Whether you’re a musician yourself or just a music fan in general, you’ll likely have come across the term ‘music distribution’. But what exactly does this mean and what does a music distributor do for your career?
Global music distributor & label services company Ditto Music is here to cover all of this and more, helping map out everything you as an artist needs to know about selling your music online in 2023.
What is music distribution?
Music distribution involves the sharing of music across both physical and online store platforms. With roughly 600 million people subscribing to music streaming services in 2023, music distribution is a crucial factor in reaching your fans wherever they’re listening.
Serving as the link between artists and listeners, music distribution should be an essential part of every modern musician’s strategy for releasing music. If you’re an artist or label wanting to sell your music on Spotify or another major music store, then you NEED to use a music distributor like Ditto.
What does a music distributor do?
As a music distributor, Ditto has several main responsibilities. From releasing your music to all major online streaming platforms, making sure you’re paid the royalties you’re owed from these services and elsewhere, to providing promotional support throughout the entirety of your release. Your distributor should be doing all they can to boost your music.
They remove the stress and hassle of having to manually upload your release to each platform. Distributors handle the tricky yet essential tasks of correctly entering metadata and release details on your behalf, letting you sit back and relax whilst your music reaches new listeners across the globe.
Another vital role of your music distributor is ensuring you receive your earnt royalties. Whenever your music is streamed or downloaded, you’ll generate income through music royalty payments. Your distributor collects all of these royalties from the relevant music streaming platforms and returns them to you or whoever owns the rights to your music.
When deciding on which distributor to work with, it’s important to note that some services might take a percentage of these royalties. Choosing to release your music with Ditto means you’ll keep 100% of all the royalties you earn from online sales and streams across every platform or store where your music is available.
Getting paid via your music distribution plan helps streamline the whole process for both you as the artist and the streaming platforms. You’ll receive one total payment each month as opposed to multiple little ones here and there, keeping things nice and organised, and allowing you to budget accordingly.
Working with a music distributor provides added support throughout the entire process of releasing your music, offering you access to the necessary tools and services to successfully promote your releases.
On top of carrying out the main distribution responsibilities, Ditto offers its artists additional backing through promo campaigns, playlisting assistance, publishing services, as well as exclusive pre-save links and help with chart registration. Not a bad deal if you ask us.
Why do you need a music distributor?
If you’re planning on selling your music on the biggest streaming platforms in 2023, you’re going to need to get yourself a music distributor. Most major streaming platforms don’t let artists directly upload music themselves, so it’s essential to use a distributor to handle this process and get your music up on the likes of Spotify and Apple Music.
Distributors also have direct lines of communication set up with key streaming platforms, as well as strong relationships with social media brands like Instagram and TikTok. These existing relationships and connections help strengthen your online artist profiles and provide added credibility to your music.
Your music distributor should be helping streamline every task associated with selling your music online. They should be doing all they can to get your music onto all major streaming platforms and helping promote your music to as many new fans as possible.
Music distributor checklist:
● Sends your music to all major platforms & stores
● Generates consistent revenue through royalty streams
● Boosts your artist credibility & reputation
● Enhances your online artist presence
● Access streaming insights & in-depth listener data
There you have it. Your artist guide to music distribution.
For more info on how to distribute your music across the world and keep 100% of your royalties whilst doing so, head to Ditto.com and use the code GIGMIT30 for a 30% discount on a Ditto Music distribution plan.
