Real talent is getting more than just one shot to make a breakthrough and hit it on great with new fans. Coming up with decently recorded tunes was a bit of an ordeal, and – not too many years ago – aspiring musicians had to fight hard to make themselves heard when hoping to gain the attention of a major label.
Today, there’s opportunity for those who want to produce professionally-recorded tracks, and the Internet offers ample possibilities for online marketing and promotion. So many websites reach out a hand to musicians that it’s hard to keep track. We’ve put together the most popular and useful services for you to get your music career started. These five platforms make it easy to promote and sell your music.
Bandcamp
Bandcamp helps independent musicians and labels get their own music out to their fans through a community platform. The look of the artist’s profile can be be adjusted. The artist (or band) can also set the price for downloading a song or an entire album.
Free downloads or discounts will increase the popularity of the artist or band. Next to digital downloads, there’s a chance to sell your sound recording medium through the platform. Your costs include a 10-15% fee that Bandcamp charges and the fees of the payment provider, which means you’ll still get 80-85% of what you sell.
TuneCore
TuneCore is one of five platforms that Spotify recommends for music distribution. Here you can upload your music and offer it on as many as 150 channels such as Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and amazon music. TuneCore also works as a music publisher that grants rights to third parties and collects royalties for artists. You will still hold 100% of your rights.
All you need to pay for this service is a fee per album (£19.99 in the first year) or single (£5.99 in the first year). The good thing here is that the artist gets all the proceeds.
CD Baby
CD Baby is a the go-to place for you if you want more than just a digital provider for your music. The service created a CD and vinyl record of your music, and the result is then distributed to 15,000 providers worldwide. The standard cost per album is $49 and $9.95 per single. A pro offer (currently only available in the US, Canada and the UK) includes a few exciting extras like registrations with dozens of collecting societies and the administration of royalties for artists.
PledgeMusic
The provider sees itself as a direct-to-fan platform, offering an opportunity to collect money for a project with the help of the artist’s fan community. The practive of crowdfunding has provided a lot of artists with financial means to produce an album or embark on a tour.
The support you receive from your customers and fans is generated by special offers like a limited edition of your album or private concerts advertised at a premium. Your customers will only asked to pay in cases of a successful pledge.
Spreadshirt
Spreadshirt offers absolutely stress-free Merchandising. You have no risks in terms of stock, production, delivery or customer service, and you can offer your band name, logo, lyrics or tour dates on as many as 150 different products, from T-Shirts to hoodies and phone cases to caps.
Creating products is very easy and intuitive. You can also tie in your own online shop with your website to give your fans the feeling that they get the merch straight from you. The service is free, and you can earn up to 60% commission on the sales price.