digital distribution

[stingray5dude]

Hey everyone.
So my band is launching our first official EP late January. It has been a very exciting time for us, as we have spent the last 6 months making sure the songs and recordings are right. We have navigated through the minefield that is required for the physical release, but now are dealing with the digital release. Getting on itunes is the main focus.
We are fully independent and self financed, and are looking at what is the best option for release online.
I have researched this immensely, but was wondering what services other musician's have used, and what their experiences were, i.e. positive or negative.
Right now we have narrowed the list down to CD baby or reverb nation, although there are quiet a few others which we may decide to use.
Cheers, thankyou for your time

 

[aBoMoFo]

I've got a bit of a background in the digital leg of things. Shoot me a PM if you are curious. (sorry but I'd rather keep some of the info downlow.)

 

[jmattbassplaya]

CD Baby and Itunes have worked great for my friends band.

 

[crijan]

CD Baby works well for my band's digital distribution. I especially like that it's a one time fee vs. a yearly fee (a la Tunecore).

 

[JT Bass]

I'm in the same boat. My initial research came up with this page that lists some pros and cons of many of the major players out there. I'm interested to hear what others have to say as well.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Music Attorney]

I don’t do a lot of digital distribution agreements because most clients are major label artists and it’s the label that negotiates the use of their recordings. However, some thoughts include:

1. Most important – do some due diligence and make sure this is a company you want to do business with. There are lots of unscrupulous start ups. What’s the market size, reputation, etc.? Can they get product to all necessary retailers? What’s their technology platform? How soon can they get product in the pipeline? And so on.

2. Term – the term should be as short as possible and watch for language that says the term automatically renews. Typically, it’s not likely the digital distributor is going to spend much time or money on your tracks so there’s not much justification for a long term.

3. Subject Matter – make sure the agreement is clear as to which tracks are covered. There may be language that automatically picks up more tracks during the term.

4. Territory – is the distributor strong in all territories/regions?

5. User Data – distributor should be contractually obligated to share whatever they receive (e.g., e-mail addresses).

6. Rights to Distributor – most digital agreements include a grant of rights to the distributor that goes way beyond just getting your tracks on iTunes. Make sure the grant of rights doesn’t include things you don’t want (or at least grant with your eyes open). There can be very broad name/likeness language.

7. Obligations – distributors typically are about getting stuff into the electronic pipeline and do not handle clearances, permissions, payments, etc. in connection with third parties. Some may do it for a fee, but I wouldn’t expect to hand them the tracks and assume that’s all your responsible for.

8. Fee – the fee is often an 85/15 or 80/20 split of net receipts. HOWEVER, the definition of “net receipts” rarely makes clear what the retailer (and others) may be taking as their share before they remit any remaining monies to the distributor (who then takes their 15-20% of those receipts). That is, the question is 85% of what? Are there other revenues that the distributor receives (e.g., ad revenue) that may not be directly related to the digital sale or exploitation of your tracks. I would also suggest that the splits increase in your favor once certain sales thresholds are met. What those thresholds are must be determined on a case-by-case basis.

I didn't click on the link above so apologies for any duplicity of information.

Best,
MA

 

[aBoMoFo]

VERY, VERY well put Music Attorney. Many thanks for the summation.

 

[SuperFineLin9]

Me and my band use Smart Punk. never had any kind of issues with them
they also gear towards more of the scene bands and thats what we market too

 

[MistaMarko]

Use TuneCore. My band has used it for...I guess about 1.5 years now. Absolutely zero problems. A++!

You get weekly trending reports that you CAN buy (optional) that show you who bought your music, where they live, etc. -- pretty neat. You get paid bi-monthly, via paper check or PayPal (we use PayPal...quick and easy). They are quick in getting your music to the stores...iTunes and Amazon go live in about 7-10 days.

CDBaby is another great one. The difference with CDBaby is that they don't charge you annually to use their services, but they do take 9% out of all sales, where as TuneCore takes 0%. Here's more info on that:

CDBaby: Takes 9% of all digital sales, which adds onto the 30% that all the STORES take (iTunes takes 30%, so you're losing 39% of your sales ideally).

TuneCore: Takes 0% of digital sales, but they charge you a annual FLAT fee of $19.98 to use their services. Regardless if you have 4839204 albums up or 1 song, it's $19.98.

NOTE: Your FIRST year of using TuneCore, aka youre intial year, they charge you per-song and per-store you use to get started. But, after the 1st year it's the flat see I said above. (Example: for posting our 8-song album to about 15 stores, the initial year charge was only $40. Now it's $19.98 for the rest of the time we have it up.)

If you're band rakes in sales, TuneCore is better. If you're band hardly sells anything, CDBaby is better, so consider that.

Good luck!