With the world open to artists via the internet, more and more people are forgetting about trying to get signed by a recording company and sell their own music themselves.
Well the first thing I would say to that is BRAVO, and second thing is now you have to think like a business and not an artist, not an easy thing to do for some, but not impossible.
One of the main issues to do with any product of any kind is distribution. One of a record companies main issues revolved around getting their products distributed to the right record stores e.g. Virgin, HMV etc. today online issues are no different, if you want to download Madonna’s new album do you go to her website or do you go to iTunes? Now some may say they would go to her website but I can guarantee a large percentage will go to iTunes.
Now some may say what’s the point of a shop on your website? Well artist nowadays make more money off merchandising and other interests then record sales, hence as mentioned in a previous article companies are turning from the typical recording contracts and offering sweeter deals to get a percentage of other activities e.g. Jay Z selling 1 million albums and selling his interest in Rockafella clothing for around $250 million. So to increase your revenue you need to think about other activities such as t shirts, hats, posters etc. these items should be available from your website.
Back to distribution online, there are a number of specialised branded facilities heavily used by downloader’s namely iTunes, Napster, Amazon, Rhapsody, emusic etc. now currently some of these are US only, but as always these services are developed for worldwide consumption over time. Two companies have been brought to the attention of Croydon Music, Tunecore.com and Songcast.com.
Now there may be many more emerging companies out there but these two seem to be very active in the online distribution market place. So what do they do? Basically they distribute your music to major online download companies for a small fee, but the most important point is they take NO ROYALTIES. Tunecore claim to have delivered over 400,000 songs and $6 million earned for their customers.
For people who are scared of the web but wish to sell their product online, first thing to do is get over your ridiculous fear and secondly research some companies.
If you are serious about selling online read the article; “Selling your music online pt1” in our support and advice section.
