What are the main digital distribution services?
Making music can be a lot of fun, but once completed you will have a very important question to ask. How can you release your music for people to hear on every platform out there? Easy. Digital distribution services such as CDBaby, RouteNote, and Soundrop have acknowledged the need to get your music out on platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, and more and work to have everything ready for you by your desired date.
CDBaby
CDBaby is one digital distribution service where you will feel comfortable as the founders are musicians themselves who have been around and using the platform for about 16 years now. CDBaby understands how complicated it can be with money when it comes to releasing music and have worked to form a system where members don’t face yearly fees and only pay once with a guarantee that their music will be up forever on various platforms. On top of that, CDBaby works with Alliance Entertainment, Super D, and Amazon to ensure that your content gets to record stores around the world. Although that is a feature you must apply for, physical distribution can only benefit you and is definitely worth it. They also allow you to form an online store for your own CDs and vinyl. To ease the process of collecting your Sound-Exchange, or royalties, CDBaby is one of the only platforms to offer help with claiming the money you’ve rightfully earned. They also have an administrative publishing service where you’re able to collect your royalties from songwriting.
Soundrop
Another service, known as a sister company to CDBaby, is Soundrop. Soundrop is relatively new in the industry as it was created when its sister company took over another distribution service last year but has managed to make noise in the short time that it has been around. Soundrop is more for those who are just getting started and for young collaborators. What’s ideal about Soundrop is that there are no fees for originals, free accounts are given to collaborators, and there is also an easy cover distribution. On top of that, to get a mechanical license to distribute a cover song, Soundrop offers the lowest price compared to any other platform. Rather than spending more, $9.99 sounds like a pretty good price.
RouteNote
Being a decade old with a bunch of experience under their belt, RouteNote has made their mark as an important distributor, although they are not as popular. RouteNote has worked with SoundCloud for a very long time and in fact was the first distributor to connect with SoundCloud. The CEO understands that good music just needs a little push and that he may have the next hit song being distributed. He ensures that RouteNote moderates the data and if they notice the song gaining more popularity, they target playlist editors and important connections to push the song more. A lot of times, RouteNote promotes your song without you even knowing. A huge plus with RouteNote is that they reach an audience that hasn’t been paid attention to yet. RouteNote is one of the first distributors to reach the Asian market, a combination of 193 countries, and recognize how it is important to be active with them as they keep expanding and cover about 95% of the world’s music market. Having a reach into an untapped market can only grow your audience in areas of the world you may not have explored before. RouteNote also has no fees whatsoever for their services.
Digital distribution services are key to releasing your music and can be a tough choice to make. Using some insight above, you’re bound to resonate with one, if not another. Just remember that digital distribution companies are simply here to help you by providing services, they have no ownership over your content. Also note, you can use various distributors for multiple releases, however, you can only select one distributor per release.