Let’s look at a few reasons why selling music online is a must:
- Album purchases are becoming increasingly easy for consumers. Fans don’t want to make a special trip or wait for an album to be shipped. They expect to be able to find and download albums instantly — from whichever service and device they choose.
- Online distribution puts you in front of potential new fans on a daily basis. Most services use formulas to establish a connection between artists with a similar sound, which can lead to someone new hearing and falling in love with your music.
- Streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music have created a new revenue stream (however small it may be) for artists.
- Streaming also removes a listener’s risk of purchasing a song or album that they do not enjoy.
- From 2000 to 2010, physical CD sales declined by 50%, and they continue to fall year over year. In 2013, album sales fell another 11%, while streaming rose significantly.
- Online distribution can save your band money required to press physical CDs.
What are the requirements to sell music online through the major platforms?
Regardless of how successful your band may be, odds are that you will not meet the submission requirements enforced by the major sales platforms. Amazon requires that you go through a digital music distributor in order for your music to be sold on their site. You can submit your music directly to iTunes if you meet their list of requirements, including a catalog with at least 20 albums, UPCs, and ISRCs for all products and tracks. Pandora allows you to submit your music directly, as long as you have at least one track listed on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, or Bandcamp. So basically, if you’re not already a multi-million dollar rockstar, you’ll need to go through an online distribution service.
What is Online music distribution services?
If you’re in the majority of artists who don’t meet the requirements asked by iTunes and Pandora, you can use an online distribution service like DigiTunes to sell your music. In addition to the big names, DigiTunes will also distribute to the less popular sales platforms and streaming services.