneCore’s free plan for social platform distribution only is a good risk free way for new artists to test out releases outside of free music platforms SoundCloud or AudioMack.

The one essential tool/feature that DistroKid offers for free as a part of their subscription that TuneCore charges $7.99 a month or $85.99 a year is the ability to generate a smart link for your releases. (Click here for an example!) Paying that much for TuneCore’s Social Pro subscription comes with other perks like social media analytics and reporting, but in my opinion it’s not worth the cost.

Of course, there are workarounds to creating smart links as I’ve discussed in a previous blog so you can save money that way too.

On the other hand, the only other music distribution company I currently use is ONErpm and I would not recommend them over any of the three I cover in this blog.

Since this unlimited pricing structure for is still new for TuneCore, we’ll have to see how the market responds. At the moment, there’s nothing that I’ve seen yet from TuneCore that would inspire me to move everything over from DistroKid to save $20 a year and go through the hassle of taking everything down and reuploading it.

My Personal Recommendation

 
Most people who read my blog are going to be emerging independent artists or musicians just starting out, so this is what my recommendation is based on. There are different paths and goals in music, but the business model I advocate for is Streaming / Accessibility Model. This works best if you can release new music on a consistent basis, like one single a month. It only makes sense that the music distribution company I recommend supports that business model.

Personally, what I would recommend for most independent musicians is DistroKid. More specifically, the Musician Plus plan $39.99 so you can schedule releases for a future date. To save money, I would not do Store Maximizer ($7.95 a year) and Shazam & iPhone Siri ($0.99 per song a year). I would hold off on YouTube Money ($4.95 a year) earlier on, but opt-in as soon as you can afford it.

If you are also a songwriter, you will still need to sign up for a publishing admin company like SongTrust (who DistroKid recommends) to collect publishing royalties. This puts an additional upfront cost to songwriters with DistroKid and can be more expensive initially compared to CD Baby.

As long as you release 3 to 4 singles or an album plus a single within the first year, you’ve already saved money using DistroKid in the long run. Releasing 4 singles a year with CD Baby would cost roughly $140. With DistroKid, it would be $144 the first year, but about $44 a year after that. If you don’t anticipate releasing at least 1 single or album every year, then CD Baby may be more ideal.

Other Music Distribution Alternatives

 
CDBaby, TuneCore and DistroKid aren’t the only music distribution companies out there. There are tons of them. Here are some others you may want to consider:

Ditto Music

iMusician

LANDR

Octiive

Record Union

Reverbnation

Symphonic

The post What’s the Best Music Distribution Service To Release Your Music in 2023 – CD Baby, TuneCore or DistroKid? appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

One of the biggest questions I get, a very common problem for new musicians, is how do I promote my music?

It can be a frustrating experience, but there’s a lot more that goes into releasing music than just making it widely accessible and making a couple of social media posts.

Sometimes, musicians who have this problem are looking for free exposure or shortcuts to build up vanity metrics like views or followers. This type of mindset leads to bad habits and tactics that just don’t work.

In this blog, I will go over the best and worst ways you can promote your music. If you haven’t seen much engagement or traction with your songs, maybe you’re guilty of one of these bad promotion tactics.

Although I get this question about music promotion a lot, I was inspired to put this blog together from the Super Duty Tough Work podcast where they covered this topic. I borrowed some of their points, but I also included some of my own. I recommend giving it a listen for the musicians and creatives out there.

https://soundcloud.com/superdutytoughwork/178-the-worst-promotional-strategies

https://soundcloud.com/superdutytoughwork/the-best-promotional-strategies

I embedded each episode in their respective sections for you if you want to listen.
 

Worst Promo Strategies and Tactics

To start it off, we will go through the worst promotion tactics and strategies that you want to avoid or completely stop. Some people just don’t know any better, but it’s time to change things up if you are guilty of these.

Spamming

Spamming is when you contact a group of individuals to promote your music when they did not ask for it. This is commonly done by copy and pasting a generic message to send out through email or direct messages on social media. Adding email addresses you come across to your newsletter list without the person’s permission, also counts as spam.

Most people don’t like to get random messages unsolicited. Not only is it annoying to receive, it’s also against the law. Social media platforms also have ways to detect if someone is spamming messages. If you get reported enough times, it may lead to account termination.
 

Hijacking Posts

Hijacking a post is basically promoting your song by commenting on someone else’s post. This could be Instagram, Twitter or even in the YouTube comments. You might think that the person whose post you’re commenting on has a large following so if you comment, a lot of people will see and check you out. The reality is no one’s going to care, and it makes you look desperate.

Although not as annoying as straight up spamming, this is definitely not an effective way to get exposure. Others may report you, or the person may just end up blocking you. It could lead to account suspension or termination as well if you are commenting on too many posts in a certain time frame. Don’t do it!
 

Follow / Unfollow

This is something I see a lot on Instagram. Chances are this has happened to you many times. The way it works is you click on a hashtag that might contain people who might like dig your music. You click ‘follow’ on someone so they get a notification that you just followed them. If you’re lucky, they follow you back because they want to return the favor. Days later, you unfollow them. Repeat.

There are bots that do this, which is why it’s a more common practice. I think it’s fair to say most people are aware of this tactic, so it’s less likely to work anyways. Not to mention, Instagram has limits on how many follows and unfollows you can do each day.

The real problem is you’re not actually promoting your music, or engaging with anyone. You’re simply trying to build up vanity numbers.
 

Buying Fake Followers

Speaking of vanity numbers. There are a lot of people who feel that the best way to promote their music is to create the impression of being popular, without putting in the actual work of earning it. This type of impatience is partially a byproduct of our instant gratification / magic pill culture. The belief is that if it looks like a lot of people follow, then it must mean I’m good. Although there is some truth to it, buying fake followers is not the way to go, for a number of reasons.

First, it’s easier to figure out who has fake followers. Second, it makes your promotional efforts even more ineffective when your following consists of bots that don’t engage with your posts.

Random Surprise Releases

This is when you release music at some random day or time without any lead up. This was a tactic that Beyonce did years ago in 2013. The problem is that most musicians or artists aren’t on Beyonce’s level, and don’t have the brand or following she has.

Whether you do this as a promotional tactic or out of pure laziness, just don’t do this!
 

Using Social Media as Broadcasting Tool / Repeating Same Post

Just posting the same cover or photo with the same exact caption to tell people to check out your music is not effective. It also looks messy on your Instagram profile. The worst part is when it’s the same photo with a bunch of text on it, like a flyer.
You have to understand that social media is not a broadcasting tool. If you’re only using it to push, promote, pitch and sell yourself, then you’re likely not to see any results. No one likes to be around that 24/7 sales person.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with promoting a new song or project multiple times. In fact, it’s encouraged because not everyone will see your posts now that most social media platforms use algorithms to control what shows in your newsfeed.

You just need to switch up, so try using a different photo or video. Provide insight or tell a story. Make them more engaging or interesting than just “check out my new song!”
 

Best Promo Strategies and Tactics

Here are better strategies and tactics that you should be doing instead.
 

Find Your Niche / Target Audience

If you want to promote your music right, the first step is to identify your target audience. Posting a new song on Instagram and using hashtags is not going to do anything if you haven’t built a following in your niche.

This is not so much of a tactic or strategy, but a fundamental step you should have established before trying to promote your music.

Make a Plan / Start a Campaign

To properly promote your new music, you should have a plan and strategy in place for a campaign. In this campaign you want to establish what the goal is, create a list of tasks, schedule out action steps and gather all the assets you would need to execute. I believe the best results come when you’re more intentional with your efforts, rather than doing things last minute or with no plan.
 

Provide Value / Free Music

When it comes to marketing for any type of business, you often have to give more than you receive first to build that relationship. Or as Gary Vee likes to say “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” or “Give, Give, Give, Ask.”

Often times, when people don’t get results with their music promotion, it’s because they are asking before they give or offer anything of value first. When you put yourself in the shoes of someone who has never heard of you, you have to ask “what’s in it for me?”

The fact is, we are really good at tuning out advertising messages in today’s society. Even in traditional advertising, you rarely see companies just blatantly promote their product or service. Ads have become a form of entertainment in ways and have mixed value with promotion.

One way to provide value is putting out content that aims to entertain, educate or inspire. Offering your music for free to download is another way.

Share Your Story / Document Your Journey

Use social media as a platform to tell your story as an upcoming musician, producer, performing artist or rapper. I believe there’s more value in documenting your journey and sharing your experiences in music, rather than fronting like you’ve already made it.

There will be some who are fooled by the “fake it ‘til you make it” types who want to give the impression they are big time (but buy fake followers), and you don’t want to go down that path.

If you’re able to tell a good story, it allows followers and new potential fans to feel more emotionally invested in your journey. Your music is able to promote itself because it’s tied to something relevant. After all, we all like a good underdog story of someone who’s trying to make it.

Everyone’s got a different story and goals so it’s up to you on how you go about telling it through social media. In addition to your music, this is where you want to get creative.
 

Live Performances

One of the more traditional ways to promote your music is to find opportunities to perform live. Not everyone wants to be a performing artist, but you’d be missing out on a much needed income stream and platform for exposure in today’s music climate.

Live performances aren’t a scalable medium for music promotion, especially for emerging artists, but it’s more effective in building relationships because of the direct human to human interaction.

