Without these, you won’t be able to track royalties. Every track, then, needs its own code: the international standard recording code (ISRC). This is a unique 12-digit number like a bar code, which you can buy from most distributors. You can make the metadata available through online databases like Gracenote, and simply update the information through iTunes: all recent versions have an update to submit album and track data.įurthermore, to comply with commercial standards, your album needs a universal product code (UPC). Perhaps even more important is to have the metadata for all your tracks organized, so artist and title are automatically detected when someone searches for or plays your music. This can be provided by most distributors, but looks better if you choose something that fits your music perfectly, of course. You’ll need a nice piece of artwork, even for a digital-only release. Learn what is audio fingerprinting and why you should use it as an artist.īut before you’re ready to distribute your album, though, there’s more to do than record your music. Both are well-regarded by the industry and the musicians who work with them, but there are several other options available as well. TuneCore only provides digital distribution on a subscription basis for $49.99 a year. CDBaby requests a one-off payment of $49 per album, and keeps nine percent of the net income from your sales. CDBaby and TuneCore are the most famous options. Fortunately, there are many distributors who focus on unsigned artists for a small fee, they make sure your music gets to all the right places.
Because of the huge amount of musicians out there who all want to be heard, both systems only work with established labels and distributors.
It seems that mobile digital really is the future, so the question on every starting musician’s mind is no longer, “How do I get my CD in the record store?” but rather, “How do I get my tracks on iTunes and Spotify?”įirst of all, independently getting your music on iTunes or Spotify is impossible. And some people don’t even own any music any more, but stream it directly from Spotify on their tablets, smartphones and computers.
Piracy, falling CD sales… In some houses, you don’t find a music collection on the shelves any more – it might be ten times as large as music collections used to be, but it’s all hidden on a tiny tablet or laptop hard drive. Everyone is aware of the struggles of the music industry.
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