The music business is one of the most dynamic industries, courtesy of modern technology and social media. YouTube, music downloading sites, and with the coming of satellite and internet radio, geographical positions no longer limit people to the local Radio frequencies. People no longer struggle to send their music to radio stations and record labels. On the contrary, people today can utilize music downloading sites, internet resources, and local music recording studios to make, sell, and boost their music. In this article, we shall have a thorough overview of the various ways through which you can sell your music.
Selling your music to an artist.
It is thrilling to be a professional songwriter. But then, the disturbing question, “how do I sell my songs?” will always be after you. There is the erroneous notion behind this question, that recording artists buy the music they record. It does not work as it sounds. You make a deal to get your songs recorded by artists, after which they may be included in movies or TV shows. As a songwriter, you make this achievement by publishing the rights to your songs.
For the somehow rare cases where songwriters make music or instrumental pieces for outright sale, they design them as pieces created for hire.
In the field of songwriting, a piece for hire can be described as a melody, song, or lyric categorically made on another person’s behalf in exchange for money. In such cases, the songwriter entirely renounces the rights to ownership and may either renounce or not renounce any money that might be generated by the creation.
Works for hire are, in some instances, made by the workers of advertising companies, slogan production agencies, internal composers, and amusement park workers. Sometimes, people are hired to make songs based on work-for-hire for TV shows, audiovisual work, websites, or video games.
Besides, here is another way through which songwriters sell their songs. Songwriters with a distinguished track record of hot songs might resell their listing. This is inclusive of existent music that may or may not has been released commercially. These sales are made to a music publishing agency. However, this is not what occurs to people in mind when they think of selling music.
Before thinking of working with great artists, it is very critical for songwriters to weigh whether their content is ready for a general audience.
If at all a songwriter wants their music to be wowed by the audience, they ought to make it as radio-friendly as the greatest achievable degree. Renowned artists are thinking about their next hit songs. To be hit, these songs must have easy to memorize lyrics, hooks that the audience cannot afford to forget and choruses that the audience finds fun to flow with. For songwriters with great music already, they can picture their most beloved artists doing them. For the songwriters who are yet to be there, they should make their practice more vigorous.
The first step is always pitching to an artist. Pitching earns licensing a recording artist. Before throwing your music to any artist, you have to run a background check. You must have a full understanding of the kind of audience they appeal to. This knowledge is useful in helping you write music that the audience can relate with. Don’t forget to copyright your music.
Have it in mind that it is cheaper to copyright a group of several songs than copyrighting individual songs.
The next step is recording classy demos. Remember, the fact that these demos are rough cuts doesn’t mean that they have to be crappy. However, it does not necessarily have to sound like it was created in the globe’s most classic studio, but it should be moderate and have no notable flaws. Days have changed, and expectations have gone a step higher. In the modern world, recording your music at your home studio is less costly and more manageable. You can create quality work at home, and so you need not feel bothered. The most primary requirement is that the song should move the audience with emotion, positive energy, and a taste of the feel that the final recording will give the audience.
If playing instruments is not your cup of tea, or you just don’t feel like doing it, you can contract session players to offer you a hand.
Producers are experienced and can identify without trouble, great songs. Therefore, they can easily envision how music could be brought together in the studio. If your recording does not add value to among, it is ignored or discarded.
Who are you pitching to?
Apart from a few, it is generally true to say that a majority of renowned artists are in search of their next big-hitting song.
To begin with, you have to know the big hits of that particular present moment. After identifying the hits, make a point of pitching to those specific artists.
It is healthy to pitch to both new and veteran artists. However, it takes some strategy to throw with new artists, as you are not certain about them.
To now new artists, you could watch music competitions shows. Keenly observe how they compete against their counterparts. Be specifically keen with those competitors who manage to soar through the ranks.
Besides, you should also analyze the kind of music they opt for in their performances to understand their taste and style. This should be a guiding factor in selecting the kind of song to write.
The next step is contacting the artist. The primary step is to look up their contact information, be prepared for this activity is not as easy as you might think. But you do not have to worry because you have aiding tools like google, social media, email finders, and many more. It is vital to have it in mind that any information sent to these new artists should be clear and straight to the point because they have hectic schedules. To avoid frustrations, be sure to contact various artists.
Selling music online.
In this digital era, artists are ever seeking to find ways of selling their music online. Fortunately, enough, there are more means of selling music online than at any other time in the history of music. Long forgotten are the times when you had to keep up with the annoyance of distributing tapes and discs to almost every other record shop trough pout the country. There hundreds of legit options to choose from when it comes to selling music online. Let us have a look at the best four.
Below are some of these online places.
1. CD Baby.
It is the most renowned online platform for songwriters to sell and distribute their songs freely. Their interface eases the task of setting up an online shop for artists. Among the options available for you to get your music distributed to are Amazon marketplace, amazon mp3, and iTunes.
Musicians have a chance to sell their songs outright from their Facebook fan pages. Besides, they guide you on how to get your music licensed on YouTube. Buyers can quickly lookup across catalogs to trace new artists and music genres. You require no annual fee. You only need to pay one upfront payment to upload either a single or an album. After your collection has been bought either digitally or physically, CD Baby charges you a commission of 9 percent for digital sales and 4 percent for each album sold physically.
2. Tunecore.
It is currently CD Baby’s closest competitor. The difference between the two lies in fees and commissions. Unlike CD Baby, Tunecore needs an annual fee and an extra fee to distribute your record to new places. This means that for every renowned store that comes up, you have to pay an additional charge for TuneCore to distribute your record to the new store. If you are seeking for a publishing service exceptional off distribution, TuneCore allows you to sign in for these services singly.
3. DistroKid.
At Distrokid, you pay a low yearly fee and upload unlimited songs. When you are so actively creative, this is the ultimate best option. Their distribution to iTunes is speedy, and they charge you no commission. The only drawback is that their distribution is only limited to four online music stores: iTunes, amazon, google play, and Spotify. This is bad for the image, especially when compared to Tunecore, which has access to more than seventy-four renowned music stores across the globe.
4. Rumblefish
This is the best option for songwriters who, apart from producing their albums, also want to authorize their songs for use in TV shows, films, and other creativity-based projects that require an excellent soundtrack. With the rise of home-based movies, digital programming, and social sites like YouTube and Vimeo, people are seeking for the best music to add to their video games, adverts and more.
There are no upfront payments required. When your music’s usage is licensed, Rumblefish splits the deal by half. You retain full rights to ownership.