Opening up for a more established artist is probably the most favorable opportunity, but that’s not accessible for most new artists. To work up to that point, you should try as many things as you can to practice from open mics, talent shows, local community events, etc.

Even if it’s not to get exposure or promote music, you should be doing live performances as much as you can for the experience, to get better. If the goal is to be a full time musician, I feel mastering the live performance is key.
 

Pay for Social Media Ads

When it comes to music promotion, I’m a big advocate of paying for social media ads to get proper exposure to your target audience. I know it costs money and it can be hard to come by as an independent artist, but it’s one of those investments you need to make if you’re serious about a music career. In order for this to be most effective, you need to have good video content to promote, especially if your goal is to raise brand awareness and exposure yourself to new potential fans.

I understand that many may be intimidated by this as well because there is a learning curve to understand how to use something like Facebook and Instagram Ads effectively. Once you get the hang of it and see results, it should be a foundational piece of any music promotion efforts.

Sweepstakes / Contests

Depending on where you are in your career and the following you have, hosting a sweepstakes or contest could be a fun way to promote your music. Sweepstakes is when you offer something of value as a prize to your audience that the winner is chosen randomly. You can have people tag a friend on your Instagram post for a chance to win a merch pack, or tickets to a show.

On the other hand, a contest is where the prize is decided and given based on skill or talent. For example, a remix or lip sync contest. These are more advanced tactics that require a lot more planning and execution, but just thought I’d put it out there.
 

Compelling Video Content

One of the reasons why I personally decided to focus on producing video content for artists is because it’s a key medium in today’s culture. Promoting a song with just a photo isn’t going to gain much traction compared to something like a music video. Video is much more engaging and shareable when you understand the science of social transmission that fuels word of mouth.

In addition to having high quality photos to use for your marketing, you should really invest your time and money into creating good video content and promoting it with Facebook, Instagram and YouTube ads. If there’s anything you have to spend money on when it comes to music promotion, it’s these two things – video and social media ads. More specifically, you’ll want to focus on creating short form videos that are optimized for social media feeds.

Here’s a great example of compelling, but simple, video content from an artist named Tobe Nwigwe.

The beauty of this live video series is that it’s not highly produced and somewhat simple. I find his videos to be powerful and engaging, especially “What It’s For.” The point is you don’t need fancy and expensive video content to promote your music. However, just keep in mind that the most important element of a good music video is the song itself!
 

Activate Word of Mouth

One of the most powerful ways to promote your music is having others do it for you by leveraging word of mouth. People are more likely to trust a friend’s suggestion than you promoting your music directly to them. The big question is, how do you get people to talk about you and your music?

The short answer is, you need to make really good music that people genuinely want to share with others.

Pitch to Music Blogs / Publications / Playlists

Pitching your new releases to music blogs and playlists can be an effective way to promote your music. Personally, I’m not the biggest advocate for it compared to social media ads, but nothing wrong hitting different angles if it’s free or has minimal costs.

The problem is it’s not the easiest thing to do and it often requires someone, like a publicist, who has previous connections or strong relationships to bloggers, publications or playlisters. Using a publicist to promote your music isn’t the most cost effective route for most musicians because a good publicist is expensive and they are very selective with who they work with.

There are smaller music blog sites and music curators you can reach out directly or through a site like SubmitHub. I also compiled a list of over 40 active music blogs you can pitch your songs to.

If you have the budget, you can work with a company that will pitch your song to playlists. A free option you should always consider is to submiting your music to Spotify to be considered for one of their editorial playlists. Amazon Music allows you to pitch your new release for their curated playlists.

Conclusion

 
There’s no real secret or shortcut to music promotion. Effective tactics and strategies around promoting your music often takes time, effort and money. You just need to really treat your music career as a legitimate business as well as establishing a strong marketing and branding foundation.

With that being said, remember that the most important element in good music promotion is having good songs in the first place to promote. No matter how good your marketing, video and promotional efforts are, it won’t matter unless you music is actually good. What is considered “good” is also subjective, so that’s why you need to promote your music to the “right” people and see how they respond.

The post How To Promote Your Music: The Best and Worst Strategies and Tactics appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

I’m by no means an expert, but this is more of an overview behind royalties through music publishing and master recordings as well as how to collect them.

What is music publishing? Simply put, it’s making money from songs you wrote and own the copyrights for. This happens through some form of licensing or giving permission to some entity to use your song in exchange for some monetary compensation.

Earning money from your copyrighted music is a form of passive income. Early on, it may not be much, but the goal is to build a catalog of songs over time and grow its value as you build your fanbase. Every song matters. It can potentially help get you discovered and generate income from all around the world.

As a musician, you need to take advantage of every income stream that you can access or earn. With the decline of record sales over the past decade and the increase in music streaming, the one thing you have to know about is all the different royalty streams you can earn from your music.

It can be a complicated topic with laws and procedures in different countries, but I will be focusing on the basics as it is applied in the United States.
 

Why understanding music royalties are so important

 
Kobalt, a music publisher, found 900,000 distinct income sources for one hit song. That’s a lot of potential money available for performing artists and songwriters!

Not only that, but there’s also actually a lot of royalties just sitting out there unclaimed. Because of technology in an evolving industry like music, Berklee College of Music found in a 2015 report that anywhere from 20% – 50% of music payments do not make it to their rightful owners.

It’s been referred to as the black box of royalties. This is unpaid money (reportedly in the billions) that has not been properly distributed to artists due to faulty metadata or poor communication between services and organizations responsible for tracking and reporting these types of things.

Income streams are so important for independent artists. The fact is one song has the potential to make you money in many ways. It’s important to read up on all different music royalties so you’re not leaving potential money that belongs to you, sitting somewhere.

Before going any further, there are a few important terms and distinctions that need to be discussed:

• Royalty
• Copyright
• Songwriter
• Recording Artist
• Producer
• Composition
• Master Recording
• Music Publisher
• Record Label

What is a Royalty?

 
A royalty is a payment to the copyright owner for licensing the use of their asset or property.

As a songwriter, a royalty is money that is owed to you by some party for using your copyrighted music. For example, if someone streams your song on Spotify or Youtube, there’s a royalty for that and you would get paid by the platform. If you do a cover of someone’s song, they get a royalty from you.

If you own the copyrights to your songs, you’ll definitely want to collect all the possible royalties from your music. There are a number of different ways you can get paid for your songs, which will be discussed later.
 

Important Distinctions

Songwriter vs Recording Artist

 
A songwriter creates a musical composition, which is essentially the blueprint of a song. The authors of a composition are typically the lyricists (who write the words of a song) and the composer (who writes the music body or melody itself).

A recording artist is someone who performs the music composition that a songwriter creates. Generally speaking, the authors of a sound recording are the recording artist (who performs the lyrics) and the producer (who is in charge of how the composition sounds sonically).

These are important distinctions as the royalties involved are different for what role each person plays in the creation of a song. In some cases, the songwriter and recording artist are the same person or group in which they get more of copyright ownership and a larger share of royalties.
 

Composition vs Master Recording

 
There are two general parts of music that can be monetized, the composition (lyrics, melody, music) and the recorded version of the composition (also known as the sound recording, master or master recording).

A recording artist is involved in a master recording by performing the musical composition that a songwriter created. For instance, if Beyonce sings a song that someone else wrote and produced, she would be the recording artist.
 

Music Publisher vs Record Label

 
The musical composition of a song includes things like the structure, lyrics, melody and chord progression. In this case, a music publisher handles this aspect of music, whether it’s to help with the writing of the music to be performed or find opportunities for collecting royalties. Publishers represent songwriters and the compositions they create.

The master recording is the final product that you would typically consume or listen to when it comes to music. In the music industry, a record label is usually the one who will help you create the master recording so it can be sold and consumed to the public, whether it’s a physical copy or made available to download. Therefore, a label represents recording artists and the sound recording.

I like to think of the composition as a blueprint of the song where other artists can recreate or record their own master recording of it. This is essentially what we know as creating a ‘cover’ of a song.

It’s important to understand these concepts first as it starts to get confusing later when it comes to discussing licensing and royalties.

What is a Copyright?

 
The most fundamental part of music royalties is the copyright. Without any ownership of the composition or sound recording, you do not get any money or royalties from the song or record.

For more details about copyrights, you can read this blog on the basics of music copyrights that all musicians need to know.
 

What is a license for?

 
If any individual, group or company wanted to use your music for any reason, whether it’s the master recording for a video or the composition for a cover, they will need a license so that you, as the copyright owner, can get money from it in the form of a royalty. There are fair use laws, but I won’t go into that.

The licensing money you get when someone uses your music composition is set by the government at a flat rate (discussed below). Your permission is actually not required to obtain a license to use your music composition.

However, if someone using your composition wanted to tweak or change it a bit, like in a song cover, they would need your permission first. This includes changes like lyrics, melody and structure, but the tempo and key don’t need your approval.

On the other hand, if you have full rights to the master recording, you can charge someone as much as you want for a license to use your recording. Permission is required and you have the right to refuse requests.
 

What are the different royalties I can earn?

 
Depending on what ownership of a copyrighted song you have, you are entitled to collect certain royalties. Owning the copyright for a composition has music publishing royalties. Owning the master recording for a song has its own royalties.

It’s important to note that these different royalty streams are tracked, collected and paid out by different entities so you need to make sure you’re receiving everything you are owed. More on this at the end.

