Taking a Look Back

Distribution Evolved

In an elementary language, music distribution refers to the process of giving music from the artist to an outlet hence making it available to the public for purchase or listening. This concept is the same whether that outlet is a physical store or a digital music retailer. Since the beginning, music distribution and marketing have been primarily physical. Long before the introduction of recorded music or live radio transmissions, music was reproduced through sheet music and then through records.

Music came directly from the creators into the shops where the listeners could purchase it. The legacy of reproduced sheet music continues to live on in the form of “mechanical royalties.” Mechanical royalties refer to the payments made by the record company to the music publisher for the reproduction of copyrighted musical compositions. The whole process was termed “mechanical” because sheet music was mechanically reproduced via printing presses.

Music marketing and media strategies have evolved through time. In the 18^th century, artists had different ways of distributing their music compared to the modern day. However, Indie artists or record labels were also not as common in the 18^th century as they are in the 21^st century.

Often, a music distribution company signs deal with record labels or independent artists, which then gives them the right to sell their music to shops. The company acts as a middle man between the artist, record label, and the store in much easier understanding. However, the introduction of digital music distribution and media strategies changed all that for the better. In 2015, digital sales surpassed physical sales, and the narrative has never changed again. Streaming and digital platforms are the new record shops of this century. The goal of digital distribution is to get your music on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and other streaming platforms and digital music stores. Once an artist receives their music on these platforms, listeners can stream, download, and buy their music.

This new and modern way of music distribution has made it easy for independent artists to market their brands and music. Not only is it able to send your music to a multitude of listeners with just one click, but it also boosts the artist’s profile to potential fans worldwide, and the money generated from sales reaches the artist’s pockets faster. An independent artist can also collect essential data and analytics from these digital platforms that could help them plan their future career.

Top pick music platforms today

Today, there is a wide range of music media platforms on which an artist can upload their music with the aim for it to reach the fan in the comfort of there own home or wherever they are. Although this is advantageous to the artists, it comes along with some disadvantages. Below is a list of the five best music platforms with some of their pros and cons.

1. Spotify

Spotify has been the most prominent and best-known music streaming service for years. Founded in Sweden in 2006, the company now has over 160 million paying subscribers. However, Spotify is not the best recommendation for independent artists. Like other media platforms like Apple Music or the artist-oriented Tidal of the US rapper Jay-Z focus on Hi-res streaming, Spotify has failed to offer the same experience. Meanwhile, it still records rapidly growing user numbers.

• Tidal

For hi-fi enthusiasts who value fine sound, Tidal is an exciting option in the streaming market. Like Deezer and Apple Music, the service offers a hi-fi subscription that allows playback of 16 bit FLAC files with 44.1kHzsampling frequency.

Through the direct participation of many artists in Tidal, the streaming service of Jay-Z and Co. offers other services such as interviews, credits, background information, and more. A vast video department is also part of the offer, which leaves little to be desired with music videos, documentation, and concert live streams and gives the user insights behind the scenes.

Pros of Tidal

• Provides the listener with a lot of background information about the music.
• Offers a great recommendation algorithm.
• Gapless playback.
• Offers a wide range of content in CD quality.

Cons of Tidal

• No public user playlists.
• A number of tracks in studio quality expandable.

• Deezer

Deezer is a French streaming platform that has been playing music streaming since 2007. It is pretty small compared to the major streaming providers such as Spotify and Apple Music, but that doesn’t mean that the French provider is not worth looking for independent artists. Deezer combines many offers that are often distributed on the other services.

Pros of Deezer

• Good recommendation algorithm.
• Numerous extras and functions.

Cons of Deezer

• Exclusive content sparsely.

• YouTube Music

YouTube Music combines a well-functioning and well-stocked music streaming service with the advantages of its vast video platform. This makes it particularly an attractive streaming service for fans of the big YouTube world. But even for users who are only interested in music and can live without hi-res streaming, YouTube Music does a solid job.

Pros of YouTube Music

• Offers a great connection between Audio and Video.
• Good value for money with YouTube Premium.

Cons of YouTube Music

• No HiFi offer
• No desktop app

• Apple Music

Apple’s Californian marketing geniuses followed Apple Music in 2015 with their streaming offer and have since managed to become the second-largest streaming provider. In terms of the size of the music library, Apple Music says it is even ahead of Spotify with an offer of about 75 million songs available and can boast many curated playlists. Any independent artists in this new era must either sign up on Apple Music or Spotify, if possible; Both.

Pros of Apple Music

• Exclusive content.
• Extensive radio area.
• Offers many curated playlists.

Cons of Apple Music

• Recommendation algorithm leaves room for improvement.

Back in the 18^th century, when hardcopy merchandise was the only way music could be distributed to the final user, owning a record store was compared to the present-day Apple Music.

Record stores used to receive music from music distribution companies and then sold it to the listeners. In case an artist made a mega-hit song,

music distributors had to ship boxes of Vinyl in all parts of the world. This would take weeks or months to have music reaching every part of the world. Today, all this changed with the introduction of the digital era. Digital music distributors can now send music to the listeners through media platforms with just one click. Several advantages have arisen through the introduction of digital music, although there are a few disadvantages too.

Advantages of digital music distribution

• No manufacturing costs are required.
• Music can reach a bigger audience within a short time.
• Helps to boost an artist’s profile to potential fans worldwide.
• Enables the artist to keep track of all the rights of his music.
• Money from digital music instantly reaches the artist without any middle man required.
• Many digital platforms offer data and analytics to the artist, which helps them to evaluate their career.

Disadvantages of digital music distribution

• Increasing number of illegal downloads every day is turning into losses for the artists
• Music has become expensive for the listeners. One has to buy the entire album from Apple Music even if they intend on listening to just one song off the album.