In my experience with Resonant Vibes, I’ve come across many of you independent label managers who are working tirelessly to push your music. Depending on how long you’ve been at it, you may have wrestled with the decision of whether or not to work with a distributor or a delivery service. I don’t have a definitive opinion on this important matter, but I can offer you some insights from the perspective of a download store manager.
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The first thing I want to do in this post is to explain the general ways in which you (the independent label manager) can distribute your music. (Forgive me if this seems pedantic; some of you already know this stuff, but others may not.) One way for you to get your music sold to consumers is to deal directly with an electronic music download store (like RV). This means you’ll sign a License Agreement of sorts with the store, and they will sell your music and send you royalty statements and payments on some periodic basis. A second way you can get your music sold to consumers is by dealing with a digital distributor, i.e. a middle man. They will charge you various fees, and in exchange they will deal on your behalf with the myriad download stores. Of course, the benefit of dealing with distributors is they will save you the hassle of working with many stores – i.e. the hassle of working with many different sets of delivery specs, many different royalty statements, etc. The third way you can get your music sold to consumers is by working with a delivery platform service. These guys are kind of like quasi-distributors; they give you a technical platform that makes it much easier for you to deliver music to many different stores. The key difference, however, is that unlike a distributor, the platform service will not negotiate contracts on your behalf with the stores – i.e. your label will remain in “contractual privity” with the store.
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Ok, so that basically covers your three options for getting your music to consumers. (Of course, you could always sell it directly from your label’s website, but chances are you’ll reach a very limited number of consumers if you do that.) …so which of these three options is your best move?
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I think the answer will depend on many factors, not the least of which is your overall vision as a label manager. If your label is mostly a hobby, and you’re not set on making it a pillar of the electronic music community, then maybe your move is to just deal directly with a couple of stores. On the other hand, if you view your label as a career path and plan to take it to the top, I would think you’d want it in all reputable download stores worldwide.
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Since the decision of whether or not to use a distributor or delivery service ultimately depends on your aims and circumstances, I will just highlight some pros and cons that I see…
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WORKING WITH A DISTRIBUTOR
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……….Pros
……….1. You can deal with one party (the distributor) and get your music into many stores.
……….2. Your music will get into stores that might not be willing to work with you independently. (Don’t underestimate this!)
……….3. You can still form relationships with your preferred stores to give further support to your releases (in which case you’re sort of having your cake and eating it too).
……….4. You’ll spend less time on administrative tasks (e.g. uploading releases or sorting through royalty statements), which means you’ll have more time to market your label.
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………. Cons
……….1. You’re going to give a share of your label’s revenue to the distributor.
……….2. Your releases may get delivered with a thousand releases from other labels and thus get less attention than if you delivered it directly.
……….3. Nobody cares about your label’s music as much as you; distributors won’t promote your material to a store as effectively as you can by dealing with them directly.
……….4. You’re going to lose some control over your releases – e.g. it may take a distributor a while to get your release to the stores.
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WORKING WITH A DELIVERY SERVICE PROVIDER
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……….Pros
……….1. You’ll pretty much get advantages 1-3 listed above for working with a distributor.
……….2. You’ll have greater access to the download stores.
……….3. You will retain control over the timing of your deliveries (they’re just giving you the technical service; you decide what releases get sent when to your stores).
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………. Cons
……….1. You’re still going to have some of the administrative burden of dealing with stores directly (e.g. you will have a different contract for each store, and you’ll receive different royalty statements from each store).
……….2. You’re going to have to pay for this delivery service, which of courses reduces your profits.
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So, I’ve laid out some of the pros and cons with dealing with distributors and delivery services. You can consider these as you see fit and make your own decision about what will be best for your label.
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In the event you decide to work with a distributor, here’s a list of a few that we’ve dealt with…
……….1. Finetunes
……….2. GrooveSource
……….3. INgrooves
……….4. IRIS
……….5. MTunes
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If you end up looking for a delivery service provider, I would steer you in the direction of FUGA.
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This is a lengthy post. I hope you find it helpful.
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Also, if you have any thoughts about this topic, please share them. You have a unique set of experiences that somebody else reading our blog may find helpful!
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Eddie B