The 3 common royalties that a song can generate:

• Mechanical Royalties: If your song is streamed through a platform like Apple Music.
• Public Performance Royalties: If your song is performed or played in public like at a business.
• Synchronization (or Sync) Royalties: If a movie or TV show uses your song in a scene.

Now in order to get a royalty, a license must be issued in exchange for payment.
 

Mechanical Licensing / Royalty

 
A mechanical license is needed to produce copies of your songs, like for a CD or digital download. By granting others the right to produce copies of your songs through a mechanical license, you receive a monetary payment in exchange. This can apply to both the master recording and the music composition.

As of this writing, the mechanical royalty rate for a music composition is 9.1 cents (for songs up to five minutes) per copy sold physically such as on a CD or digitally as a download. This money is split evenly between the songwriter and publisher, unless you are both, then you get 100% of this money.

There’s a mechanical royalty involved when your music is streamed on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Youtube, but the rate varies.

Let’s say someone wanted to make a cover of one of your songs. In this case, they would need to get a license to use your composition to create their own master recording of the cover. If they decide to put that cover song on their album, they will need to pay you 9.1 cents for every copy of that cover being produced. If they press 500 CDs with one of your compositions on it, then you are owed $45.50 (500 x .091), even if they don’t sell all the copies.

The same goes if they make that cover available for download, you get 9.1 cents for every digital sale. If that song is streamed on Youtube or Spotify, you would get royalties from your composition every time it is watched or listened to.

If a song is over five minutes long, the rate is 1.75 cents per minute. So if your song is 7 minutes long, you get 12.25 cents (7 x 1.75) each time.

To collect mechanical royalties from your music compositions, a publishing administrator (discussed at the end) could help you with that.
 

Performance Licensing / Royalty

 
A performance license is needed for the “public performance” of a music composition. In other words, when your music is broadcasted or being performed live in public.

This includes places like:

• Businesses
• Restaurants
• Concert venues
• Radio stations
• Bars / Night Clubs / Lounges
• Colleges and Universities
• Sports arenas
• Shopping malls
• Gyms
• Amusements parks
• Music streaming services
• YouTube videos

Performance royalties are only collected for people who are authors or songwriters of the music composition, not the performing artists. As distinguished above, there’s a difference between the songwriter and performing artists.

To collect performance royalties, you need to register with a Performance Rights Organization (PRO). In the U.S., you have a few options, but you can only choose one to register your work with. Because a “public performance” involves the composition, these organizations represent songwriters, not recording artists.

The 3 main ones in the United States are:

• The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) – www.ascap.com
• Broadcast Music, Incorporated (BMI) – www.bmi.com
• Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC) – www.sesac.com

The main difference between these PROs is that ASCAP and BMI are both not-for-profit organizations so you can sign up with no restrictions. SESAC is for-profit and you must get invited in.

PROs (ASCAP, BMI or SESAC) pay you, the songwriter/publisher, with the money they collect from various businesses and establishments mentioned above by charging them a licensing fee called a “blanket license.” This gives them permission to play your music over speakers, broadcasted over the radio and performed live by an artist within the confines of their establishment as much as they want. You can look at this blanket license as like a subscription fee.

The PROs collect all the money they get from blanket licenses and divide it among all of their songwriters and publishers.

Music streaming also generates a performance royalty for each playback of the composition on top of the mechanical royalty.
 

Sync Licensing / Royalty

 
Lastly, you have a royalty type that comes from ‘synchronisation‘ licensing of your music composition.

Basically, you are giving some entity, like a corporation, movie studio, broadcasting networks or advertising agencies, permission to use your song to be ‘synchronized‘ to a moving picture, like video. Think about some of the songs you hear in movies, TV shows, commercials and video games. If the music supervisor didn’t hire and pay someone to compose original music for a work, then they acquired sync licenses to use the songs other people own.

By allowing some entity to use your song, they will usually give you a flat fee for the sync license. You should also get performance rights royalties if your song is broadcasted publicly through a movie or TV show, but this may be waived as a part of the flat fee.

As you can imagine, this a great way to get paid and help to increase exposure to new audiences. You just have to make sure the math works out to reflect the proper amount you are owed for how it’s being used and by who.

Two licenses need to be obtained from both the owner of the composition and the master recording, a composition sync license and a master sync license. If you are an independent artist who happens to own both, then you may have an advantage in getting your song used. Otherwise, it can get messy and frustrating.

I’ve witnessed a situation where a music video project was shelved because the artist I work with owned the composition of a song, but not the master recording. The label that owned the master recording did not let the entity who was doing the music video use the song, at least not at a price they were willing to pay. Despite all the money that went into this very expensive video shoot, the whole project went to waste because the master license was not secured.
 

What about royalties from the master recording?

 
If you own the master recording for your songs (as a recording artist and/or the producer), then you can generate royalties from mechanical and performance licenses.

There’s an interesting situation in the United States in regard to the public performance of the master recordings. Many other countries pay public performance royalties for the master recording to performing artists, producers and master owners under what is called Neighbouring Rights laws.

However, the U.S. only pays master owners for “digital transmissions” because of a law that says AM/FM radio only has to pay composition performance royalties and not sound recording performance royalties. You are still owed public performance royalties from masters in other countries. SoundExchange, mentioned below, helps you collect royalties from this.

Remember, Performance Rights Organizations (PRO) only collects performance royalties from the composition, not the master recording. Although SoundExchange is technically a PRO, it should not be confused or grouped with PROs, like ASCAP and BMI, because they represent songwriters and publishers. SoundExchange represents performing artists, labels and copyright holders of the sound or master recordings.

As mentioned earlier, a sync license allows the music composition to be used for a project like a movie, but a master use license is also needed to use the actual master recording in the project.

As the copyright holder of a master recording, you can charge anyone however much you want to use it. Even if they wanted to use just a part of the master recording, as in the case with sampling, you have the right to demand any price or deny permission.

Now that you understand how copyrights work for music and understanding royalties, you have to know how you actually collect this money.
 

Who can help me collect music royalties?

 
Like I said, all this music royalty stuff can be really confusing and complicated. The good news is there are services that track and collect the royalties you are owed, like a publishing administrator or publishing admin. Below are the 4 areas independent artists are going to need to register or sign up for that should cover most income sources from music royalties.
 

Mechanical Royalties from Music Compositions (Mechanical Licensing Collective)

 
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) launched in January of 2021 to help track, collect and pay mechanical royalties to songwriters and music publishers. They specially focus on music streamed and downloaded in the United States on Digital Service Providers (Spotify, Apple Music, etc). To get this royalty as a self-administered songwriter, you will need to become a member of the MLC.

To cover a wider range of mechanical royalties (including what the MLC covers), you would need a publishing administrator.

Publishing admin services, like SongTrust, help to collect royalties generated from your music compositions all around the world. This includes mechanical royalties from someone streaming, downloading or using your song in a cover. Some services will charge a yearly fee to collect but some just take a percentage.

When using a music distribution company, or music aggregator (to get your songs out to digital outlets like Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Google Play), you will often have a chance to sign up for their publishing admin services. I believe CDBaby and TuneCore offer it within their system, but DistroKid does not yet. This is a way to have a good majority of royalties collected and distributed to you in one company.

2. Performance Royalties from Music Compositions (Performance Rights Organization)

 
PROs will collect only performance royalties for compositions (or songwriting performance royalty) on your behalf as the songwriter/publisher, so you would want a publishing administrator service to help manage and collect the rest. Just remember that you don’t need to register your songs with your PRO if you have a publishing admin because they will do that for you.

There’s one important point you need to know when it comes to collecting performance royalties from your compositions. Performance royalties are paid out in two halves, a writer’s share and a publisher’s share. In most cases like in the US, it’s a 50/50 split, but it may vary in other countries.

Typically, that publisher’s share goes to the music publisher that represents the songwriter. However, it’s more common now that independent artists are self-publishing songs so they are entitled to the full share. If you don’t have a publishing company, you can pay for a publishing administrator to collect the publishing share for you.

Both BMI and ASCAP splits its performance royalties 50/50 between the songwriter and the publisher. This means you can only get 50% of it as the songwriter. You will have to register as a publishing company to collect the full share or go through a publishing administrator. If you’re just starting out, don’t worry creating a publishing company right away but keep it in the back of your mind.

Before deciding on which PRO to sign up for, do the research to see how each one differs and which is the right one for you.

3. Common Master Recording Royalties (Your Music Distributor)

 
Any other common royalties, like the mechanical royalties from the master recording, should be collected by your music distributor – like CDbaby, TuneCore or DistroKid (Affiliate Link). This includes sales from digital downloads (mechanical royalty) and interactive streams (performance royalty). For interactive streams, think of Spotify or Apple Music’s paid service where you have full control of what song you want to listen to as opposed to Pandora’s online radio feature, which is considered non-interactive streaming.

4. Performance Royalties Generated by Master Recordings (SoundExchange)

 
If you are a recording artist or producer who owns the rights to your masters, then you would need SoundExchange to collect digital performance royalties generated by master recordings (or recording performance royalty). This is specifically for non-interactive streams on streaming services (like Pandora), satellite radio services and non-interactive webcasts.

However, you are still owed public performance royalties from masters in other countries (since the U.S. does not pay this), which SoundExchange can help you to get.

If you’re strictly a songwriter who does not perform the songs and have no ownership in the actual sound recording, then you technically don’t need to sign up for SoundExchange. You would get performance royalties for your compositions from the Performance Rights Organization (PRO) that you signed up for.

