I Bet You Don't Know How to Get Your Music to Millions!

You know, when chasing a record deal was your only real shot at becoming a star and thousands flocked to labels in hopes of global stardom, the one thing they all had in common was they simply wanted to be known everywhere and a small town indie artist with no real marketing dollars or a way to get their music out there was just running on a treadmill, going nowhere fast. The reality of the situation is most releases are segmented, released, and campaigned within a certain geographical location to minimize excess spending on an artist that might not even sell 100 copies in their hometown (they probably wouldn't have gotten a deal if this were the case but you get the picture). But with the surge in technology, the fall of the traditional record label, and the DIY takeover, many artist are really left to try and assemble a team and a supporting cast to handle many of the aspects that the traditional record label would have taken care of (which doesn't come cheap).

One aspect that has been scaled down tremendously to the size that the independent can easily fit into their DIY lifestyle, is distribution. I personally only have one place to play your CD and that's in the car but even then, I am tuning in to submissions or production I am working on, through my phone. So if you give a cd, you probably aren't getting played. Knowing most of us are digital now, digital distribution is the focus for a great majority of content creators out there but how do you choose the best distributor? How do you know what to base your comparisons on to researching them all? Do you really have the time and the money to research all of the available digital distribution platforms before making  your final decision for a songs you have never let anyone hear? With so many questions and not many places to turn, it can get overwhelming for the indie artist trying to and navigate such a forward industry.

There are distribution channels that thousands of indies are competing for like Tunecore, CDBaby, nd Distrokid, who will take anyone with a debit card  no matter the quality but that's not the race I would run. Then there's Interscope and Universal Music Group's global distribution sector, INgrooves, that major artist like Kendrick Lamar, ASAP Rocky, and Black Eyed Peas go through, but how does an indie get to go through that portal? Thankfully someone took the time to research and compile all of that information on 8 different distribution companies and made it available for all of us to check out. So if you are a label, artist, or just anyone makes digital content and wants to know how to get it to millions of people out there digitally connected, then you should probably read the entire article by Ari for reasons far beyond those mentioned above. Go get Ari's take on these platforms and get yourself a better perspective on which fits your vision. Leave a comment below on which ones you use and what your experience was like while using them.