DIY: Online Distribution

by A-J Charron


The way you make your music available to your fans and the way your fans access your music has changed dramatically since major labels were writing all the rules. With the advent of the internet, the world is now a very small place and it’s not unusual to see bands having successful careers in far-off countries while nobody knows them at home. Bands like New Jersey’s Symphony X, who toured Japan and Europe for five years before playing their first North American gig.
In the old days, to get your album out meant knocking on doors, trying to get distributors to listen to your music and have them interested enough get it into stores and onto the airwaves. You had to show these major labels that you had something the other bands didn’t, and that they could make money selling that something.

Once a major label signed you, what they did with your music was out of your control. And if you didn’t like the way they handled distribution, you had no say; you were stuck with them until your contract expired. Nowadays you have the opportunity to get your music out to audiences without being bound to a contract. There are many online music distribution services that will help you do this. Online services like iTunes, Napster, and CD Baby are the best-known distro sites and have great traffic, but how do you know which one (or ones) are right for your music?

Are you selling a physical CD or are you selling
songs to download?

Download-only distribution will certainly keep your duplication costs down, but it’s a route you might want to think twice about. Even in the age of the iPod, a large portion of music listeners still want a physical disc and a booklet with pages detailing your production credits, song lyrics, and band personnel. Downloadable music appeals to a certain type of music consumer and you may be limiting your sales by reaching only these fans. It’s best for most bands to have a physical CD and a downloadable one. The downloadable version won’t cost much more if you already have the CD. If you think selling your music exclusively through your band’s website is the answer, don’t expect much. People have to know your site exists. This is why you should use an online distribution site to sell your music. With an online distribution service, your album becomes searchable through various databases and can be highlighted. When you first make it available, many sites will put your music into a “new release” section. If you get a lot of downloads, the site will obviously find a way to keep your music visible.

How to Choose Online Distribution Services?

If you want online distro for your band and your music, you can go to each distributor — iTunes, Buy Music, DigiPie and all the others (and there are lots of them) — and set up an account to reach as many of your fans as possible. Of course, each service will cost you something. Eventually, you could be spending thousands of dollars to have your music available for download. Ask yourself if you’ll be making that much back at 65 cents a download.

When it comes to secure online music services, iTunes is the service most people will think of, but remember that everyone is on it including the major labels. Think of it as a major record store; you know that most people going there are looking for albums by Celine Dion, not Symphony X. Is it really worth trying to compete in that market? It could be, but you need to be in several markets at once in order to enhance your chances of success.

Another problem with these sites is that they all have their own standards for MP3s. If you get onto 20 services, you might have to make 20 different MP3s of each song. Apart from the time it takes, do you have the know-how to do this?

Some services will enable you to sell your physical CDs and place your songs online for download with one or several services for a small fee. The service of choice for this is CD Baby. It’s the biggest indie distributor on the net, and it has a very indie-friendly reputation. That means that it’s the first place most people think to look for an indie CD. It also means that CD Baby is looking out for your best interest.

If you have a physical CD, you can start selling it at CD Baby for a one-time only fee of $35. After that, you send them CDs according to how many they sell, and they keep $4 per copy sold. You set the selling price. If you have a barcode, they will register all sales with SoundScan. If you don’t have a barcode, CD Baby can supply you one for $20. Also, if you want your songs to be available for download, CD Baby can arrange this for you too — at no additional charge. They will make your songs available to 35 networks and keep 9% of sales.

Online distro is a rather cost-effective way of making your music available to the general public. Instead of dealing with a company that gets your CD in stores where it will more likely end up hidden in a pile out of view, on the internet it’s searchable and can be found easily. And you won’t be signing away your rights. Traditional distribution companies may offer a lot of money, but indie artists rarely see it. Online distro has leveled the playing field for bands to make their music available to the public.