Free Music Publishing Exam

Once you feel you have a good grasp on the topic, try putting your new knowledge to test. Knowing these basics is very important for independent artists and this can be a fun way to reinforce what you learned.

I came across this free music publishing exam from The Fowlkes Firm, a boutique entertainment and business law firm. If you’re interested in the test, you can download it here.
 

The post Music Royalties Simplified: An Income Source All Musicians Need to Know appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

The music industry can be overwhelming. Just like running your own business (because that’s what it is!), there are a lot of things to think when it comes to managing your enterprise. When you’re working solo and can’t afford to build a team yet, it helps to have a solid overview or plan on how you should go about making a living from your music.

As an independent artist, you have 4 general business models you can adopt to mold and build your music career around. These aren’t “official” models, but it should provide some clarity about which approach is best for you.

Although I will talk about them distinctly in their purest form, their characteristics aren’t mutually exclusive. This means you can technically incorporate different aspects of all four models at once. Certain characteristics will overlap so there’s not a black and white distinction between each model. In time, more business models for music will certainly emerge as the industry and technology are constantly evolving. For example, the rise of blockchain technology and NFTs in Web3 will certain reshape how the music industry operates in the near future.

Also, this is not a discussion about musician income streams, but more of a big picture view of how to manage and grow your business.

Please Note: This blog was written more for singer-songwriters, rappers and performing artist types in mind, but it can still be applicable to producers, DJs, beatmakers, music composers or even music teachers.
 

What are the types of business models in music?

 
The distinguishing factors between these models are how you:

• Approach monetization for your music
• Get discovered (growing your audience)
• Manage and distribute content

Here’s a brief overview of each model with a focus on how content is managed and distributed first. This will be followed by a breakdown of how the models approach monetization and discoverability.

Streaming / Accessibility Model

 
The music streaming model is the most popular business model we see out there for music. You can look at it as an evolved version of the old school major label model, so it could also be dubbed the “new” mainstream model. This is generally what more established artists do and what most emerging artists strive towards.

In this model, you favor making your music as accessible and available as possible on all digital and streaming platforms to remove any barriers to music discovery. A big component to get exposure for songs are playlists and leveraging social media platforms to push out free content (music, videos). Fan bases are built around social media platforms and email marketing lists, which are used to engage fans.

This model is a response to the fact that buying physical music has been on the decline over the past decade, so other income streams have become more of a priority for musicians such as live performances, merch sales and brand deals. For artists still trying to make a name for themselves, a standard day job is often needed to fund their music side hustle.

The drawback of this model is that you are in direct competition with a majority of musicians, including major label stars, on social media platforms. This highly saturated and competitive climate makes it harder for you to garner attention and build momentum.

Sales-Driven / Direct-to-Fan Model

 
In this approach, the main income stream is through direct-to-fan music and merchandise sales by limiting or restricting your music distribution to maximize the income potential. This could be done either by windowing it, making it only available through direct purchase from the artist (digital and physical).

This can be done using a platform like Bandcamp where the number of times you can stream a song can be limited so people can get a sample of the music. You can make songs or albums accessible on more streaming platforms at a later time. Or, you can decide to not make it available on any streaming platforms.

A sales-driven approach is more closed off where accessibility of your music is a threat to your ability to maximize profit. However, some musicians feel they don’t have a choice because of the unethical practices and unfair pay outs of major streaming services (like Spotify).

Online music marketing expert John Oszajca from Music Marketing Manifesto is a big advocate for this model. The intention is for artists to make a living relatively quicker, at least in theory. However, it is much more dependent on a planned out online marketing strategy and training/expertise to execute.

Part of the allure of this model is there’s less dependence on performing live in front of a physical audience, but you can still do it if you’re able to.

John is someone who falls deeper on this model, where you’re still able to raise awareness and create interest through social media ads. But you’re theoretically maximizing the ability to profit at the expense of discoverability.

Membership / Subscription Model

 
Another variation of the direct-to-fan model are membership platforms, like Patreon, where fans can become members of your private community, get more access to you as an artist and subscribe to get your exclusive content. Fans can directly support you financially by pledging a certain amount on a monthly basis, often with different pricing and tiered rewards.

Although Patreon has been around since 2013, it is a model that has not been largely adopted by musicians for a number of reasons, which I will get into later. It is the most popular membership platform, but it also encompasses a wide range of categories where music ranks as the 4th most popular category with over 14,000 music-related creators.

Even before Patreon, the idea of memberships for music has existed in the form of fan clubs that started offline. For example, Pearl Jam’s Ten Club started in 1990 and is still going strong. They offer an analog and digital version of their annual membership for their fans. Many of the rewards and perks of becoming a member are similar to what you would see in Patreon.

For simplicity, I grouped membership and subscription together. You often see them paired with each other, but there are differences between the models. One is based more around community while the other is more of a transactional relationship. For example, Spotify and Netflix is a subscription-based service that gives access to content for a recurring payment.

Patreon is community-driven, but you can set up your membership to have a transactional component where a fan/member pays a set amount each month to receive new content. This is not to be confused with crowdfunding campaigns like Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, although they are similar in some ways.

For those who use WordPress as their website platform, you also have the option of using Memberful to host your membership / subscription feature on your very own website. Patreon and Memberful (owned by Patreon) basically do the same thing, except Patreon is kept separate from your website and lives on Patreon.com. You can read more about the two here.

For example, Carrie Underwood hosts her online fan club membership on her website through Sparkart.

In response to the shortcomings of Patreon, new music-centric platforms that can host a membership / subscription model have popped up. They are still in the earlier stages, but you can check them out:

• Currents
• Ampled

Another platform a membership model can be hosted on is Facebook Groups. I’ve never seen a musician use it to host a membership with it, but it’s possible. You can learn more about it here.

You can technically facilitate a subscription model with OnlyFans. Although the platform tends to be more associated with adult content, musicians were on there briefly when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

A PG-13 alternative to OnlyFans is FanHouse. Their platform helps creators grow and monetize their fans through paid subscriptions. The featured creator on the platform is The Chainsmokers.

Lastly, you have Bandcamp that offers a subscription function as a way of getting monetarily compensated for the release of consistent content. A subscription based model can be viewed as an extension of a sales-driven / direct-to-fan model.
 

Livestreaming / Subscription Model

 
This is a newer model for musicians that is still evolving. A livestreaming model is where an artist uses a broadcast platform as the foundation of how content is distributed and monetized. With your own broadcast channel, you’re in control over the content and programming you want to share with fans.

The defining characteristic of this model is that fan engagement primarily happens on livestream, which influences other aspects of a music career. What helps with audience growth is the fact that the model is largely community-driven.

Livestreaming capabilities on social media platforms have been around for years like Instagram Live, Facebook Live, YouTube Live and Periscope (Twitter), but the lack of monetization sources early on made it challenging to make a sustainable business model. I have heard of musicians making a living off donations and tips from Facebook Live, but it’s rare.

As a result, livestreaming is treated more like a side hustle or marketing tool.

In 2015, a broadcasting platform called YouNow popped up to allow livestreamers to earn money. Musicians like Emma McGann were able to thrive there.

However, things have changed in the past few years. Making a living off livestreaming has become more feasible because of the monetization opportunities available. Platforms like Twitch have led the way to make this model more sustainable for creators. Raquel Lily and JVNA, musicians on Twitch that I follow, are good examples of this.

Even though a livestreaming model is more common for video game streamers, I feel there’s a lot of opportunities for musicians to build here. Twitch is associated more with video games, but their music community continues to grow and provides an opportunity for independent artists.

Twitch is the most popular livestreaming platform, but other major platforms are catching on and implementing similar monetization features to stay competitive.

For example, YouTube also can support a livestreaming model as they have introduced membership / subscription features similar to Twitch like custom emojis (emotes as they’re called on Twitch). They also have their version of Twitch’s virtual currency ‘bits’ and cheers called Superchat and Super Stickers. YouTube’s Channel Membership now feels like a cross between Twitch and Patreon.

Facebook looks like they are slowly rolling out with more monetization options for livestreamers and video creators with fan subscriptions and stars.

In order to qualify for these exclusive livestreaming revenue sources, there are certain requirements you must meet on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook.

Even TikTok has the ability to go live and creators can earn donations (called coins).

I will focus on Twitch when discussing this livestreaming model because it’s currently the standard that other platforms are imitating.
 

Monetization

 
As mentioned earlier, what differentiates these music business models is what you’re focusing on or building upon to make money.

Before jumping in, I want to touch on a commonality all these models have. It is less about profiting off the music itself and more about monetizing the brand.

Many of us are so used to the concept of music being the product that it may be hard to let go. Although you can get paid from your songs (i.e. licensing), it’s role and utility has evolved in today’s society.

Your art is a marketing tool to build brand loyalty so you can push other brand-centric products like tickets to live performances, merch, livestream subscriptions and sponsorships. The idea is to drive brand awareness and fandom through your content to the point where people are devoted and willing to financially support artists in more profitable ways than music streaming.

Your objective is to get people to invest in who you are as an artist and not just in your music alone.

In its purest form, a sales-driven model treats the music more like a product, but you are leveraging branding to build that relationship.

