#92 - 4 Things to Consider When Choosing a Distributor

You’ve written the music, recorded and mixed it, your artwork is ready to go and your press shots are sharp, so all you have to do now is make it available for audiences. The hard work is over...right? Choosing a distributor should be a simple step, but there might be a few more things to consider.

Firstly, what is a distributor?

A music distributor is an ‘aggregator’ that takes your music to partners such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer etc. They sign deals with artists or record labels and take their music to ‘stores’, meaning, they enable you to get your music on streaming services and other platforms.

1. Money, money, money

There are many ways to pay or be paid.

Royalties
If you choose a distributor that uses a publisher, they will collect your royalties, if not the royalties will come straight to you. By choosing someone that does not collect, you may miss out on being paid.

Paying ‘Rent’
Some distributors require you to pay an annual fee or subscription, meaning, your music can only be live if you pay. This can be great if you want to be constantly releasing as some of these sites have no limit on your uploads.

Contracted Splits
In short, if you choose this route, you will likely be giving your distributor around 10/15% of your earnings which means no upfront fees. This is great if you don’t want to pay anything upfront, but not so great if you want to take home 100% of your earnings. The plus side here is that, unless you succeed, your distributor won’t get paid, and some companies will put in the extra work to make sure you get heard.

2. Could your service include more than just delivery?

Some companies may have the ability to build creative campaigns as part of their contracts, or offer a variety of marketing packages in addition to their base level subscription.

If you don’t have access to a team or want to alleviate some pressure, this can be very helpful.  

3. Partnerships and platforms

A selection of distributors (Amuse being a good example) give you the option to take home 100% of your money, and you don’t have to pay to upload; however there is often the small catch of not being able to send your music to as many partners. If you want your music to be available on Tik Tok, Instagram and all the regular streaming services, make sure you do your research before signing up.

4. Values

Let’s cover a few different areas within this:

Customer support
This might seem obvious but it can so easily be forgotten about. Customer support is key! You want to know that if you need it, help will be readily available and whoever you choose to work with has an A* in communication.

Company ethos or values
Does your distributor support good causes? Do their values align with yours? Don’t overlook this, it could be important in the long run.

Opportunities
Not all companies will use the same approach for all of their artists. You may find that some distributors will push larger artists when pitching for playlists for example. To get the most out of your deal, make sure you are researching multiple people’s experience to gain a good understanding of the type of opportunities that may be made available to you.