The A-Z of Online Music Distribution

In 2007, I released my band’s first EP, and our focus, for better or worse, was to move units in independent record stores and sell downloads on iTunes, emusic and other download stores. It worked at the time, we got into the Irish charts that week. But in terms of exposure, the results were ultimately very limited. Since then, I’ve seen some fantastic distribution methods employed by both Irish and international acts. There’s also the fact that three years on, there’s a plethora of other sites available to distribute ones music. It cannot be denied that quality music is shared through social media in a huge way when the band employs innovative distribution tactics.

Here’s a few relatively new, and old ways that a new Indie band could use to distribute their music:

Physical Format

Vinyl / Tape / CD / Flash Memory

An obvious one, but the days of the physical release aren’t over just yet. The market in Ireland wouldn’t be big enough to justify a large run of CDs, or even a small pressing of vinyl copies, but looking abroad to the UK and US, vinyl has made a significant come back over the last few years. Large bands like Radiohead, NIN etc use it to push limited edition packs at fans, and smaller bands are using the format as a way of targeting a particular fan base. It’s a slightly more pricey way of doing things though.

Tape is a cheaper and less used format these days. Last year’s SXSW ‘IT’ band, Dirty Projectors caused a bit of a stir when they announced that they were selling their album on a tape that also came with a download code. My question is, does anyone have tape players any more? I’d struggle to find one myself…

CDs still get plenty of shelf space and most bands will press a run of CDs as well as using some of the other formats that I’ll discuss below.

The last format that has developed more widespread use of late would be Flash memory sticks. Trent Reznor of NIN, being the eternal pioneer that he is, was one of the first to use this as a format. Sony used flash to sell a 25th anniversary edition of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. It’s a nice format, but I don’t really see it becoming the most used format.

Gimmicks

Music Box / Soup Cans / T-Shirts / Buddah machine / U2 iPod

With CD sales falling, bands in recent years have been racking their brains to come up with alternative ways of getting their music out there, sparking fans imaginations and even getting increased press exposure with their innovative ideas. There’s a great post on Wired from a few months back discussing this very topic. In fact, that post gave me a good bit of inspiration for this post. You’ve got bands like Mogwai giving their fans little music boxes that play the tune of their single, Max Tundra sold his fans cans of soup with download codes and Mos Def put his music on a wearable t-shirt format. You’ve also got collaborations like recently deceased artist SparkleHorse teaming up with artist and film director David Lynch and DJ Danger Mouse to produce a collection of art and music. Adding that extra value, or being really innovative can push your music above and beyond the shelves of a record store.

Digital

Spotify / iTunes / Bandcamp / Soundcloud

Most of us will have heard of Spotify at this stage. It’s a music streaming service with desktop and mobile apps across most formats. It’s really only available in Sweden, Spain, Norway, Finland, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom but it’s reach cannot be ignored. It’s being credited with the survival of the music industry in the country of its inception, Sweden. They recently opened their doors to Indie bands, who can use services like TuneCore and CDBaby to push their music up there. It’s not expensive to do this, and you receive royalties for each stream of your track. I wouldn’t worry in the slightest that this service is not widely used in Ireland. You’ll get your music out to much bigger communities elsewhere.

We can’t ignore traditional mp3 services like iTunes, or eMusic as places that you should host your music either. TuneCore give you the choice of pushing your music out to countless sites including amazon, Nokia, Thumbplay and many more.

Sites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud have popped up as great places to host your music. With the decline of Myspace, it’s important to look elsewhere to feature your music. Bandcamp allows you to put your music up with album art, multiple file types for download, and an option to sell your music too. Soundcloud is a great place to upload music, as many bloggers and journalists now have a Soundcloud Dropbox. It’s the quickest way to get your music out to important ears.

Apps

Beatles Rockband / NIN Tap Tap / Deadmau5

Finally, one can’t ignore the importance of the app over the last three years since Apple’s launch of the App Store. NIN tap-tap revenge (Rockband style game that allows you to tap along to music on a virtual guitar. Score over 150,00 points and win a signed Les Paul guitar) and Beatles Rockband are using videogames to sell their music in app format. Acts like Deadmau5 (whose app allows you to remix his music on your phone – amazing stuff) are using a remix format as a way to really engage their fans. It’s way more difficult to pirate music from an app, and giving music fans that sort of access and control of the music they love, at an affordable price and easily downloaded to a phone is surely the way of the future?

So there you have it. Countless ways to get your music out there. What have I missed? Have you seen or even used a really innovative method to distribute your music? If so, I want to hear about it