Indie labels took the Grammys by storm this year. DIY artists are enjoying greater success as well. Part of the success is due in large part to digital distribution.
What is digital distribution? Simply, it is the dissemination of recorded music over the internet via mp3 or some other compressed file format. It is taking the artists' music and placing it with the various emusic stores. I think that just about everyone knows what an emusic store is by now. The most notable of these is iTunes.
Some are calling digital distribution the new market model, however my personal opinion is, that it's way to early to tell how the market will shake out. There are too many variables like streaming, the cloud, and high end audio that have yet to reveal what their true impact on the music business is going to be. It is true that the internet has given artists a voice who would otherwise not have one. Online distributors such as The Orchard, Tunecore, CD Baby, Reverbnation, and Catapult are currently placing the artists' music in emusic stores such as iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, eMusic, Zune, Spotify, and others. But what separates the online market place from the major labels is the level and amount of promotion that goes along with the distribution of each release. DIY artists are pretty much on their own when it comes to promotion, and traditional media is still a very powerful means of getting the word out about new releases.
The rise of the internet as a powerful and effective delivery system for the dissemination of music has created a sort of gateway, in the guise of the online distributor. Several decades ago, if you wanted to take your music to the masses, you had to do it by way of a major record label, or at least a large independent. Label execs were essentially the arbiters of good taste. If you were lucky enough to be offered a contract, so much of who you were as an artist may have been negotiated away, that by the time your album hit the market, it probably didn't sound anything like what you had when you started. Not to mention the large portion of artists' royalties collected by the labels in order to recoup any cash advances that were paid.
That being said, the lure of retaining a greater percentage of ones earnings is a very strong one. Most online distributors are only charging a flat fee upfront, with the emusic stores taking a small percentage from the actual sale, leaving the artist with a much greater portion of what their releases are actually earning.
If you're looking to release a CD then The Orchard or CD Baby is a good idea. The Orchard delivers it's artists' music to brick and mortar as well as the online music stores, while CD Baby can sell your CD release at their website and get the music onto iTunes. Reverbnation and Catapult can sell your music from their site and get it into the online stores. Tuncore, which has been my personal favorite for the last few years, gets your music into iTunes digital stores in every country. Plus they can get your music to Rhapsody, Amazon.com, eMusic, Zune, and Spotify. While Reverbnation offers a free widget, I like the distribution pricing and the features offered by Tuncore, and I like their widget's design and functionality.
Being an independent artist I'd have to say that I'm biased. Not so much against the major labels as I am in favor of doing it myself. While it may not be for everybody, I like the freedom that the DIY movement allows an artist. You can work at your own pace and produce the kind of music that you love.
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