{"id":1337,"date":"2013-08-08T13:19:18","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T20:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/?p=1337"},"modified":"2013-08-08T13:19:18","modified_gmt":"2013-08-08T20:19:18","slug":"10-questions-to-ask-when-selecting-a-digital-music-distributor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/10-questions-to-ask-when-selecting-a-digital-music-distributor\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Questions to Ask When Selecting a Digital Music Distributor"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to choosing a digital music distributor to get your music on sites like iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Spotify, you want to feel confident in your choice.\u00a0 If music is important to you, you want to know who\u2019s handling your music assets, the quality of the service and the value you\u2019re getting for the distribution fees you\u2019re paying.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here are 10 questions you should ask any digital music distributor before you entrust your music to them.\u00a0 Choosing the right distributor is just as crucial as picking the right guitar (or microphone or drum set or, well, you get the point).<\/em><\/p>\n

1. Is music distribution their primary business?<\/b><\/p>\n

Many companies provide other products and services in addition to distribution.\u00a0 That\u2019s not a bad thing, but you want to make sure that they equally support and invest in the distribution portion of their business and are not using it as marketing \u201chook\u201d to build other parts of their business.<\/p>\n

2. Do they take any portion of the sales revenue your music generates from distribution?<\/b><\/p>\n

Different distributors have different business models.\u00a0 Some distributors will take a cut of the distribution revenue you earn from the downloads and streams of your music.\u00a0 Other distributors, like TuneCore, believe that artists should keep 100% of their distribution sales revenue.<\/p>\n

3. Do they have a dedicated Customer Care team?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it. We all need a little help sometimes.\u00a0 If you run into trouble during the distribution process is there a team that can answer all of your questions quickly and get your music back on track and headed to stores?<\/p>\n

4. Do they have an online help tool so you can easily find answers to questions you might have?<\/b><\/p>\n

Many of your distribution questions can likely be answered very quickly, and without the help of a living, breathing human. An easily searchable help section can often get you the answers you need to get through a few minor hiccups.<\/p>\n

5. Do they provide guidelines on how to format your release so you have smooth distribution to stores?<\/b><\/p>\n

The digital stores have very specific requirements when it comes to the format of your release (audio files, artwork, and release information). You\u2019ll want to know these details ahead of time so you won\u2019t experience any holdup on distribution.\u00a0 Does the distributor monitor the assets being delivered to double check that everything is formatted correctly?
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

6. Do they support their artist community?<\/b><\/p>\n

As an artist, you want to feel like you\u2019re part of a large, creative community.\u00a0 The distributor you choose is lucky to have you, and should provide you with the kind of support you deserve.\u00a0 Are there opportunities for you to increase your fan base?\u00a0 Or do they give you tips from other artists to help your career move forward?<\/p>\n

7. Do they offer iTunes trend reports so you can see how your music is selling in stores soon after it goes live?<\/b><\/p>\n

When your music goes live in stores you\u2019ll likely be very eager to see how it\u2019s selling, so\u00a0you want to make sure the distributor offers iTunes trends reporting. Ask them if the reporting is updated daily or just weekly.\u00a0 Do you view the data in csv files? Or do they offer a\u00a0dynamic web-based tool<\/a>\u00a0so you can sort and view sales by release, track, geolocation and more, right from your account?<\/p>\n

8. How transparent and detailed is the sales reporting?<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important for your digital distributor to be completely transparent with respect to your digital sales and streaming revenue from all the stores you sent your music to. You should know exactly which songs\/albums were downloaded and streamed where, and for how much (to the penny).\u00a0 Do you have access to your sales information 24\/7? Is it presented in a way that is easy to understand, filter and sort?<\/p>\n

9.<\/b>\u00a0Do they offer Publishing Administration to help you collect your worldwide songwriter\/publisher royalties?<\/b><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a songwriter, you earn additional royalties from the sales, streams, and use of your music around the world.\u00a0 When a distributor offers a\u00a0publishing administration service<\/a>, there\u2019s a built-in audit trail that lets the distributor make sure you\u2019re receiving the correct amount of songwriter royalties.\u00a0 Also, ask them if the service is in-house or if they use a third party.<\/p>\n

10. Do they offer Ringtones?<\/b><\/p>\n

Ringtones are a great way to make more money from your music by turning a 30 second snippet of a song into a ringtone to sell in the iTunes store. Why not make a little extra money and let your friends hear your music whenever someone calls?<\/p>\n

Obviously there\u2019s a lot to consider when it comes to choosing a digital music distributor.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Via Tunecore<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to choosing a digital music distributor to get your music on sites like iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Spotify, you want to feel confident in your choice.\u00a0 If music is important to you, you want to know who\u2019s handling your music assets, the quality of the service and the value you\u2019re getting for the distribution fees you\u2019re paying. Here are 10 questions you should ask any digital music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[223],"class_list":["post-1337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-tips","tag-marketing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1339,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions\/1339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}