Want To Know Who The Best Digital Distribution Company Is? This is the most comprehensive and accurate digital distribution comparison piece on the web for music. Who is the best digital distributor? Being a musician, I asked them questions I deemed most important for independent musicians. I have personally distributed 8 releases to date using a few of these services. This review is just taking a look at companies that will get your music into digital stores and streaming services, like i. Tunes, Spotify, Google Play, etc and NOT about stand alone, digital download, self- managed stores, like Band. Camp. I also left out distribution companies who only work with labels (like The Orchard and Believe). Any artist can signup to any of these distribution companies without having to be approved. Full disclosure, I should say, I have used CD Baby, Tunecore, Distro. Kid and Loudr to release my music in the past. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY INTERACTIVE Readings in Educational Psychology. Huitt Last updated: December 2015. Save on EarthLink's award-winning Internet services for your home: dial-up, DSL, high-speed cable & more. Plus, web hosting & software. PlayStation Exclusive: Play Map Packs 30 Days Early, Only on PlayStation; Bundle Includes a black 500GB PS4, DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller and standard edition Call. Torrent anonymously with torrshield encrypted vpn pay with bitcoin. I just released my latest album and this piece honestly helped me decide who the best company for this release was. There is no “winner” necessarily because each company has unique features that may be super important to some artists and not at all to others. Every artist’s situation is different. If you have any questions or have used any of these companies please let me know in the comments below! On to the Comparison!(in alphabetical order)I spoke with Kevin Bruener, Director of Marketing and a musician himself. He has been at the company for 8 years and worked alongside founder (and music biz icon) Derek Sivers for many years. This is one of the biggest (and the first) independent digital distributors in the world. They have over 3. Best: * Because they have been along for so long, they are proven and aren’t going out of business anytime soon (your releases (and reports) are safe).* They offer physical CD and Vinyl distribution as part of the digital signup price (they will fulfill (mail out) CD/Vinyl orders for a fee of $4 a pop).* No yearly (or hidden) fees. Once you signup an album you never pay again for any service (other than publishing).* i. Tunes weekly Trend Reports. Still don’t get paid for a couple months, but you can see how the new release is doing.* They also offer their publishing service CD Baby Pro that will link up. I did a full report on that here.* Only company to collect Sound. Exchange (Rights Owner) royalties for you. It’s a massive process (and headache) to signup as a rights owner (and fill out their catalog spreadsheet). CD Baby covers this for you. You still have to signup as a Featured Artist on your own with Sound. Exchange, but this cuts a lot of the hassle down. Worst: * They take 9% commission.*. These aren’t optional add ons. You can’t distribute your album without a UPC – so add on an additional $5/2. I spoke with the founder, Philip Kaplan about his service. He is a musician and programmed it all himself. He is also the founder of the musician meet up site, Fandalism with over 6. Distro. Kid is the newest service on the market. It opened up to the public on October 1. It’s a completely different model than all the other digital distributors. They have been recommended by Derek Sivers (founder of CD Baby) and Jeff Price (founder of Tunecore) – who no longer work at the companies. It now has over 9. Best: * Unlimited songs. Whether you release 1 song or 1. Their website is SUPER clean and simple and you can get started with no headache.* They offer revenue splitting for your collaborators and will pay them directly whatever percentage you designate. They are the only distribution company that has this process automated (Loudr does this, but you have to contact support)+Distro. Kid Will Now Pay Anyone Who Worked On Your Song* They do not take commission.* They clear cover songs with a check box (and get you the proper mechanical license)* Email every step of the way. Every step that you complete you will receive an email – including when it’s live on the store (only company that does this). Worst: *. Worth noting, you can manually add your releases to new stores (for free), but who is going to keep checking back to see if any new stores are added? Adding releases to new stores should be built in for free.
