Foxymelody charge a flat monthly fee of $10 per month per release to distribute your music to their partners. This includes a UPC code (barcode). They are also currently offering the first 3 months free.
Foxymelody distribute to: iTunes, Amazon MP3, Napster, eMusic, Rhapsody, Last FM, imusica, Fye, T Mobile, iMesh, Sonic Tap, RCN Music, Ctrax, Nareos, Harvey Norman Online, JB Hi-Fi, MP3.com.au, Tranzfusion, Pandora, Virgin Mobile, Vodafone, LG Telecom, NTT Do Co Mo, MTN, O2, SK telecom, SoftBank, 3, Turkcell, Podsafe, Allmusic, Muze.
M2K Music & Media offer distribution and marketing to both bands and labels. There is no information on the site about how much this costs.
M2K Music & Media distribute to: iTunes, Napster, eMusic, Rhapsody, Zune, AOL Music Now, MSN Music, Burnlounge.
http://www.nimbit.com/
http://www.nimbit.com/
solutions/digital_distribution
Nimbit distributes music to a number of major sites. They also provide several other services for bands including merch, websites and printing. You can also sell tickets for your gigs online through your Nimbit account. There are three levels of account with different levels of benefits depending on price. (from free to $19.99 a month).
Nimbit distribute to: – iTunes, Amazon MP3, Napster, eMusic, Rhapsody, CD Freedom
Record Union deal solely with unsigned artists and indie lables. They distribute to 95% of the world market. It is free to upload music and the artist gets 85% of the profits from sales. Record Union charge $5 per release per year which they only take if you make any sales. The only up front cost is for a UPC code which is $10 per release (single, EP or album).
Record Union distribute to: iTunes, Amazon MP3, Napster, eMusic, Rhapsody, Lala, Spotify, Nokia Music Store, Last FM, Medianet, Inprodicon, 7digital, 247, junodownload, beatport, Sony Ericsson Play Now Arena, Virgin Mega, Jamba / Jamster, ICJ, musica, masterbeat, Djtunes, Dance Fuel, Yahoo, Klicktrack, Prefueled, CDON, 3V, Beatsource, cd world, Fye, Netmusic.....
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DIGITAL MUSIC DISTRIBUTION AGGREGATORS
While this might seem like a bit of a mouthful, distribution aggregators are 3rd party websites that have a relationship with several online music shops and distribute music to them on behalf of a label or musician. Many sites such as Amazon MP3, eMusic and Napster (to name but a few) will only accept music through one of these aggregators. Each distribution aggregator has a different way of receiving payment for their service, from up front fees and a percentage of sales right down to a set fee paid when you actually sell something. This is usually on top of the fees charged by the download sites themselves. It’s then down to you to decide whether the additional costs are worth the relative ease of getting your music distributed by multiple sites with one application. The main thing is to read the agreement fully, however boring it is, and make sure that whichever way you choose to go, it’s the right one for you.
UPC CODES
Another thing to be aware of is that for your music to be sold online or in shops it will need a UPC code. This is the unique barcode that identifies your releases. Each release (single, EP or album) needs its own UPC code and these are very often not included in the prices quoted by shops and music distribution aggregators. UPC codes can be bought online from a number of different places but are usually made available by aggregators for a fee.
DIGITALGIG UNSIGNED MUSIC DISTRIBUTION SURVEY
We took a survey of the distribution types used by 763 unsigned bands and artists to create this article and have compiled some of our results here. (We will update this information in the future as we widen the sample size.)
For physical copies of CDs and vinyl the most common method of distribution we found by far was the simple but effective PayPal link from a web page (32%), often the band’s MySpace page. The main drawback with this method is that if you only have one point of access for your music it is far less likely that anyone will find you by happy accident. Also, as with any website that is maintained by someone else, links can become broken and should be checked regularly.
The second most popular method of distributing CDs and other hard copies was Amazon (19%), then (amazingly) emailing the band for a copy (12%) closely followed by CD Baby(11%) and Big Cartel(11%). The fact that CD Baby is both shop and distribution aggregator gives it a distinct advantage although their charges are comparatively high. Big Cartel can really offer fantastic value for money, especially if your band only has a small number of products to distribute as it is free for up to 5 items.
When it comes to downloads there can be no doubt that iTunes is king. 21% of all distributed music we found was available through Apple’s music giant. That rose to a massive 47% of paid music downloads. This dominance is probably partly down to the perceived kudos that the iTunes brand carries for bands but also reflects the dominance that iTunes have over the downloadable music market in general. While Amazon MP3 (6% of paid downloads) is the second largest music download site overall our study found that it was actually the fourth most popular site with unsigned bands, beaten by both Napster (10% of paid downloads) and eMusic (7% of paid downloads)
One final thing that we should probably point out is that although they mentioned they had music available 13% of the bands we surveyed had no obvious way of getting hold of a copy on their site. So, if you do have music available make sure it’s really clear how your potential fans can get it for themselves. It sounds obvious but the stats don’t lie!
The sheer number of music download and streaming sites shows that there are plenty of people out there prepared to invest in the future of music distribution, although the fact that several have already come and gone speaks for itself. We’ll update this article to reflect the changes in the market and also add information about mobile phone distributors in the coming weeks and months.
Our main advice though has to be to shop around, read the small print (as always) and go for it. If you don’t try, you’ll never know where it could have taken you.
On the following pages we look at the different distribution outlets in a little more detail.
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