admin What is music distribution?
During the dinosaur age of physical music consumption, sheet music, printed scores, and CDs were available. Music distributors were responsible for transporting physical music to every outlet, wholesaler, and record shop that sold or used music.
The role of a music distributor, sometimes called music aggregates, is still somewhat similar. It now lives mostly online.
The recorded music industry was almost exclusively physical in the days before CDs, vinyl, and cassettes. It is almost impossible to believe that this happened now unless you were a kid in the 90s or earlier.
However, physical music sales will now make up only 25% of all recorded music by 2022. It means that the digital market is the biggest contributor to the entire industry. And it doesn’t seem like this will change anytime soon.
What is a music distributor?
The music distribution process has changed as the industry moves from physical to digital. It has also evolved to meet the changing needs of the artists.
As you can see, many distributors responded by saying, “Go digital!” – changing from being supply chain managers to becoming providers of digital infrastructure (and rights administrators) (high tech stuff). ).
Digital music distributors will now have 3 major roles in 2022:
Online platforms allow you to release music
Nearly 100% of the music industry is now digital, listeners included. Artists who want their music to be heard and shared online will need to do so.
Music distributors have distribution agreements with music services like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. They also have distribution contracts with social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Artists are not allowed to upload music directly to most streaming platforms, even the big ones. Spotify and other big digital service providers (DSPs) host millions of artists’ music. This means that they don’t want the hassle of paying out each artist individually.
Music royalties can be paid.
Royalties are earned when an artist makes streams or downloads of their music online.
This is pretty basic knowledge, right!
However it’s the job of the music distributor to bridge the gap between transferring this royalty from the music streaming platform back artist or music copyright holder.
Promote and support your release
Although this one is not necessarily the industry standard, any high-quality distributor will give you all the tools you need for promoting your music via additional support, products, and services.
Why is music distribution necessary?
As you can see, artists are almost forced to work with music distributors in 2022. Here’s why:
– Gets your music onto every major platform (and into as many ears as possible!) )
– Boost your online artist profile
– Gives you and your music more credibility
– Creates a steady revenue stream from royalty
– Provides streaming info and in-depth information about your listeners
Now that you understand what music distribution looks like and why artists should partner with a distributor such as Ditto, why wait? You don’t have to wait any longer to get your music heard worldwide and make some extra money.