To collect these, you will need to work with Song. Trust or Tunecore Publishing in addition to Distro. Kid (CD Baby Pro does this, but only for songs distributed through CD Baby)*. It’s only on the actual Upload page.* They charge $. PER SONG for Shazam atop of the $2. Marcelo Conforto builds the Intermountain Railway International Space Station. I spoke with Lee Parsons, the co- CEO and co- founder of Ditto Music (his brother is the other co- CEO/founder). He is a musician from the UK (now living in Nashville and heading up the US operations). Because Ditto started in the UK its main focus (and angle) is for UK artists. Anyone in the world can signup, but there is a clear UK focus on the website (just like there is a clear US focus on the other sites). They have about 6. US/UK and many coming in from Sweden and Australia). Not the biggest, but definitely large! Best: * Will distribute up to 1. Tunes for free* They do not take commission. Worst: * Lots of expensive extra services (which are free with other companies).**Update 7/2. I’ve heard from many readers, once you pay for services you never hear from them again. This is more than one isolated incident so I have to mention it. I originally had Customer Service under one of their “Bests” as it is listed on their website that they have won awards here. But unfortunately, I’m moving it to one of their Worsts because of the responses I’ve received.**Update 1. They are hiding something. I’ve heard reports from readers that they cannot get their albums removed from stores and aren’t getting paid. STAY AWAY* They do not work with an admin publishing company to collect all of your composition royalties. To collect these, you will need to work with Song. Trust or Tunecore Publishing in addition to Mondo. Tunes (CD Baby Pro does this, but only for songs distributed through CD Baby)**Update: 3- 4- 1. Loudr has handed its distribution services over to CD Baby. As of now you can still signup with Loudr distribution through their site, but in the future they will be completely transitioning over to CD Baby’s services. Read what I wrote about this transition here. I spoke with the founder, Chris Crawford. The service was created by 8 musicians. This is the 2nd newest service (by 1. October 1st, 2. 01. Chris had a previous distribution company primarily used for A Cappella groups. Loudr’s digital distribution service is mainly for cover artists to easily get their music on i. Tunes. Loudr goes directly to the publishers and gets licenses directly for their artists (instead of the artist having to hunt these down). Chris used to work at i. Tunes so has “an in” there still and understands it a bit better than most new distribution companies. They have a stand alone download store, similar to Band. Camp, which is their main focus, but I felt it was worth to include their digital distribution feature as it’s innovative and unique.**Update 4- 2. They have recently added a mechanical licensing service so you can obtain a license from Loudr and distribute with other services. This is the ONLY company that is free to get unlimited music on i. Tunes. Whether you’re releasing a single or 1. Obtains mechanical licenses for your cover songs* Revenue splitting. If you have multiple artists creating a song together (like collaborations) and all artists are owed revenue from the downloads, they can all sign up for Loudr accounts and Loudr will pay out the respective percentages to each artist. This is especially great for “You. Tubers” who constantly collaborate on cover song videos.+Watch Out Harry Fox, Loudr Is Coming For You. Worst: * They only distribute to 7 outlets – the fewest of any company* They take 1. To collect these, you will need to work with Song. Trust or Tunecore Publishing in addition to Loudr (CD Baby Pro does this, but only for songs distributed through CD Baby)* They have passed off distribution to CD Baby and will be discontinuing their distribution services in the coming year. They WILL NOT, however, rip down your music though. So don’t worry about losing reviews or rankings. They will just transition your existing catalog to CD Baby’s reps for support. I spoke with the co- founder Steve Norris, a self proclaimed “serial entrepreneur” and a musician. They do not have direct partnerships with their outlets, but rather work through Interscope/Universal Music Group’s (UMG) distribution arm. Best: * They distribute to the most outlets by far. They are the only distributor that gets you to the same outlets UMG will. Other distributors built up direct relationships with retailers over the years, while Mondotunes just teamed up with UMG’s distributor who had these relationships already.* No yearly fees. Worst: * They threatened to sue me for calling out the fake, very pro- Mondo. Tunes (and anti- others) comments on this report on Ari’s Take. Steve sent me a loooong 8 paragraph email trashing the other services (before I posted this review). The fact that they have to go out of their way to trash others and are so defensive makes me think they are hiding something serious.* The look of their website. Their website is so ugly and unprofessional looking it may get some to disregard all their good features and run away fast. Seriously guys, get this shit updated ASAP! They need a logo upgrade and a graphic design artist and web programmer who understand how images work on the web (pixelated edges, sloppy logo, etc). Their toolbar looks like it is out of a 1. Website Building for Dummies book. With how many artists they infer are signed up (they would not give me a number) they should have the money to seriously overhaul this sloppy site. I have a guy if you’re looking. Sorry for the rant, but come on, you’re competing with the big boys now.* (Up to) 3. Tunes. Because they’re working through another distributor it takes them much longer to get releases out. They have set their release date (by default) to 3.
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