Music Streaming / Accessibility Model

 
In a music streaming model, independents are often at a disadvantage when competing against bigger name artists and major-label megastars. It doesn’t help that major labels have a strong influence on what songs are included in popular, curated playlists so their artists get more exposure, and ultimately a larger share of streaming royalties. This makes it difficult for independent artists to depend on music stream royalties and payouts from streaming services.

The bigger issue is that these services don’t pay out enough per stream with the payout system they use.

Generally speaking, platforms like Spotify and Apple Music calculate payouts based on total revenue they get from monthly subscriptions divided by the total number of all streams. Depending on how many streams your songs generated, or stream shares, as Spotify calls it, you get a percentage of that total revenue after the platform takes their cut.

So let’s say Spotify brings in $1,000,000 of revenue and takes 30%. This leaves $700,000 to split for all artists on the platform. If you generated 1% of all the songs streamed, you will get roughly $7,000.

Even though one of your fans may exclusively listen to your music on Spotify, their $10 monthly payment is still split among everyone else, with big-name artists getting a larger share of the pie. Definitely not fair. This means that monetizing your music on streaming is a non-factor as a good majority of independent artists will not get anything substantial to live off of as an income source.

Of course, each streaming platform pays differently and it will fluctuate. Every 1,000 streams on Spotify could pay you roughly about $4.37. For Apple Music, it’s $7.35 for every 1,000. With over a billion users, Youtube is counted as a streaming platform for music as well. The downside is for every 1,000 streams on Youtube, you would only net $0.69.

Most artists I know would be lucky to get 10,000 streams, let alone 1,000,000.

I should note that none of these music business models have music royalties as the main focus. It serves as a nice source of passive income that can grow over time with a deeper back catalog, especially if you’re a songwriter who owns rights to all your music and sound recordings.

If a music streaming model is shown to not be financially lucrative for independents, why would anyone continue to play along? By forgoing the short term income for improved music discovery, you can set yourself for potential long-term success. Music streaming is about maximizing discoverability and raising brand awareness to grow an audience. The focus isn’t on generating income initially, so it’s important to incorporate a sales-driven component as you build your brand equity.

Russ is a good example of this model, releasing all his music for free through SoundCloud. In theory, you are sacrificing short-term profits by making your music easily accessible everywhere online for a potential increased long-term success. The songs are used to build a fanbase while offering small invitations to your brand.

In other words, you’re not making money directly from the music because it’s being offered for free. You’re removing any barriers to music discovery to make it easier to grow your audience. The music serves as a tool to attract potential monetization opportunities in the future.

In most cases, you may still sell physical music because fans will want to support you in other ways. However, artists adopting this model make money with a day job, side hustles, doing live shows or selling merchandise, rather than making money directly from music sales or royalties.

It’s about using your music and content, whether it’s on Spotify or Instagram, as a vehicle for fans to consume your brand. Your songs are not the product. The goal isn’t to get people to make money off the music, it’s to make money off your brand. Your songs bridge that gap so fans get to know you on a deeper level, which is why understanding branding is so important.

However, not everyone wants to work a day job or is willing to play the long game, which leads to the next model.

Sales-Driven / Direct-to-Fan Model

 
As the name entails in this model, you let music sales directly drive your relationship with fans.

In a sales-driven model, you are maximizing your earning potential by limiting or restricting access to your music. After all, the logic behind it is that there’s less incentive to pay for music or support an artist if you can access it for free through streaming.

The reason why many artists and record labels have been heavily impacted by this shift towards music downloads, and now streaming, over the years is that selling physical music has a higher profit margin. In addition, music sales were driven by scarcity since tapes, CDs and vinyl records were the only way to listen and discover music outside of the radio.

It wasn’t too long ago you could make at least $9 on each CD sold by charging $10 to $15 dollars for a CD that costs about $1 to press. If you compare, selling one $10 CD makes more money than getting one song streamed 1,000 times on Spotify or even Apple Music. It will also cost artists much more than $1 to generate over 1,000 streams to see the same type of return a CD would bring.

Of course, even with this model, it’s not all profit because you’ll most likely have expenses from making the music itself and marketing it to your fans/new customers.

In a sales-driven approach, you are leveraging Facebook Ads, landing pages (or squeeze pages) and email marketing to attract and nurture a loyal following to monetize directly. You can sell your music to fans with platforms like Squarespace, Shopify and Bandcamp to keep most of that money as profit.

The fact is there are true fans who will support you financially out there, so this approach is really about seeking out those people through various marketing strategies.

There’s less need to perform live so it’s great for people who have issues with travel restrictions. But remember, live performances are currently the most important income source for full-time musicians, barring any global pandemic like COVID-19, of course.

The obvious downside with this approach is you’re putting financial barriers on content that people in society are accustomed to getting for free. Also, this windowed approach to music releases is that it can hinder your potential to reach a larger audience because it’s more limited.

Membership / Subscription Model

 
In the membership model, fans pay you a monthly amount or pledge to become members of your community to receive various benefits. The highlight of this model is in the recurring, predictable income directly from your supporters that allows you to build a sustainable career.

The average amount fans or subscribers pay (patrons as they’re called on Patreon) is $6.70. Getting 1,000 people to pay you $5 a month should allow most artists to live comfortably from this income alone.

Just like in a sales-driven model, there may be some level of restricting accessibility to content like you would see in a subscription model. In that case, you may want to create content exclusively for Patreon like what Eligh does for his channel. The difference is you’re actually getting paid a set amount directly each month for your work.

In some cases, you will have to figure out what kind of extra value you can provide in Patreon that people can’t get anywhere else.

When it comes to direct-to-fan monetization, I feel a membership/subscription is the best case. The problem is it’s not easy to do as I will address in the next section.

Livestreaming / Subscription Model

 
When it comes to monetization, a livestreaming model often incorporates income sources found in all the other models. However, there are some revenue sources that are exclusive to the livestreaming platform.

There are three income sources Twitch offers their creators – ad revenue, subscriptions and bits (virtual currency).

Twitch allows anyone to tune in and watch any channel for free so there’s no paywall or barriers to access live content. But a 30-second ad will often display before you can see the steam. As a creator, you can get a piece of that ad revenue as an affiliate or partner. You can also press a button to show an ad to all your viewers, which you can get paid for as well.

Viewers of your livestream channel can pay a subscription fee each month to receive a set of benefits or perks. There are 3 subscription tiers at $4.99, $9.99 and $24.99. Twitch gets 50% of this money and you get the rest. If you’re a top-tier creator, you get 70% of this revenue.

Bits is a form of virtual currency that fans can use to tip livestreamers during their broadcast. The cost of bits will vary depending on how much you buy. There is a discount when you buy a larger amount. At the base level, it costs $1.40 to buy 100 bits. Streamers make about 1 cent per bit.

On top of this, livestreaming can help with driving demand for music streaming, touring, merch and sponsorships.

It’s important to note that you have to meet certain requirements before you are eligible to earn livestream monetization. This does mean you have to become more invested and established on one platform to see the full benefits.

As mentioned earlier, other platforms like YouTube and Facebook are competing with Twitch in this space so you’ll see the same monetization opportunities but possibly different pay splits.

Discoverability / Growing a Fan Base

 
To have a successful music career, you will need devoted fans and paying customers. It’s important to understand how growing a fan base is approached in each model. There are various ways to get discovered and each of these models focuses on slightly different aspects.

Membership / Subscription Model

 
As amazing as it sounds, platforms like Patreon have a major drawback.

A membership model heavily depends on you having an established audience or fan base somewhere else in order to be successful. You would need to attract your fans from other platforms like Instagram or Facebook to financially support you on a regular basis.

However, this is not for everyone. Even with a large following, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be successful as it requires a different way of operating.

From my research, I discovered that if you execute a membership model properly, about 1% of your social media following will likely become paying members. This is a best-case scenario so a majority will see less than 1% convert.

The key distinction is that discoverability on Patreon is non-existent. It’s entirely up to you to convert your following from other platforms into patrons. To achieve this, you have to get fans emotionally invested in you as an artist and brand first, before they are willing to consider committing to a membership.

In other words, a membership model is not suitable for new or emerging artists looking for a quick payoff. It’s not going to happen. A business model that offers a recurring monthly income is very lucrative, but it will require a long time investment to build up to that point.

A surprising statistic I learned in my research is that around 70% of musicians on Patreon have less than 10 paying members. This means that a lot of artists are launching campaigns without building a sizable following first.

One big challenge is that the concept of being a member of an artist’s community and paying a subscription to a music artist is still foreign. Because of this, it can be difficult to convert people over to a membership model no matter how well known you are.

I’ve seen a number of independent artists with a large following try Patreon, only to fail and completely abandon it months later. I was involved once with such an artist.

On the other hand, I have also seen a membership model executed successfully. I helped Eligh launch and manage his Patreon page for over 2 years now, which has been quite successful so far with over 600 patrons. He is ranked in the top 100 in the music category, but I can tell you it’s not easy to get there.

Social media ads could be used to grow subscribers. For Eligh, we use Facebook and Instagram ads every month to promote new exclusive content to bring his fans on other social media channels into his Patreon funnel.

There’s one tactic that was used for him to grow over 600 patrons. You can learn what it is and much more in my Patreon for Musicians eBook.

Livestreaming / Subscription Model

 
When talking about a livestreaming model on Twitch, it will help to have some following on other platforms. Creating an account and going live isn’t going to do much for you just like starting a Patreon isn’t going to mean you’ll get members flocking to you.

