Public release platforms on a limited budget

[funsongs]

+1 Distrokid. Also Bandcamp is great if you want try and sell directly to fans.

Thanks for that affirmation, Ethan.

[funsongs]

I would just use Distrokid and be done with it. Great thing about them is that there is no administration deal, so you can still pitch the music you put up there to libraries.

Excellent - thanks for that advice.

[CTWF]

Thanks for the research, Tom. Yeah - I saw the TAXI TV episode, and have heard about the NO-CLICK advice, as to signing away publishing.
Bandcamp's minimum cost looks like $144 a year. But, wouldn't that be duplicating what Distrokid would already be doing?

Hi Peter - I don't really know because I have not further looked into it, but Distrokid seems a very far-reaching deal. That is possibly what Kolstad means by "being done with it". Looks like a good thing to me, and after seeing Kolstad's post I remember that it was certainly something I wanted to look into when the time came for me. Tom

[funsongs]

Thanks for the research, Tom. Yeah - I saw the TAXI TV episode, and have heard about the NO-CLICK advice, as to signing away publishing.
Bandcamp's minimum cost looks like $144 a year. But, wouldn't that be duplicating what Distrokid would already be doing?

Hi Peter - I don't really know because I have not further looked into it, but Distrokid seems a very far-reaching deal. That is possibly what Kolstad means by "being done with it". Looks like a good thing to me, and after seeing Kolstad's post I remember that it was certainly something I wanted to look into when the time came for me. Tom

Okay... well, so far, I've not checked into that site yet, either... it's now on my to-do list; along with too many other to-do/s.

To Lester's comment - I don't do Facebook, and don't plan to - though I realize that could pose some limitations. I don't own a smart phone... and won't.
I'm pretty much trying to find my way into this Social Media/Internet Age, from a Flintstonian perspective. It's proving to be quite difficult, at times.
For now... I'll just keep on pedaling with both feet.

[CTWF]

I don't own a smart phone... and won't.

I've never owned a smart phone either, and I might be a couple of decades behind you (in age). Also not on Facebook/InstaTweet/SnapClap whatever. I hope I won't now get Flak from the people who gave me some for not using a DAW yet. Tom

[funsongs]

p

I don't own a smart phone... and won't.

I've never owned a smart phone either, and I might be a couple of decades behind you (in age). Also not on Facebook/InstaTweet/SnapClap whatever. I hope I won't now get Flak from the people who gave me some for not using a DAW yet. Tom

HA - you just gave me an idea - if I ever get a courier pigeon, I'll name it "DAW".

[annayarbrough]

Looking forward to advice from people with experience.

For instance (and: no pressure!), Anna Yarbrough comes to mind. She seems to have it all: Homepage, a single for sale, etc. She knows her stuff, I am sure. Tom

Or just pretends to

Peter, I've found my website useful for pushing direct sales (no commission taken, I'm in total control of my rates) and Bandcamp is great too - free to use and low commission.

Spotify is where my streaming numbers are at (the difference between my Spotify and Apple numbers is laughable.... thousands vs hundreds) - Spotify has a great play-listing culture.

I think finding a good distributor is key... like someone mentioned, people will listen wherever they like to listen. The more places the better.

[funsongs]

Peter... and Bandcamp is great too - free to use and low commission.

Free 30-trial, maybe? But not totally free...?
Or, did I miss something?
My search at it showed $144 per year, minimum.

[annayarbrough]

Peter... and Bandcamp is great too - free to use and low commission.

Free 30-trial, maybe? But not totally free...?
Or, did I miss something?
My search at it showed $144 per year, minimum.

Not sure what that's for - but I definitely don't pay for mine

[jaywilliams]

ok so a couple of points are missing from this thread - from my understanding, in order to reach the streaming services you must use an intermediary (distribution service). there are many of them, a lot of taxi folk speak highly of distrokid. I've released a handful of singles using both distrokid and songtradr, but there are now several "free" distributors as well.

distrokid pushes to YouTube and collects the resulting royalties on your behalf, usually the video they release is just your cover art set to your song. so far I've not been super happy with distrokid as I feel their business model is a little sneaky, they have a lot of ways to upsell you if you aren't paying attention to what you are doing (example given: plus $1 per year per track for Shazam)

songtradr costs more ($50/yr vs $20/yr) but includes a licensing platform and they give you streaming stats that you would have to pay for on distrokid. I also have a sneaking suspicion that songtradr pays better than distrokid, due solely to my limited experience of having released a handful of singles from each service, and one is showing revenue while the other hasnt shown any yet, time will tell I suppose.

one issue I (and many other artists) have run into is songs getting distributed and grouped with songs from other artists with similar names. it doesn't appear to make a difference in terms of getting paid for the streams, but it's sure making it difficult to build a following around my tracks.

tip: carefully research your artist name before releasing your tracks for streaming, don't use a generic name like, say, Jay Williams, or you can run into issues.

best of luck Peter!

Jay