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There are several ways that independent artists, musicians and labels can arrange to have their music “distributed” to major online retail channels, such as iTunes and Google Play. Among those options in the past were services like TuneCore and CD Baby. Now, a new option has emerged that purports to be more effective and cheaper, and has the indie music world abuzz.
DistroKid, brainchild of founder Philip Kaplan, allows musicians to upload unlimited songs to iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and Amazon for just $19.99 a year. The service doesn’t touch any of the artists’ royalties past that flat fee.
According to an article in Forbes:
DistroKid’s service is far cheaper than competitors such as TuneCore, which charges $29.99 per album for the first year, with subsequent years costing $49.99. Sites like CDBaby also keep $4 per CD sold and 9% of all distribution sales.
The service also promises to have the songs available on iTunes in hours, as opposed to days offered by other methods and services.
As of now, the key features of DistroKid customers are:
- One upload for free
- One musician or band can upload unlimited songs & albums for $19.99 a year
- “Distributors” are now called “Labels” and can upload music from unlimited musicians starting at $79.99 a year
Kaplan told Forbes, “I think every musician in the world who records anything, if they knew about DistroKid would choose it over everyone else.”
He may be right.
For further information and to test-drive the service with one free upload, visit www.DistroKid.com
Musicians/artists, if you use the service, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.