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Digital aggregators


PaulWarning
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anybody know anything? we're looking to sign up with one to get our new album out there, our guitarist is a bit of a whizz at reading at reading terms and conditions the one that's approached us, Confidential records, charges, £60 for a 2 year deal, plus 10% of all sales income, and you have to be signed up with Maori for the publishing, they are obviously the same business. That means letting Maori take 20% of all publishing, PRS income. They also take 50% of PPL (Phonographic Performance Licensing) income, which I find a bit worrying and is it necessary given I'm a member of PPL (to get the IRSC codes fr our new album), is this a good deal or is there a lot better out there?

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Guest McBass

You pay £60 to give them 10% of sales, 20% of your publishing and 50% of your PPL, what exactly are they offering in return? If you are a member of the MU get their lawyers to look over the contract, i bet they find more holes in it than a block of Emmmental cheese.

Edited by McBass
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[quote name='McBass' timestamp='1492251925' post='3278958']
You pay £60 to give them 10% of sales, 20% of your publishing and 50% of your PPL, what exactly are they offering in return? If you are a member of the MU get their lawyers to look over the contract, i bet they find more holes in it than a block of Emmmental cheese.
[/quote]doesn't seem good does it?, our guitarist is good at contracts used to do it for a living, he's sorted all these pitfalls out, the 50% PPL fee seems particularly harsh I registered with them to get the IRSC code for our new album so I should get them direct shouldn't I?
We want to get the album on the download sites like itunes, Amazon, Google play etc and you have to use an Aggregater to do that by the looks of it, so has anybody got any good stories to tell?

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Guest McBass

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1492253142' post='3278975']
doesn't seem good does it?, our guitarist is good at contracts used to do it for a living, he's sorted all these pitfalls out, the 50% PPL fee seems particularly harsh I registered with them to get the IRSC code for our new album so I should get them direct shouldn't I?
We want to get the album on the download sites like itunes, Amazon, Google play etc and you have to use an Aggregater to do that by the looks of it, so has anybody got any good stories to tell?
[/quote]
I had a non exclusive artist deal back in 1996, with it i got recoupable advances and favourable royalty splits. Them asking for 50% of your PPL is utter nonsense, why don't you use Distrokid, Reverbnation or Ditto?

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The only issue I found with Distrokid is if you stop paying the $20 per year, all your music is removed.
I'm not sure if that is still the case?
If so, I guess it's great for artists who have regular material to release.

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[quote name='woodster' timestamp='1492326703' post='3279357']
The only issue I found with Distrokid is if you stop paying the $20 per year, all your music is removed.
I'm not sure if that is still the case?
If so, I guess it's great for artists who have regular material to release.
[/quote]this is one of the things you have to take into account, some have a one off fee (CD baby) some have a yearly fee, some have no fee but take a bigger percentage and presumable some do more than others, like putting the album into to record shops, there's a lot of things to take into account once you start looking into it.

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[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1492339657' post='3279469']
Distrokid don't remove it when you stop paying. I used them for an album in January last year, the music is still there on Amazon and Spotify etc.
[/quote]but do they still pass on any sales revenue?
I'm sort of looking at Soundrop, no upfront charges but they take 15%,(after the digital stores 30%) seeing as we're not expecting may sales it's tempting

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[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1492339990' post='3279474']
but do they still pass on any sales revenue?
I'm sort of looking at Soundrop, no upfront charges but they take 15%,(after the digital stores 30%) seeing as we're not expecting may sales it's tempting
[/quote]

Yes.

Out of cd baby and distro I actually prefer cd baby. Even though they're more expensive. I'm releasing something again soon and will use cd baby.

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https://distrokid.desk.com/customer/en/portal/topics/915627-saying-goodbye-/articles

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1492339657' post='3279469']
Distrokid don't remove it when you stop paying. I used them for an album in January last year, the music is still there on Amazon and Spotify etc.
[/quote]

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There is no right answer to this question although the aggregator mentioned in the OP is obviously the wrong answer for everyone except the lazy and stupid.

What you have to do is look at the deals and work out which is best for you in terms of projected sales vs up-front costs. Unless you can guarantee a lot of download sales I would go for one with a single fixed fee and who takes the lowest percentage of your sales. If you do go with CD Baby, don't bother with the "Pro" version as they don't offer anything that UK artists with PRS and PPL membership don't already have for free.

I also wouldn't bother with getting the aggregator to do your physical product distribution. IME the vast majority of sales come from people buying CDs and records at gigs. If you don't have the technical know-how to set up your own merch page on your website then Bandcamp seems to offer the best VFM.

One thing that all the aggregators make a big deal of is how many different service they will get you music on to. However does anyone actual use any service other than iTunes, Amazon and Spotify? When I look at our stats, that is where 99% of our income comes from.

Edited by BigRedX
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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1492511695' post='3280780']
There is no right answer to this question although the aggregator mentioned in the OP is obviously the wrong answer for everyone except the lazy and stupid.

What you have to do is look at the deals and work out which is best for you in terms of projected sales vs up-front costs. Unless you can guarantee a lot of download sales I would go for one with a single fixed fee and who takes the lowest percentage of your sales. If you do go with CD Baby, don't bother with the "Pro" version as they don't offer anything that UK artists with PRS and PPL membership don't already have for free.

I also wouldn't bother with getting the aggregator to do your physical product distribution. IME the vast majority of sales come from people buying CDs and records at gigs. If you don't have the technical know-how to set up your own merch page on your website then Bandcamp seems to offer the best VFM.

One thing that all the aggregators make a big deal of is how many different service they will get you music on to. However does anyone actual use any service other than iTunes, Amazon and Spotify? When I look at our stats, that is where 99% of our income comes from.
[/quote]I'd agree with all that, the only thing to consider is the upfront verses commission fee which depends on digital sales, CD baby with a one off upfront fee and no commission or Soundrop (just 7 sites but all the ones you'll need I would imagine) with no upfront fee but 15% of sales, now where did I put that crystal ball?

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Of course everyone's audiences are different, but if this helps here is how The Terrortones sales have broken down over the past 7 years.

1. By far out biggest source of income from selling our music was from CDs, Records and Cassettes sold at gigs. This accounts for about 75% of our total income through music sales.

2. CDs, Records, and Cassettes sold on-line either through our web site or Bandcamp - approximately 15%.

3. Streaming via Spotify - about 5%.

4. Actual downloads from Amazon and iTunes - just under 5% in total equally split between between the two services. This has recently been overtaken by Spotify streams in terms of income.

5. Everything else - mostly Apple Music streams and a few from Deezer. Negligible compared with any of the above.

So if your band is gigging regularly, then selling physical copies is probably going to be the biggest source of income from your recorded music. Now that The Terrortones are no longer gigging, everything except Spotify streaming has dropped to insignificant proportions.

HTH

Edited by BigRedX
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