Things every artist needs to know about music distribution and digital distribution

Things every artist needs to know about music distribution

For an artist ready to take a plunge in the music world music distribution is the key to making an impact on the minds of the listeners. Not only does music distribution inform your users about your offering it also makes them open to share information about it to others in their friend circle. The audience that you are catering to will access your songs or album through different ways and in different places. If they consider it worthy of attention they would most likely post about in and in turn gather you more followers.

Music Distribution
It is therefore crucial that you understand first what music distribution is all about. Only when you grasp the concept of music and digital distribution will you be able to get more out of it. In layman terms music distribution can be divided into three categories.

Getting digital distribution of your music done
The latest on the bandwagon this involves making your song or album available for download on music sharing platforms. These include services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon.

Physical distribution
This is when you get your CD’s and vinyl created and provide them with sales to brick and mortar stores. For the last few decades, this was the most prevalent form of music distribution.

Monetization Services
These services help you to earn some money through the use of your song on their service platform. They comprise of YouTube, Facebook, and TV shows etc.

Willing to get into the groove? Here are some tips that you need to follow.

1. Study the different digital distribution platforms available. This is the first step that you would take before venturing into releasing your album. There are many service providers which would take care of all your digital music distribution needs without much hassle to you. It is better that you study about them on the internet and pick up one which suits your needs the most. Each one of them would have a different style of pricing either yearly or percentage wise hence is advisable to see which works best. Always remember that you are going to start a professional relationship with your music distributor hence whoever you choose should be one that matches your interests well.

2. Making music searchable. Next on the agenda is making your music known on the internet.  In the digital world, this is called Metadata which is keywords and description that can help you to make your music easy to classify and find. The Metadata normally includes information like the artist name, the title of the album, release date, record label, titles, genre, composer and artist bio. Metadata plays a very important role in the digital distribution and you have to provide it to each and every distribution service. Make sure you use simple and common words to connect with the listener.

3. Self-promotion. Your distributor can do only the basic work for you. However creating the buzz for your song is something that you will have to do on your own. Make a convincing social presence and let people know who you are. Create jam sessions and post them on your social media pages or record your live shows and live stream the same. Use radio play, blogs, word of mouth and whatever methods you think right to make an impact. The key to success would lie in reaching out to as many ears as possible.

Times have greatly changed and now physical distributors are almost fading away. This means that growth possibilities for a new musician are immense. Digital distribution offers all kinds of artists a chance to show their talent to many listeners at one time. Whether you have sold 500 albums or 50000 you are equal and stand the same chance of being accepted by the music lovers. In other words, a strong digital presence is like having an impactful CV which would in future give you better shows, more visibility and more power to negotiate. You can also say that in today’s world digital is the direct method to reach your listener’s ears. Go digital and make a splash!