Digital Distribution Niche Opportunities
In my last post I said Indie bands and musicians should stick with the top DD providers like Apple iTunes, Napster, Emusic, MSN Music, or BuyMusic, etc. to promote their music, as this will 1) ensure that your songs will continue to be available on-line; 2) that you will get paid for any sales, as well as receive the most revenue; and 3) allow you to focus your promotional efforts on the DD sites that have the most consumers, instead of spreading yourself out to much for little return. However, this is only applicable when one is talking about the major on-line destination sites for downloading music, like the sites above. It is not correct when one is talking about the DD providers that have niche markets. So, in this post I am going to recommend the following 7 companies, and why you need to have your music with these DD providers. I'm sure there are others, and I welcome your feedback and thoughts, as these DD providers are simply the ones I would make sure and upload your music too:
1) HearMusic: This is Starbucks' music company. If you are lucky enough, they will play your music in their stores and/or make it available through their kiosks so their customers can listen to your music and download and burn it directly in the store. At this time, not all of their stores have these kiosks, but that will change with time.
2) Muze: This company provides music to AT&T/Cingular Wireless customers, so by enrolling you are allowing your friends that use this carrier to download your music to their phones and use them as ringtones.
3) NTT: This is the largest wireless carrier in Japan. Users of this service can purchase your music and download it to their phones and portable devices. Note: I will recommend a Chinese carrier soon.
4) Ruckus: This is subscription download service exclusively for colleges and universities. You don't get paid nearly as much for this service because students do not pay for individual downloads; rather, they pay a subscription fee as part of their tuition which covers all-you-can-eat downloads, so you share royalties. Unfortunately, it's a complex calculation of plays, downloads, numbers of bands, etc. But, if your band or song becomes popular with the students than you could be selling out large venues instead.
5) Snocap: This is a must enrollment for you, as it allows you to distribute and sell your music on MySpace - enough said.
6) Sonific: Again, this is another must enrollment as it allows bloggers to incorporate your music into their blogs.
7) Verizon V Cast: By enrolling with this carrier, you can make your music available through Verizon Wireless as well. Those that have Verizon Wireless phones capable of downloading music will be able to download your songs as ringtones.
Now, if you are wondering how to get all of your music to these providers, the best way to make sure you are covered without the headache of having to manage each one of these companies independently is to sell and distribute your music through CD Baby, as they will get your music to all of these DD providers and handle all of the logistics and statistics. Not to mention, most of these companies will not allow independent artists to upload their music directly, only large labels and distributors they have contracts with can. So, CD Baby is your best choice, and once you mail them your music via a CD, you can modify your preferences on-line and they will do the rest - just sit back and watch the money come in :-)
Also, if you are wondering why I did not cover Facebook, as it's an important site for Indie artists, it's because I'm going to devote an entire post about it in the next few days.
As always, I welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback.
Peace.
