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PaulWarning
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[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1492515443' post='3280817']
have I missed an announcement? didn't know you'd stop gigging, what's behind that? assuming you want to tell us of course, if you don't that's ok
[/quote]

Unfortunately since the end of 2015 Mr Venom has been too unwell to gig, which has effectively meant the end of the band. We had to cancel most of our album launch tour and I've been stuck with about 350 unsold copies of the album...

Since then Mr Venom has started a new very low-key musical project that is mostly recording, and I am currently playing bass with The Death Notes.

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Thanks!

My time with The Terrortones was not only musically rewarding, but also the most fun I've ever had in a band. I'll be pleasantly surprised if I'm ever in that situation again.

It's a pity it's over, but IME nothing lasts for ever and while from a song writing PoV we still had plenty of new ideas, had the band carried on we would have been looking for yet another guitarist and drummer.

The most disappointing thing about the end of the band was the fact that we had just taken delivery of our first proper full-length album which was getting a lot of interest, but in the absence of any gig activity, few reviewers or publications were prepared to give it any real exposure, which means that I have a load of boxes full of unsold records and CDs.

Edited by BigRedX
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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1492590836' post='3281368']
Thanks!

My time with The Terrortones was not only musically rewarding, but also the most fun I've ever had in a band. I'll be pleasantly surprised if I'm ever in that situation again.

It's a pity it's over, but IME nothing lasts for ever and while from a song writing PoV we still had plenty of new ideas, had the band carried on we would have been looking for yet another guitarist and drummer.

The most disappointing thing about the end of the band was the fact that we had just taken delivery of our first proper full-length album which was getting a lot of interest, but in the absence of any gig activity, few reviewers or publications were prepared to give it any real exposure, which means that I have a load of boxes full of unsold records and CDs.
[/quote]guitarists and drummers are replaceable as I have found out, with good frontmen and singers it can be impossible

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[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1492591311' post='3281375']
guitarists and drummers are replaceable as I have found out, with good frontmen and singers it can be impossible
[/quote]

Especially when your band is named after the singer!

The final line-up of The Terrortones was guitarist number 8 and drummer number 5.

Anyway back to the OP have you decided on an aggregator then? The Terrortones used CD Baby, and I've used Catapult Distribution in the past. Both have been perfectly good, although it does take a long time for your first payment to come through.

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1492595351' post='3281437']
Especially when your band is named after the singer!

The final line-up of The Terrortones was guitarist number 8 and drummer number 5.

Anyway back to the OP have you decided on an aggregator then? The Terrortones used CD Baby, and I've used Catapult Distribution in the past. Both have been perfectly good, although it does take a long time for your first payment to come through.
[/quote]bloody hell, 8 Guitarists and 5 drummers? I think I'd have given up long ago, band discussion this Wednesday, I think it will be a toss up between CD baby or Soundrop, depends whether we think it's worth paying the upfront fee, I think they all take the first few quid (£10?) before they start paying you

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[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1492596004' post='3281444']
I think it will be a toss up between CD baby or Soundrop, depends whether we think it's worth paying the upfront fee, I think they all take the first few quid (£10?) before they start paying you
[/quote]

Expect it to take up to 6 months from your first download sale before you see any money. The main download sites iTunes and Amazon take 3 months to pay the aggregator who then take at least another month to pass the money on to you.

For example: our first release for download was made available in September 2011, our first sale was in November and our first payment was in February of the following year.

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  • 4 years later...

Thought I'd Necro-dredge this thread rather than start a new one.

 

What's the current state of play with aggregators for Spotify these days?

A few years back I signed up with Distrokid, but the whole thing was an absolute disaster. I was linked to another artist with the same name, which neither spotify or distrokid could do anything about. Between the two of them they mucked about with the two accounts over the course of a year with the end result being I became the other musician permanently... All my music vanished and I was sent his monthly figures.

I can see I need some music back on spotify so will be starting the whole process again. I will not be using distrokid.

I don't want to pay an annual subscription.

