1.The Soundzone Network
The network distributes digital music, ringtones, and video to over 450 digital retailers in over 85 countries. It also promotes label catalogs through various outlets, including social networking sites, newsletters, and label profiles. The company offers its technical, marketing, and legal services to a wide range of independent artists and labels from all genres.
Intellectual Rights
The artist does not waive any of their ownership rights when using the service and the only requirement is that an artist does not have their music available on a specific service via another distributor, in order to prevent duplication of tracks. Another important requirement is that the user publishing material has ownership rights to the music they distribute. Artists can stop using the service whenever they wish, though it can take up to 3 months for their music to be removed from the services where it has been made available.
The Music Networks
Music is currently distributed to: iTunes, Amazon MP3, eMusic, Youtube, Pandora, Google Play, Vimeo, Amazon, E music, Soundcloud, Vevo, MTV, Napster, and streaming services like Spotify, Rdio, Wimp, Deezer, Rhapsody, eMusic, Wimp, Rdio, Juno, Napster (pay service), 7digital, 24/7 Entertainment, Vidzone, Nokia Music, Masterbeat, Beatport, CDON, HMV DIGITAL, T-mobile, Tesco, iMusica, ICJ Inc and many, many more. A full overview of where they distribute to can be found on website.
ADED.US offers 4 different pricing plans at competitive rates:
The Ultimate Package / $200 a year
Free Promotion
2. BandCamp
BandCamp is a DIY version of a music distribution service. As an artist, you can set your own prices and control the branding/image of your listings to a degree. However, it’s sort of a one-trick-pony. You can only sell music on their site. Your music doesn’t go anywhere else. Plus, if you really wanted to kill 1,000 birds with one stone, ADED.US Music Distribution distributes music to BandCamp as well… on top of all the other stores they distribute to.
Another tricky thing about BandCamp is the way they collect 10% of your royalties (sales). They will give you 100% of the royalties resulting from the sale of your first 9 units, then they will take 100% of the 10th sale. –– whois
3. CD Baby
CD Baby is one of the largest music distributors in the world, based on the number of members they have. But, truth be told, the only reason why they are so large is because they were one of the first music distribution companies to get their foot in the door during the wild wild west days of digital music distribution –– the other being TuneCore.
However, bigger isn’t always better. CD Baby lacks the personal touch that ADED.US Music Distribution clients get. The entire CD Baby site is automated, giving it that corporate clone feel. They also have an extensive history of making changes to their service including pricing. –– whois
4. TuneCore
TuneCore –– much like CD Baby –– is one of the largest music distributors in the world, based on the number of members they have. But, truth be told, the only reason why they are so large is because they were one of the first music distribution companies to get their foot in the door during the wild wild west days of digital music distribution.
Things don’t look so good for TuneCore members these days though. After the ousting of founders Jeff Price and Peter Wells, TuneCore has become a company controlled completely by venture capitalists. Some of those venture capitalists have nothing to do with the music business. To make matters worse, Jeff Price was the outspoken founder of TuneCore who pushed the market for independent music further. Things just aren’t the same there without him. –– whois
5. SongCast
SongCast has been in the game almost as long as CD Baby and TuneCore. However, they can get rather expensive seeing as how they charge you twice for on project. In order to even use SongCast as a service, you have to pay $6 a month to be a member. Then, you have to pay $20 for each project you want to distribute. This pales in comparison to the rates of ADED.US Music Distribution, where you can pay $100 a year and get 12 projects distributed. If you were to distribute 12 projects through SongCast, it would cost you approx. $312 over the course of 1 year… Yikes! –– whois
6. RecordUnion / Record Union
Record Union took a unique approach towards music distribution. Instead of offering a cover-all solution, Record Union offers members the opportunity to pick-and-choose which digital stores and apps they want their music sent to, only paying for those specific stores.
However, this is an option that is also offered by ADED.US Music Distribution at a lower price via their Pick-and-Choose Annual and Pick-and-Choose Monthly plans. –– whois
7. OneRPM
OneRPM is yet another company that took the road-less-travelled. Instead of focusing on the U.S./U.K. market, they started off marketing their services in Brazil.
Were not gonna lie to you though, OneRPM can get pretty complicated and pricey. –– whois
8. FMA (Free Music Archive)
FMA isn’t a distribution service per se. It is a site that showcases music offered in the public domain, with or without creative commons licenses attached, sort of like a public library for downloading free music.
You can’t sell music through the site. But, if getting your music out there is your main goal then FMA can’t hurt.
9. SoundCloud
SoundCloud is one of the largest communities of musicians in the world. Although their apps don’t offer the ability to sell music directly, their is a way to connect to a digital store through the “buy link” feature. Combined with a listing from ADED.US Music Distribution, SoundCloud can be a powerful tool for marketing and promoting your listing.
However, SoundCloud basically gave the keys to it’s service to the major labels in recent years and this didn’t sit well with the musicians that use their site. The majors literally have the power to remove anything (no questions asked) from the site. So, if you upload music to SoundCloud, and a major label even thinks it violates their copyrights, they can remove your material without any opposition. Hello “Big Brother”… –– whois
10. BeatPort BaseWare
BeatPort is a site that caters to the EDM crowd. People who love EDM can purchase songs directly from EDM producers, albeit at a pricey mark-up. And people who make EDM can sell it through the site as well.
BeatPort offers a separate service called BaseWare, where they will distribute your music to other stores, but it’s extremely pricey and a lot of the information regarding pricing, terms, etc. is not transparent. –– whois
