30/8/2020 Selling Your Music Online: How To Make Money From Your Music

SELLING YOUR MUSIC ONLINE 101

If you’re writing, performing and recording music regularly, chances
are at this point that you have your preferred platforms for
consuming other artists’ music, too. iTunes or Apple Music? Spotify or
Deezer? Amazon or TIDAL? Soundcloud or Bandcamp? YouTube or
Pandora? You get it – there’s a ton of options for listening these days.
As you begin to prepare your next release, whether it’s a single, EP or
full album, you might be asking yourself: how do I get my music on
these platforms? And if you’ve gotten that far, you’re also probably
wondering: how can I make money from my music online? Well, you’re
not alone.
Free platforms like YouTube, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud simply
require a sign-up, some time to build your personal account, and
uploading your audio files. Obviously the advantages to this is price
and access to fans. Bandcamp even lets you set a price and sell
releases right from your page. But what about those digital music
stores and streaming platforms that fans can subscribe to? Surely all
one needs to do is send their music directly to them, right?
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Before we get into that, let’s take a little walk down memory lane.

HISTORY
The year is 2006. The music industry is several years into the crippling
age of illegal downloading among fans online. Physical sales are
continuing to plummet, major labels are downsizing their budgets,
and music strategists are still scrambling to reconcile for years of
refusing to adapt to a total digital shift.

It isn’t all doom and gloom. iTunes is showing strong performances as

the market leader for legal, paid digital downloads – in fact, by this
point they’ve hit 1 billion – and Amazon Music is beginning to make an
impact, too. iTunes was the spot to go to for downloading your favorite
releases, though, and every label worth mentioning was supplying the
digital retailer weekly. Either working directly with Apple (major labels)
or through distribution networks (independent labels), fans of all
genres had a place to find new music, and the labels had a place to
market them.
But just like in the past, unsigned independent artists felt locked out.
Without a label or a distribution deal, artists could not simply submit
their music and sell it on iTunes or Amazon Music.
That is, of course, until TuneCore arrived on the scene!
Ok, ok – we’re being a little self-promotional here. But really,
TuneCore’s offering truly was a disruptive moment in the industry: by
paying a small subscription fee and following all the formatting
guidelines instituted by stores, independent and unsigned artists
could digitally distribute their music and keep 100% of their revenue. It
was the beginning of an empowering time for creators, and it only got
better across the digital landscape.
Flash forward to over a decade later – iTunes is still a household
name, but digital music streaming has become the norm. On every
continent in the world, there’s platforms for downloading and
streaming that millions of music fans use everyday – and the good
news? They pay the artists!
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So now that you know that signing up with TuneCore is your one-way
ticket to getting all of your music on digital platforms, let’s break down
what you’re probably most concerned with: revenue.

DOWNLOADS
Downloaded files were the first format of digital music that fans could
purchase. They’re still very much available and help many artists pay
their rent each month. Each store that sells digital downloads has its
own pay-out to artists. For the sake of example, let’s take a look at
iTunes and U.S. dollars:
One digital single on iTunes = $0.99
Apple/iTunes receives = $0.29
Artist receives = $0.70
TuneCore receives = $0

In this example, in order to earn a profit, the store takes about 30%;
the artist earns about 70%; if the artist is distributing via TuneCore,
they keep that full 70% – some other digital distributors take a
commission, but you can read about our pricing here.

SIGN UP NOW

STREAMS
If you’re less familiar with streaming, it essentially means listeners can
play your music from a digital library accessible at their fingertips
without having to actually download any files. Music streaming has
evolved and will likely continue to as its popularity soars, but in
general, you’re likely to encounter two different types of streaming
revenues:
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Streaming revenue that comes in the form of a portion of

advertising revenue generated by the platform, or
Streaming revenue that comes in the form of a portion of
subscription revenue generated by the platform.

Some streaming platforms substitute subscription revenue for

advertising – meaning fans can use the service free of a subscription
charge, but they will hear ads intermittently during their listening time.
These are often referred to as “Freemium” services.
Others require a monthly subscription fee. In both situations, these
collective costs (the subscription fees and/or costs paid by
advertisers) make up the pool of revenue paid out to artists whose
songs are streamed every day.

WHY DISTRIBUTE?
It’s still totally valid for artists who are just starting out in their music
careers to say, “Well if there are free platforms available, why not just
focus on those and share those links to fans, bloggers, and others I’m
pitching my tunes to?”
The biggest reason you should be digitally distributing your music to
all major streaming platforms and digital stores: access. Withholding
music from listeners who prefer Spotify or Apple Music over
Soundcloud doesn’t stand to benefit independent artists who are
hoping to build their fan base. Whether it’s the user experience of the
app or just habit, music fans can be stubborn about how they choose
to consume – and with so many options available, why shouldn’t they
be? By choosing to make your releases available across the board,
you’re making it easier to show them off to a wider audience – whether
it’s promoting links online or bumping into a potential new fan in real
life.

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One of the best elements of streaming’s soaring popularity is the

concept of discovery. Fans who love certain artists will listen to them
on their preferred streaming app, only to be recommended similar
sounding artists. Within seconds, every single day, fans find their new
favorites purely from listening to their old favorites! Playlisting has
become an essential tool for discovery on some of these apps, too –
and while getting your music on a playlist is a task in and of itself,
you’ve got to start somewhere.
While we’re on the topic of discovery, it’s important to remember that
when we say “distribute your music all over the globe”, we really mean
all over the globe. Just because you’re an indie rock band or hip hop
artist based in the U.S., for example, doesn’t mean folks in South
Korea who use an app like KKBox don’t love discovering new music in
those genres. When you choose to sell your music digitally through
TuneCore, your releases wind up in platforms that – while you may
have never heard of them – are extremely popular in different
countries.
You may not have the resources to start touring on another continent
yet, but you’d be shocked by how many independent artists find
followings in places they’ve never traveled to simply because they
chose to distribute there via TuneCore!

Finally, perhaps the most simple reason you should be distributing

your music digitally across new stores and streaming platforms?
Money.
It’s not only a dream of artists to make money from their music online,
it becomes a necessity. Rehearsal spaces, new instruments, touring,
recording, and publicity campaigns all have one thing in common:
they cost money. By signing up for TuneCore and distributing your
music, you’ve taken the first step toward making money from your
music. From there, it’s going to take a lot of promoting and marketing,
hard work and hustle to build a fan base and increase your sales and
streams – but that’s one thing in this music industry that has remained
a constant over time.

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There’s a TON of resources on our site to check out if you’re still

wondering why digital distribution makes sense – from the
stores/platforms we partner with and sales reporting to pre-orders and
artist services. Be sure to follow us across social media to stay up to
speed with what’s happening, and utilize the TuneCore Blog for
endless advice and tips for furthering your career.

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