How music distribution works

In the last few years, the method by which releases are shared has undergone deep modifications, making it easier for artists to get their songs out to listeners. Now, to share tracks, it is enough to register one profile to publish music on dozens of different platforms. This allows rights holders to maximize their fan base’s reach, while listeners are able to more conveniently enjoy the music through their preferred audio service.

Music distribution companies list

There are many worthy solutions in the market, each with its own peculiarities of service provision. In general, each of them fulfills the main task of sharing songs.

Here is a list of the main companies. We advise visiting the websites of each of them to familiarize yourself with the list of services and terms of cooperation in order to select the optimal provider. Here is a list of popular companies: TuneCore, AWAL, The Orchard, Symphonic Distribution, Believe, Routenote, EmuBands, ONErpm, Amuse, and Stem.

There are many more related companies. Mostly, you need to buy a subscription, but there are also free or shareware sites. It is worth reviewing all the options for providing services. Before paying for the expensive services of the most popular providers, it may be worthwhile for a newbie independent artist to try the free ones first to understand the process.

For a professional producer, the best decision might be to select one of the platforms that has long been in the market, has a solid reputation and a well-established procedure for publishing tracks on a large number of streaming websites.

By the way, if you consider a DJ who plays only tunes produced by other composers and does not have his own music but wants to increase his popularity, you should use the ghost production service. A DJ can buy ready-made tracks created by ghost producers and get the right to commercially use the purchased music. That is, you can safely sign the track with your name and send it for publication. Therefore, if you are a DJ without your own music, go to our online store, buy ghost production music, and start distributing it, for example.

The above approach applies not only to well-known and experienced DJs. If a creator is just starting out, it is especially important for them to publish their tracks everywhere. The more presence a DJ creates, the better his chances of being heard by the music industry. There are often stories when a young artist’s track is heard by a famous DJ and played on his radio show or at a concert. After such distribution, the author of the track may be contacted by radio show hosts or promoters and offered cooperation. All of this can happen because the track has a good chance of playing on the air. To do this, you must share your own releases as much as you can and thus increase the reach of persons potentially interested in cooperation.

Free digital distribution of music

Let’s tell you a little bit about alternative, free methods to share music. What’s interesting is that these channels will be effective for both established artists and beginners. These services include: SoundCloud, YouTube, Bandcamp, Audiomack, and Jamendo. We need to emphasize that these websites are not classic distribution solutions but rather sites where tracks can be published directly by producers.

In addition, these sites permit you to get tracks for free and have certain opportunities to popularize your own work. The artist needs to spend some time interacting with different people in the comments and sharing links to the profiles of these websites in their own social networks and groups. Of course, these sites also provide paid tools, which greatly increase efficiency, but we will now focus more on free features.

Hashtags continue to prove effective today, as they help listeners find new music on some media platforms. It is worth using this method and analyzing artists who have a large subscriber base. Pay attention to the design of the uploaded tracks of those artists who create music in the same style as you. Look through the hashtags listed in the track descriptions and copy those that you think can be compared to your tracks and add them to the description.

You should also use additional keywords in your track titles and descriptions. If you offer a free download of your track, add the words “Free download” or “Free album preview” to its description and title. People often search for free music and will likely find your track. If they like your music, they’ll subscribe to you, and possibly repost or share the link with their friends in a messenger.

Don’t forget that some platforms, such as Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and others, also allow you to set a price for a track or album. This means that you can not only release your music for free, but you can also earn money from its sale. Moreover, Bandcamp allows you to set your own price for tracks, which can be more attractive than on some other platforms.

In general, free distribution methods are only effective if you actively use them. Of course, it takes a lot of time, but if a young musician does not have a significant budget for marketing and paid distribution, this method is a great way to start building a market presence.

Can I use multiple music distributors?

Authors can use several providers at once to share their releases. The idea is to diversify publishing, which will even increase revenues. Given that each distribution service has its own channels for distributing tracks, an artist can achieve a wide audience reach by maximizing their presence on various platforms for buying or listening to music.

In addition, you can set different prices for music and use built-in marketing tools on individual websites to identify the most effective ones. But you should keep in mind that your releases should not overlap on the same websites. Also, you should plan your publication dates correctly so that you don’t publish twice. Some websites may require your tracks to be published only in their catalog, so you won’t be able to distribute it to two or three sites at the same time.

This approach is very useful and allows you, first, to do research on different websites. You should find out where you can effectively share your content. Secondly, you should maximize your coverage because each publishing website has its own list of sites where releases are published.