The good news is, unlike Patreon, Twitch does have discoverability features built-in. These are algorithms that will recommend viewers some channels that they feel are similar to what they already watch.

Twitch users can also browse categories. As of this writing, all music is lumped into one category so it’s not organized by genre or anything. Because their music and performings arts category is still growing, there’s plenty of opportunities to build here while it’s still not heavily saturated.

Because livestreaming is very community-driven, networking and building relationships with other musicians and creators on the platform can help.

At the moment, a livestreaming model is best used as a side project while you use other tools and platforms to build your following. Just like with Patreon, it’s not the best idea to start livestreaming on Twitch if you’re starting your career from scratch.

Sales-Driven / Direct-to-Fan Model

 
In a sales-driven model, you will be heavily dependent on using Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads and email marketing to grow a fan base. Part of this model is to enable you to make money from your music/products without having to tour and do live performances, which I like to think of as important avenues for exposure and quality face to face engagement.

In general, the way it works is you use Facebook Ads targeted towards certain types of people who are likely to enjoy your music based on certain demographics, locations and interests. The most effective media to do this is with a video and leveraging video views custom audiences for retargeting.

The goal is to get people to click on your ad so they are taken to a squeeze page where you entice them to give you their email address in exchange for content such as a free download of your music. Once you have their email, you would take them through a series of automated emails that can help to nurture your relationship with them, which eventually leads them to buy music or merch directly from you.

This model depends more on technical online skills, understanding branding and writing effective ad copy as well. Not to mention, you need consistent money for an ad budget.

Streaming / Accessibility Model

 
When it comes to discoverability in a streaming model, you’re often focusing on social media sharing (word of mouth), YouTube and playlists on streaming platforms. For example with Spotify, you want to take advantage of their playlist system and the opportunities available for discovery.

There are also automated playlists like Spotify’s Release Radar that show your new music in the playlists of those who follow you. One type of playlist that can help push your music to new potential fans is Discover Weekly, which is algorithm-based.

You can also submit a song to Spotify to be considered for one of their editorial playlists.

In my opinion, the biggest mistake that musicians make with a music streaming model is limiting themselves to only organic social media posting and playlisting.

Like with a sales-driven model, you want to utilize social media ads, email marketing and understand online marketing to get more exposure, but you would also want to do live performances as much as possible. It’s not scalable and can be slower trying to get fans one by one, but I just feel there’s nothing more authentic than recruiting fans through real life.
 

Which model is the best for me?

 
There are a number of things you will need to evaluate so you can decide which model is best for you and your goals. What works for one artist, may not work for you.

Here are some factors to consider:

What are your career goals? If you’re mainly looking to sustain financially as soon as possible without having to “blow up” or “make it big”, then a sales-driven model makes more sense. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a larger audience potential and influence, then a music streaming model should be your focus.

Where are you in your career? If you’re a relatively new artist, a membership model may not be where you want to start. This is not to say it’s impossible, but I see it more like a next step once you’ve built an audience and become more established.

Are you a solo artist or in a band? Being in a band makes it a bit challenging because you have more mouths to feed. A streaming model where you can eventually incorporate a lot of paid gigs would be ideal. Solo artists often find more success through livestreaming so that’s something to consider.

What skills or talents do you have? Are you good at improvisation and talking to people? Can you do looping and make beats on the spot or do freestyle raps? Are you able to perform a lot of cover songs? If yes, then a livestreaming model may work for you. Or maybe you’re an instrumentalist or beat maker who doesn’t want to put yourself in the spotlight, a music streaming and sales-driven model is for you.

What type of music do you create? Certain genres can reveal fan listening habits. If it’s Hip Hop, R&B, Latin Pop or Metal, then it may make more sense to focus on a music streaming model.

What’s the demographic of your audience? Your audience or target market may be a generation from the “old school” who still prefer physical music over downloads. If that’s the case, a music streaming, membership or livestreaming model may not be ideal.

How soon do you want to make money from music? I think it’s safe to say most musicians want to make money from their music as soon as possible. Theoretically, an accessibility/streaming model would take longer for you to make a living while a sales-driven could help you get there faster. The downside is that a sales-driven model requires more specific training in online marketing and ad budget to make the most of this approach.

Do you like to perform live and interact with fans? A big source of income for an independent artist is live performance. If it’s something you’re good at, then a music streaming can eventually work out for you. However, if you can’t perform live (disability, family, living situation, etc), then a sales-driven model or livestreaming model may be for you.

Are you comfortable being transparent and accessible? From a fan’s perspective, one of the major attractions of a livestream or membership site is being able to get to know an artist and interact with them. Whether sharing your music-making process or revealing details of your personal life, fans like to connect and engage with their favorite artists this way. If this is what you’re comfortable with, a livestreaming and membership model is ideal.

These are some things you’ll want to think about in deciding on a business model. There is no right or wrong model, but each has its strengths and weaknesses and are suited for different types of artists. You can technically incorporate elements of 4 models at once, or some hybrid combination of a couple.
 

Conclusion

 
I know the music streaming model gets the most attention, but hopefully, this blog helps to show that there are alternatives and the different variations that can come about.

I’m not fond of a sales-driven model in its purest form. This was what initially triggered me to write about music business models in the first place. I understand there are some artists who feel music streaming isn’t right for them and there should be other options. But romanticizing music as the product and focusing on direct music sales is holding on to a reality that is slowly fading.

There’s no doubt that there’s always going to be people willing to support the musicians they like by buying their music, but the trend is showing that it’s an uphill battle.

I’ve met a couple of people who have used a sales-driven approach they learned from the Music Marketing Manifesto with some success. The big problem is that even music downloads are slowly becoming irrelevant, so it’s hard to monetize music, let alone capture someone’s email address.

However, the online marketing skills learned from a sales-driven approach is still very valuable and applicable to other models. In reality, most musicians are going to operate with some combination of elements from the different models. After all, you need to incorporate as many income streams as you possibly can to be financially successful in music as an independent.

Personally, what I use and advocate with the artists I work with is a hybrid between a music streaming and sales-driven model. My big focus is on sustainability for artists and I feel it would be best to eventually transition into something a membership/subscription model. However, Patreon is something you need to be ready for, which is why I feel there are 6 key factors you should evaluate beore jumping in. The two platforms I’m really high on to help facilitate that are Patreon and Twitch, which is why I wrote eBooks on them.

Hopefully, this blog helped you figure out what’s the best route for you. At the end of the day, your number priority is producing quality content and building an audience first. The money will follow once you can show you can develop a strong brand and fanbase.

The post Choosing the Independent Music Business Model That Works For You appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

I had the chance to see Chance the Rapper live here in Sacramento recently on April 27, 2017. Although I can’t say I’m a huge fan, he does make great music and a down-to-earth guy you want to root for.

Those who have read a few of my previous blogs know that I have referenced Chance a few times as the poster child for this paradigm shift that music should be freely accessible. Embracing this shift is a mindset and approach I believe will be critical to the future success of all musicians. Offering your music without a price tag and knowing that the days of records sales are dying so all musicians need to start adopting now.

Obviously he’s not the first person to offer his music for free, but he has been getting a lot of attention for it in the past because of everything he’s accomplished so far in his young career as an independent.

With all of Chance’s success, I think artists and musicians are curious to know what they can do to improve their chances of making it like he did. I don’t have much experience in the music industry yet to know exactly what it takes. But as a music fan who understands sociology, psychology and marketing, what I can tell you is that success doesn’t come from talent and hard work alone.

Chance the Rapper has demonstrated that the key to success is that there isn’t one key. In my opinion, reaching his level of success in music depends on a number of key factors and variables.

After watching him closely and seeing him live recently, here’s my list of 7 primary principles/factors I feel contributed to his massive success as in an independent that I feel other artists and musicians can learn from and apply.
 

Who is Chance the Rapper?

 
For those who don’t know, Chance the Rapper is a 24-year-old high school drop out from Chicago who has become one of the hottest rappers since blowing up in 2016.

What makes him special is that not only is he making history as an independent artist, but doing so by challenging the current music industry paradigm and dispelling the “traditional” way of how artists typically make it in the music business. He has achieved superstar status without having sold a single record, putting out physical releases and any label support.

Here’s what he’s done so far in his young career:

• Nominated for 7 Grammys and won 3 in 2017 (Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Album)
• Became the first unsigned artist to perform on Saturday Night Live (December 15, 2015).
• His third mixtape release, Coloring Book, in 2016 was the first streaming-only album to ever receive and win a Grammy nomination.
• Coloring Book was the first streaming-exclusive album to chart on Billboard 200 (Debuted at number 8)
• Grew his social media following: Facebook (1.7 million), Twitter (3.79 million), Instagram (4.8 million), Soundcloud (1.5 million), Youtube (782k)
• Continues to sell out merch and tour dates (http://chanceraps.com/)
• Wrote parts of 5 songs on his idol Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo album.

1. Hard Work + Persistence + Patience = Groundwork for Success

 
As cliché and obvious as it is, I think it’s important to start off by saying you need to work hard and be patient if you want to make it as an independent artist. From my perspective as a music fan, it can take at least 5 – 15 years to really pick up steam and build a sustainable career in music. I would say Chance is the exception by being on the shorter of my estimation.

