Hi
Yes, I hadn't meant to imply that the artwork requirement was a Distrokid
thing; sorry about that. I was just meaning to highlight that, whichever
digital distributer you opt for, the requirement for artwork is a challenging
one.
Unsplash.com is, essentially, a library of images to license for commercial
purposes (pexel.com is another similar site). There are images that can be
licensed for free and others for which there is a relatively modest charge.
I've not been able to use it without sighted assistance. Once you have
downloaded the image, there is then a task to tailor that image to the specific
size and format requirements, and to overlay text onto the image to display
your artist and song titles. Again, I've not been able to do this without
sighted assistance.
And yes, thanks for highlighting that Apple have their own "for artists" app;
Amazon also has this as well.
Best wishes
Bryan
-----Original Message-----
From: midimag-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <midimag-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
Jes Smith
Sent: Sunday, August 13, 2023 10:58 PM
To: midimag@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [freelists-midimag] Re: Putting up an original song on Spotify and
needing suggestions and advice
Bryan, just so that everybody knows, Apple Music also has an artist app. It
does the same thing as Spotify's Artists app, and that you can see who is
listening to your music, who Shazams it, etc.
On Aug 13, 2023, at 6:37 AM, Bryan Matthews <bryanmatthews21@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi
Thanks for this discussion; it's really interesting to hear of your
experiences.
I've been releasing digital singles over the past 18 months. As has been
said, you can't upload directly to Spotify, Apple Music etc; you have to go
through a digital distributer. The one I use is Distrokid. I opted for this
after reading Ari Herstand's excellent blog, reviewing the different service
providers. I'd really recommend anyone considering this to read his blog.
I've found Distrokid to give a really good service and have found it mostly
accessible. One of the things I've found difficult is that you are required
to upload artwork for your release, so I have had to call on friends and
family to help me source content for this and then get it into the
appropriate format. There are some great free resources for sourcing
artwork, such as Unsplash.com.
You can enable people to purchase a digital copy of your release and you
receive most of the revenue from this. However, few people actually do
purchase digital releases these days.
As has been said, the royalties from streaming are very small per stream.
Distrokid has a"bank" facility that allows you to directly collect the
mechanical royalties. My understanding is that in order to collect the
songwriting and publishing royalties, you need to be registered with a
performing rights organisation. I'm yet to figure all of this out yet though.
Nevertheless, I'd thoroughly recommend getting your music out there and
allowing people to discover it. Through the Spotify for Artists app, you can
monitor how your music is doing, which countries and cities it is being
streamed in and how many people are listening at any given point in the day.
Its quite an amazing feeling of connection when I check into the app and
discover that several people around the world are listening to my music at
that moment.
I'm planning to upload a short Youtube video on this subject in the coming
weeks; I will post a link when that's done in case anyone's interested to
check it out.
Best wishes
Bryan
The Rayne
‘Here is where I’m meant to be’ - take a listen to the new single on:
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/track/1HPsv795bb03prrQB2DDNc?si=dff4f0c5aa8942c0
Youtube Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2iD9BCY248&list=OLAK5uy_kUrzSdmhLeTcWUAOYpWdoJhnEkDTkUuFI&index=1
Apple Music
https://music.apple.com/us/album/here-is-where-im-meant-to-be-single/1692183888
And for more content, you can follow The Rayne on:
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/therayne.music
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@therayne.musicuk
-----Original Message-----
From: midimag-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <midimag-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of Jes Smith
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2023 4:14 PM
To: midimag@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [freelists-midimag] Re: Putting up an original song on Spotify and
needing suggestions and advice
Hey Bill,
CdBaby lets you set the initial price and will pay you if you exceed their
initial price. However, royalties are a bit of a laugh right now. When
someone streams something on Apple Music or Spotify, you might get one cent
per stream from Apple Music or so. It's better to get them all out onto all
of the streaming services.
On Aug 12, 2023, at 11:09 AM, Bill McCann <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks for this useful discussion. Regardless of the service one would use
to get one's music up on the streaming sites, is there provision made for
the artist/songwriter to earn any money as a result? Have any of the list
members here had any experience with receiving compensation for their work
from, say, Apple Music or Spotify?
Bill McCann, President, Dancing Dots
Visit our YouTube page:
http://www.youtube.com/DancingDotsAccess
-----Original Message-----
From: midimag-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <midimag-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of Ross McGregor
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2023 10:09 PM
To: midimag@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [freelists-midimag] Re: Putting up an original song on Spotify and
needing suggestions and advice
Hi,
These companies like distro kid or cd baby, or tunecore, are called music
aggregators.
I will use Tunecore and they place your music with over 100 music sites
around the world.
I think with Spotify you have to go through an aggregator. You can't post it
directly yourself.
Ross.
-----Original Message-----
From: midimag-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <midimag-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of Jaffar Sidek Ahmad
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2023 8:45 AM
To: midimag@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [freelists-midimag] Putting up an original song on Spotify and
needing suggestions and advice
Hi all. I am thinking of putting up an original song on spotify. If anybody
has had experience on doing just such a venture, please help advice and
giving me suggestions as to the steps needed to start it up. I of course
would like some financial gain from the venture, if it is at all possible,
but if I get noticed, at least it will be a step in the right direction.
Thank you and cheers!
