Guide to Digital Distribution Services
Quite often artists asked us "what digital download stores should I have my music on?" Rather than giving you
our opinion on the hundreds of services out there we're going to suggest some questions that you should ask
before joining any of them (including ours). Our suggested questions deal with 5 areas:
Contractual
Financial
Technical
Marketing
iTunes
Contractual
1. Are you signing up with a service or a broker?
Brokers will put your songs on a variety of
download stores and keep a percentage of what you earn. Thus, if you earn 60% from an online store and the broker keeps
20% of what you earn then you are really only earning 48%!
2. Is the contract exclusive?
Most services are NOT exclusive, however, a broker contract may be. Steer clear
of exclusive contracts or make sure you have a way out of the contract in case they fail to deliver on their committments.
3. Can you terminate the contract and will they take your songs down?
ALL contracts are negotiable. Verbal
agreements don't count - make sure everything you want is in writing.
Financial
4. Is there an upfront cost?
How many downloads do you have to sell to make up that initial cost?
5. Is there a monthly fee?
Monthly fees are red flags - is this company making more money from selling downloads
or collecting your monthly fee?
6. What commission do I get on a sale?
The industry average is actually somewhere under 50% of the price of the song.
Determine the maximum amount you are willing to give to someone else to sell your song. Subscription services are
different so make sure you understand how and what you are paid.
7. Can I get cash for my commissions?
If the answer is "no" then figure out the street value of whatever they are
paying you with.
8. How many songs do I have to sell to recoup my upfront and monthly costs?
If you are currently not selling enough
downloads to pay for the monthly fee then look at other services instead. Watch for bundled services too such as website
hosting packages that also allow you to sell downloads. You can get good hosting for $5/month so make sure you know what
you are getting by paying more.
9. Will my songs be sold at a fair price? My album too?
If you have an 18 minute song you should sell it for more than
the price of your 4 minute song. Can you? If you have a double CD with 25 songs are you forced to sell it for
$9.99? Here are two good rules of thumb: 1) fans should pay a little bit more for an album of downloads than
for your physical CD and 2) you should earn roughly the same profit from each.
Technical
10. What format do they sell your songs in?
Selling MP3s is a bad idea. Here's why: Johnny buys a download and
is going to share it with 100 of his friends. There's 100 people who will never buy that download. Uh oh, what if those
100 people decide to share it?!?
11. Is that format protected?
Ideally, you want your music in a protected format that other people can listen to a
limited number of times. Most protected songs can't be played at all (which is frustrating) and unprotected
songs lead to fans with no reason to buy. So where do you get protected files that can be shared and sampled? Ever hear of
SecureSong??
12. Can it be burned to a CD?
This is a fairly standard option but many services are limiting the number of burns.
A burned CD can be "ripped" back into a computer as an unprotected file.
13. What digital audio players is it compatible with?
Songs sold through iTunes can only be transferred directly to
iPods. iPods can't play files purchased from Napster, Yahoo!, SecureSong, and so on because iPods aren't compatible
with protected windows files. Choosing a download store and an MP3 player isn't easy these days. Email us for help.
14. Do I have to host my digital music files?
Hosting files is an out-of-pocket cost but shouldn't be too bad.
Most services host songs for you and are equipped for lots of traffic.
Marketing
15. Can I sell downloads directly from my website or MySpace?
YOU will always be able to sell more downloads than any
service you sign up for. Plus, if you can sell direct then you keep people on your website(s). Selling direct should be a
part of your digital distribution strategy. If you need help try
SecureSong. (I've heard good things about them!)
16. How will my songs be promoted on your website?
Download stores that advertise 1.5 Million Songs!! aren't
going to do much promotion for you. If they say they will then make sure it is in the contract! Getting on the big download stores
is only half the battle - YOU have to tell people you are there! Of course, why would you direct your website
visitors to someone else's website??
17. Will you help sell my physical CD or send people to my website?
There's only one download store I know of that
does this for artists. I forget the name... HOLD ON... I think it was called
SecureSong. Seriously, do you know any other digital download stores that will offer a link to your online CD store?
18. How many times can someone listen to the song?
Letting people play one or more of your songs an unlimited number
of times creates no incentive for that person to buy. 45-second samples or limiting the number of plays gets you heard and
will create fans who are also customers.
19. How easy is it for people to share my songs and will my copyrights be protected?
Okay, this is a setup question
for me to pitch SecureSong - if you can find a better deal
let me know! Secure Songs are shared through hyperlinks making them extremely versatile - the protection is built
into the music file.
20. What special ways can I market and promote the digital files of my songs?
SecureSongs are perfect for handing out on a data CD. Okay, now I'm going over board! However, think about how
all those other digital download stores help you - SecureSong is your digital marketing partner and we work
with artists to help them market their music.
iTunes
21. iTunes... do I need it?
We recommend artists put their music on iTunes. 70% of all digital downloads are sold through iTunes. This is
probably because iPods won't play protected files purchased from anywhere but iTunes. It's sad but it is a
reality. In fact, we'd like to help your fans who own iPods to purchase your songs from iTunes.
22. I'm on iTunes. Is my work done?
First of all you need to tell people you are on iTunes. You should provide a link to your iTunes page on your website. The next consideration
is to find out where you rank on iTunes search results. Where do you come up if someone types in your genre? How
about your name? Finally, are you earning the most money from an iTunes sale? If not then you should promote iTunes less.
In conclusion, ask yourself this important question: if someone asked me where to buy one of my downloads which store would I send them to?
If you didn't recommend a service then why are you on it? Giving away music and being on too many services may also
dilute your brand image.
Please remember these are our opinions. We feel serious artists
need to be business-minded. We don't know all the answers about every service but we do understand what is in the best
interest of most artists. We are your digital marketing partners and we are always available to help you out by phone,
email or morse code!
SecureSong Now Available
Online Music Capital created a new digital download product to enable artists to sell downloads directly from
their websites. These are protected files that can be legally shared and played 3 times for free. Artists
earn a high commission and we provide lots of marketing support. Put another way, we want Secure Song to be your
first choice to recommend to your fans. Please sign up at
www.BlogYourMusic.com
BTW, check out our other tutorials especially the one on conducting effective email
campaigns - you'll see how SecureSong can integrate with your emails and help sell your music online!
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