Chance wasn’t just “lucky” either. He made all the right moves leading to his breakout and laid the proper groundwork that lead to his success. Along with the music, he was known earlier on for being a very energetic performer, or as his manager said “Chance turnt the fuck up every night.” Because of that, people really wanted to see his shows.

I don’t know all the specifics of how many hours he put in, but I imagine it’s the standard hustle that we all need to put forth if we want to accomplish our goals. It should go without saying, but I don’t think it hurts to remind. One things for sure, he was really involved with music in his school and community. Chance participated in an after-school program called YOUmedia and at an open-mic venue called Young Chicago Authors.

The other component to hard work is having a goal, sound strategy and game plan to execute. After all, it’s certainly possible do a lot of hard work that does not contribute to what you want to accomplish as an artist.
 

2. MGM – Make good music.

 
Making good music is another obvious factor in Chance’s popularity, but notice how I didn’t say talent. Some might say talent is a huge factor (maybe the biggest), and I acknowledge that it is important.

While it’s clear that Chance the Rapper has immense talent, in the same token, pure talent is not the primary factor to making it in the music business. I’m a firm believer that talent, most of the time, is not something that is innate or a skill you are genetically predisposed to be good at. It’s something that can be learned, developed and harnessed over time through practice, persistence and patience, especially when starting at a young age.

At the end of the day, it’s the byproduct of that talent and creativity that really matters – good songs and music. It’s the X-factor of what allows artists to rise to the top and garner attention. Talent needs to be able to translate into tangible creative outputs that resonate with people. After all, how many of us really follow anyone who can only sing or rap really well but not put out any good music?

I don’t make music or have any musical talents myself, but I know that all the artists and musicians we love don’t hit home runs every single time. There’s trial and error involved too.

If you want a sustainable career in music, you must be self-aware and honest enough with yourself to know if what you’re making is actually good or not while be able to learn from the criticism. At the same time, you also need to have the persistence to keep putting your music out there when your songs don’t take off as you hoped.
 

3. Music accessibility over ownership. Streaming is the future.

 
When I was at the Chance concert, one thing that really stood out to me was how young his fan base is… also that they really love to smoke weed. I swear the average age felt like it was 18 years old, but was probably closer to 24 or 25.

Age is worth noting because of the trend with music streaming, which so happens to be more popular with Millennials and the Hip Hop / R&B genre. It only makes sense that the Chance the Rapper fan base reflects the demographic that is streaming music the most. Although musicians and artists are upset that the value of music has been on the decline, this idea of music being free is not a fad – it’s where the future is headed, Chance and his fans have embraced this change.

“Paid audio streaming services are growing in popularity, especially among under 25s. One-third of 16-24 year olds now pay for an audio streaming service.” – IFPI Music Consumer Report 2016

Chance the Rapper made all his music releases for free under the label of a “mixtape.” By doing this, he removed any barriers to access and discover his music so it’s easier to spread through the masses. (Update: To be fair, I later learned they he did try to sell a song (Juice from Acid Rap) earlier in his career, but it was taken down for sale shortly after. The song had a sample that didn’t clear and they didn’t want to be sued.)

He was ahead of the game. Having your music free to download is a marketing strategy that will be the norm as younger music listeners become accustomed to it and expect it. This doesn’t mean you still can’t sell physical copies of your record, but you may want to reevaluate how you distribute your music.
 

4. Be honest. Be humble. Be yourself.

 
One of the most captivating qualities about Chance the Rapper is how genuine and humble he is. He reiterated during a few moments in the show that he was a regular dude just like everyone else here. At one point, while staring into the crowd, he got emotional as he was going to tear up in amazement that so many people would come out to see him. To me, being honest and humble makes him so much more relatable and easier to connect with.

The other thing Chance the Rapper proves is you can make it being your true authentic self. Let’s be real, with the hat and overalls, I know I’m not the only one who thinks he looks like a Super Mario brother! He doesn’t really look like your typical mainstream “rapper.” Yet, people still love and embrace him for exactly who he is.

The great thing about music in the digital age is that there’s a market and niche for just about every sub-genre and category. You don’t need to fake the funk and cater to what is currently hot to make it. Stay true to yourself and speak your truth. Authenticity wins. There are so many angles and markets you can hone in on, which leads to the next point.
 

5. Focus on a niche. Build your brand.

 
The most obvious side of his brand is his faith in Christianity. Although he’s not branded as a ‘Christian rapper’ or artist, it definitely has a presence in his brand as there’s a strong influence of Gospel music in his songs and lyrics. As you would imagine, there was some subtle Christian symbolism on the stage for his show, but nothing too obvious like crosses. In other words, he’s found the right branding mix that works for him.

For Chance, his strong, consistent branding is one of the main reasons he’s been able to achieve financial success without selling a single record. Branding sells. It’s what fuels demand for your merch sales and live shows.

When I got there and when I left his concert, I paid close attention to how long the merch lines were. It’s clear that he’s built a powerful brand that resonates with so many people.

Find the branding angle that is the most authentic to you and go all-in on it. Know what you stand for, what you represent and what your message is as a brand. Some may be turned off by the idea of being a “brand,” but you may be holding yourself back. Ultimately, your music and brand are the true differentiators that will help separate you in a very saturated music industry.
 

6. Be about the people, community and fans.

 
I believe that when you serve your fans and community as an artist, you win.

Music and art are ultimately about the people who consume it and are impacted by it. To me, a great artist is someone who acknowledges this. Chance the Rapper embodies this idea of selflessness.

Based on his donations and activities in the community, we also know that Chance is a big supporter of the arts and music programs in public schools. He donated $1 million to Chicago Public Schools to support arts and enrichment programming.

Here’s a Facebook Live video he did to make that announcement:

We know that he cares about social issues that are prevalent in Chicago and many other urban areas:

Lastly, he also did something I’ve never heard any other artist do – he fought back against scalpers who were trying to price gouge tickets to his show. As a result, he managed to buy back almost 2,000 tickets from these scalpers to his won festival, and resell them back to fans at fair prices.

That story was from his last tour in 2016. He also did this again for the tour I attended.

After winning his 3 Grammys, he announced that he was going on tour again. As you would imagine, it was a good opportunity for scalpers to capitalize at the height of the hype as tickets were selling out across the country. He then posted this on Facebook about how he was getting tickets back from scalpers:

As a community-oriented artist who supports the arts, Chance knows how to leverage his success and build his music legacy. Most artists reading this are probably not at the level to donate $1 million, but getting involved in the community doesn’t cost anything except your time. Not only does it feel good to help in general, I believe there are advantages to taking a community approach as an artist.
 

7. Build a team ASAP. It’s difficult to do it alone.

 
At a certain point in your career, you will need to build a team around you so that you can focus more on making music. The scarcest resource you have as an artist is your time, so you need to find every way possible to free up more of it.

Your money can be scarce too, but buying yourself time by paying and recruiting the right people on your team will ultimately provide more opportunities to make money by giving you the time to put out more music. Chance didn’t have any label support, but he did have right people in his corner early on.

It’s important to find people for your team who believe in what you do, share your vision and handle the right tasks. While still a teenager, Chance got a piece of advice from Childish Gambino.

“Donald Glover told me when I was, like, 19 to hire a business manager,” Chance explained.

This was early in his career before all the financial success. Most people reading this may already know they will need to build a team eventually, but it’s probably sooner than you think. The problem is not having the money and or knowing the right people to trust for your team. That’s why networking is so important. Start with your local community because you’ll never know who you may find that may have the specific skills you need, like website creation, promotion and artist management.

Chance’s manager Pat Corcoran is perfect example of this.

After studying to be a psychologist and dabbling in concert promotion, where he met Chance, Pat dropped out of college in 2012 to manage the rapper full time. “I’m going to work for Chance until we’re headlining festivals and winning Grammys — or until I get fired.” He wasn’t a big shot, expensive manager. He was a former promoter and blogger in the Chicago scene. There’s a great documentary type video by Complex that goes in depth with Pat Corcoran of the story how his relationship with Chance began and how they grew together to this point now. Very cool and inspiring video I highly recommend checking out.

As of August 2016, he has 32 people on his team including musicians, merchandise, video, booking and management.

The main point is if you’re serious about music and your career is picking up momentum, you need to prioritize building your team. This means really assessing what you’re spending your money on and investing any money you can towards your career by hiring the right people for your team. Also, get yourself out there and network because you might find trustworthy people who want to grow with you and be willing to do the job for the experience.
 

Conclusion

 
Not only is Chance the Rapper an amazing artist, he’s become a role model not only for his peers and community, but also for other musicians who want to be able to have the impact he has in the music industry.

Just make sure to keep your expectations in check as following all these principles does not guarantee success. Scientifically and mathematically speaking, there’s so many other variables involved (upbringing, life experiences, family environments, socioeconomic factors, perception, geography) to account for. This means that it’s really about how you navigate the music industry and handle situations you do have control over. But I do believe that if you implement those 7 principles together, you’ll have a much better chance of making it in this changing music landscape.

You can see clips and photos from my Chance the Rapper experience on my Instagram post:

A post shared by D-4 (David) Nguyen (@deefur) on Apr 28, 2017 at 9:38pm PDT

The post Was Chance the Rapper lucky? 7 Principles Indie Artists Can Apply From his Success appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.

One of the fundamental ways of getting more exposure is making your music easily accessible in the right places. The more people who hear your music, the quicker they can decide if they like it, and hopefully, convert into a fan down the road. Also, it makes it easier for fans to tell their friends about your music through word of mouth.

