Distrokid is Selling

[bermudagold]

What are the implications?

[ksandvik]

I think she talks about consolidation, a larger music business such as a large record company will consolidate the business, cut expenses, make things more expensive, new legal contracts about them owning the rights for AI training and so on.... We will see, meanwhile there are many far better streaming distribution companies out there.

[bermudagold]

I think she talks about consolidation, a larger music business such as a large record company will consolidate the business, cut expenses, make things more expensive, new legal contracts about them owning the rights for AI training and so on.... We will see, meanwhile there are many far better streaming distribution companies out there.

whats your favorite indie distributor currently?

[ksandvik]

I think most of us should do a spreadsheet comparison and based on that select the distributor, as it depends on various factors like Beatport/<electronic dance music> distribution or not, if the tracks are removed if you terminate the account (good or bad depending on your strategy), release times, money needed to pay for obvious features or not (like YouTube Content IDs).

I selected this time iMusician (https://imusician.pro) as I like supporting European smaller distributors and help them out, and their service is good and has the features I needed at this point of time. I also use Bandcamp for full album/EP releases. And at some point I will push the material to FreeMusicArchive anyway as there's really little money in releasing music and I rather have someone listening to it than trying to squeeze money out from the productions I make.

[Vortifex]

I wouldn't say there are many far better services than Distrokid. I find the industry full of cowboys and their pros always tend to be marred by quite a few cons and none of them really stand out as being significantly better than most others. Expensive and charging for extras that should really be standard, slow to approve new releases, have terrible customer support, take down releases for spurious reasons, are dodgy with payouts, lack features like distributing lyrics, etc.

In my experience Distrokid is one of the 'better' ones. Fast approval, good revenue breakdowns, a handy feature that let you know which YouTube videos your music has been used in. Downside was charging for extras. Routenote is solid but their approval times are abysmal and customer service is slow to respond.

[ksandvik]

I would carefully read any distribution rights documents from Distrokid concerning AI use. Also vote with your wallet to stop huge companies from monetizing small producers with all kinds of shenanigans, focus rather on smaller distribution companies that are closer to the needs of musicians.

[osiris]

I'd like to know why $10.00 to 'remaster' songs with the Mixea thing when you will NEVER make that money back unless you are Adele. $1.99 I might spring for. It's insane stuff like that, and the $10.00 a month just to get your stuff on Beatport.

[ksandvik]

yes, I don't need to pay $10 a month to get music to Beatport with iMusician... It's part of the monthly/yearly fee - it should be default in with any distro that handles electronic dance music today. These add-on fees on top of each other is imho for those who don't check other distros and realize those are cheaper.