 

Who is everyone using?

 

Cheers

Thomas

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On 01/07/2021 at 19:34, Woodwind said:

 

...

What's the current state of play with aggregators for Spotify these days?

...

I don't want to pay an annual subscription.

 

Who is everyone using?...

Well to answer my own question, as it may be of interest to others, I think I'm going to use Routenote as an aggregator.

They take 15% of Spotify payment, but no upfront fee or annual subscription.

I'm happy with the percentage cut as I'm not imagining I'll get a huge amount of plays - I want a track on Spotify as reference and to catch people who wouldn't hear of me otherwise.

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13 minutes ago, mcnach said:

Emubands.

One off payment. Been using them for around 8 years.

Thank you @mcnach I hadn't heard of Emu Bands before.

I'll be putting a two track "single" on spotify released in October so will need roughly 6000 plays to recoup the £25,

I shall investigate further, cheers

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  • 2 weeks later...
26 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

we still use Soundrop, no problems and no fee when we signed up, of course the payments aren't as high, but then we don't get many plays so it doesn't matter

Nice one Paul, I will check out Soundrop.

I've lost momentum a bit as mastering is taking a while. My plan is to have the full Ep available on bandcamp and one track from it as a single on Spotify et al.

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The advice I gave in my first post in this thread hasn't really changed.

Unless getting your music on line is totally an exercise in "vanity publishing" and you have absolutely no interest in making any money out of it, I'd go for a single upfront fee and a low percentage of the individual plays/downloads.

I suppose I'm of an age where I still compare getting digital distribution with the cost of pressing a couple of hundred records or CDs in which case even the most costly service looks to be a absolute bargain.

However, I ought to point out that none of the music I have on-line (with CD Baby and Catapult) has yet made back it's original set-up fee in downloads or streams, although the Terrortones "VampireMan" single is now fairly close after almost 10 years!

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15 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

The advice I gave in my first post in this thread hasn't really changed.

Unless getting your music on line is totally an exercise in "vanity publishing" and you have absolutely no interest in making any money out of it, I'd go for a single upfront fee and a low percentage of the individual plays/downloads.

I suppose I'm of an age where I still compare getting digital distribution with the cost of pressing a couple of hundred records or CDs in which case even the most costly service looks to be a absolute bargain.

However, I ought to point out that none of the music I have on-line (with CD Baby and Catapult) has yet made back it's original set-up fee in downloads or streams, although the Terrortones "VampireMan" single is now fairly close after almost 10 years!

Unless your name is something like Ed Shearan it's very doubtful you'll make money from streaming but it is a way of people hearing your music and maybe, just maybe, they'll buy the CD or Vinyl, or download tracks, I'm afraid it's a fact of life, streaming is the way a lot of people listen to music these days, unfortunately, we've made $60 in about 3 years from Soundrop

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My experience is that unless you have an established fan base that can be counted in thousands, there is no profit to be be made from on-line usage of music whether it be downloads or streaming. However if you are gigging and can put on an entertaining show then you'll have no problem making a profit from selling records or CDs at gigs.

I will be seriously considering for the next album length project I do only having one or two tracks available on-line. If you like the music enough to want the whole album you'll have to buy a physical copy.

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31 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

...

I will be seriously considering for the next album length project I do only having one or two tracks available on-line. If you like the music enough to want the whole album you'll have to buy a physical copy.

This is exactly the path I'm taking.

When my music has been played on BBC radio3 there's a noticeable spike in traffic to my website which then trickles down to bandcamp sales.

I would only want a few tracks available to stream and the rest exist as the full version physically for those that then come to my shows etc

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well I give up yet again.

 

The ghost of my previous registration with spotify still exists, so it's my photo, my biography, but not my music and I have no way to change this.

 

It's potentially damaging as anyone that is genuinely trying to find me on Spotify will then hear singer songwriter stuff with my photo attached.

 

No one could sort this out 4 years  ago and all this effort just to get one new bit of music on there is looking a bit daft.

 

oh well

 

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