The biggest barrier to this process is poor marketing and limiting access to your music, which usually happens if people have to pay to discover your music or you only provide snippets of songs.

The solution to getting more exposure, and hopefully new fans, is to give away your music for free as a marketing strategy and an investment into your brand. To some, it may seem like a radical idea. We have romanticized this traditional music model that revolves around musicians selling records.

Unfortunately, those days are slowly coming to an end, as technology has changed how we consume music and shaping our expectations. People just don’t buy records to discover new music anymore. As a society, we are seeing a shift from ownership to accessibility with the popularity of streaming.

The fact is, free music is everywhere. You can basically listen to any popular songs on YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp and even Spotify all for free. Of course, as an independent, your music is less likely to be as freely distributed or accessible. Hopefully, that will change by the time you finish this blog.

Especially if you still haven’t established yourself yet, giving your music away for free makes sense to gain exposure and potentially grow your fan base. The concept behind giving away free music is that you are sacrificing short-term monetary gains for a larger payout in the long run.

If you feel like you’ve done well in your career so far by not offering your music for free, more power to you. However, it is possible you are limiting your potential.
 

Is giving away free music necessary?

 
In a world where music streaming is dominating how we consume music, it’s harder to sustain a music career by selling records. With technology making music so easily accessible and transferable, our future expectations of music are changing.

If you’re not totally convinced that consumer behavior has shifted away from people purchasing music to downloading it for free, take a look at these stats:

• 70% of online users find nothing wrong in online piracy (approx 90% of 15 and 16-year-olds feel this way)
• 61% of online users don’t believe they should have to pay for music
• There are $12.5 billion in economic losses per year due to piracy in the music industry
• 95% of music downloaded online is illegal

Based on this, it’s safe to assume that upcoming generations won’t expect to pay for music downloads and will easily find a way to listen to music for free regardless. Although, this may not be the case just yet for the older demographic (40 and over) as it may take them a bit longer to adapt to music streaming.

Listeners used to buy, then listen to music and hope that they liked it, but that is no longer the case. There was a time before file-sharing took off where major labels intentionally pushed albums with 1 or 2 hot radio songs, but the rest of the songs were not good. As you would imagine, music consumers got fed up with this shady practice, which may have contributed to the popularity of music piracy. In other words, consumers don’t want to take the chance they may not like the music.

In order to adapt to consumer expectations, the most reliable way to promote music is to consistently have people hear and download it… for free! The end goal is for people to get to know and love your music. Then, they may want to own it, and that’s when you will actually start selling your records.
 

How I am supposed to make a living off music then?

 
I know that making professional quality songs in a studio can be expensive. You’re not alone if it’s hard for you to come to terms with giving it away. However, in the present music economy, it’s becoming the cost of entry. Rather than framing it as “giving away free music,” I think of it more as investing money into your brand to generate brand awareness.

In this digital age, you’ll be able to monetize your music through music publishing and your brand. The common forms of income your brand generates are through live shows and merch. By using free music as a marketing strategy to attract and build an audience, you’ll be able to funnel them into other areas of your business to make money. This means that your priority as a musician is to grow your fan base by making your music as accessible as possible to the right audience.

You can reminisce about the good old days of record sales, but these changes in music consumption are real. Adapting to this new model where monetizing your branding is the central focus makes the most sense. In the new model, you reap the larger benefits in the long term by foregoing short term sales.

For many independent musicians, especially those just starting out or not fully established, it may be difficult to sustain a music career without record sales. This is why it’s more important to have other sources of income or a day job to keep you financially afloat for the time being.
 

Is free music actually “free?”

 
Giving out free music as a marketing strategy shouldn’t be in vain. The idea is that you want to be the one to upload your music through the channels you choose so that you can take control of the relationship or at least get something out of it that will help your career in the long term.

When giving away your music for free, it’s usually in exchange for an email or social media follow. You could set up your email list service to automatically send a download link to those who sign up for your mailing list through an automated process. It may not seem much for the investment you made into making your music, but don’t underestimate the value of the email address!

You don’t always have to give downloads for free. Services like Bandcamp have the option for people to ‘name their price’ and pay what they think is a fair amount. If they input $0, they will have to leave an email address.

The principle that is at play during an exchange like this is reciprocity. When you offer something that is of value for free, there will be those who want to return the favor and find a way to support you if they like your music and truly resonate with your brand. That’s why it’s also important to follow up with an email with a link to buy your merch if you happen to collect email addresses in exchange for the music.

The other benefit to free downloads is collecting data. Depending on how you distribute the free music online and if you have Google Analytics, you can gain access to valuable stats about what sites your fans are coming from, what city they are in, and their demographics. In some cases, you can learn which songs are your most popular. Having access to this information about your fans can make your marketing efforts more effective.

If you have Facebook Pixel installed on your website, you can also use free music as a way to create custom audiences for Facebook Ads so you can retarget them in future ad campaigns.

In other words, your music doesn’t have to be free “free,” but the more free it is, the easier your music can spread. But don’t always expect something in return for a free song. There will be people who are not even willing to give up an email address and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean they still won’t stream your music and possibly become a fan later or tell their friends about you.

By giving away your music for free, you are improving your chances for more exposure, creating brand awareness, taking ownership of the fan relationship and collecting valuable marketing data.
 

Does giving away free music really work?

 
In an interview on the Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon talked to Chance the Rapper about why he doesn’t sell his music. For those not familiar with him, he’s an independent artist notoriously known, and even criticized, for not selling any of his music.

“As music grows, there’s always new ways to releasing… there’s so many ways music moves around now that trying to fit it into a ‘for sale album’ is obsolete now.”

Giving away free music doesn’t mean you’ll achieve the same popularity and exposure that Chance the Rapper did. Although, I do believe it helped to accelerate the process.

From what I have researched, early in his career, Chance the Rapper gave all his music away for free through mixtape sites like DatPiff without collecting any emails. Of course, the quality of his music and brand helped tremendously as well as the exposure he eventually received from bigger artists and producers in the industry that accelerated the process further. Still, I imagine this model of not charging for music also greatly contributed to the start of his success.

Chance the Rapper is not the first person to give away free music and become wildly successful. However, he has definitely been the poster child for giving away free music from the start of his career and has not sold a single song or record (at least in the traditional sense). Run the Jewels (discussed below) has also followed a similar free music model from the start. Although not as popular, they have found great success with strong merch sales and sold out shows across the country. You can throw Logic and Russ into discussion as well.

Ultimately, you decide how much free music you give away and what you expect in return. If you don’t feel comfortable giving away your music in a Streaming Music Model, you have other options.

What about physical copies of music?

 
Unless you have established some prior contact or relationship with a listener, people are generally not going to buy a CD from you unless they’ve heard the music first. Giving out free CDs of your music can be a good way to get your name out, but there are two problems with this.

First, it’s probably not the most economically feasible thing to do for most musicians. After all, it costs money to press CDs.

You can give out free CDs to those in your target market, but you need to make sure that packaging and branding are on point to convince them it’s worth the effort to listen to. Burning a bunch of blank CDs and handing them out will not cut it.

Second, people don’t really listen to CDs as much as they do with streaming or even digital downloads. CD drives and players are on their way out. Many cars and laptops don’t have CD drives anymore, and who do you know that has a Discman?

With that being said, it makes the most sense to allow people to download your music essentially for free and make it accessible for streaming.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t sell physical copies of your record. Vinyl still has its niche in certain genres. I believe that there will always be people who want to have some physical copy of the music. Rather than buying it for listening, fans are more likely to buy as a novelty item and gesture of support. I truly believe that fans who really connect with you will go out of their way to buy something to support your music career. So yes, having physical music to sell as merch at your show is still important as it is a great token for fans to have as a reminder of the experience.

For a good example, check out Run the Jewels. They make all their music easily accessible to stream or download free on their website. At the same time, they sell physical copies of their music as well. Similarly to Chance the Rapper, they’ve had tremendous success with this model with all their merch sales and selling out shows across the country.

An option is to bundle your CD and merch together to make it more enticing for someone to purchase. Even being available to sign CDs and take photos helps up the value. Another alternative is USB sticks with your music and exclusive content like remixes, behind the scenes footage, music videos, acoustic versions, and bonus tracks. The key is to get creative while keeping your brand in mind.
 

Conclusion

 
Consumer preferences are continuing to evolve with technology, and it’s important to understand the bigger picture to make the necessary adjustments to stay ahead of the game. Many artists that resist the changes in the music industry will eventually lose out to similar artists who stay ahead of the curve. This means lowering the barriers to your music so songs are more accessible to stream and download without a monetary obstacle.

If you don’t feel fully comfortable giving away your music for free right off the bat, you can try selling it first to see how it does. After several months when sales slow down, offer it for free as a strategy to build up your email list.

Keep in mind that just giving away free music may not be very effective if:

• Your music is not good
• You haven’t established a target market
• You don’t have a fan funnel and online marketing system in place
• Your brand is lacking or not clearly established

In other words, make sure you plan and create the right processes to make this work. Remember that your ultimate goal is to build a following of super fans that really connect with your brand and are willing to buy whatever you put out. Putting out your music for free to stream and download is a start to achieve long term success in this emerging music economy.

The post Should Musicians Give Away Their Music for Free? appeared first on D4 Music Marketing.