Indie artist and Digital Distribution

Independent Digital Distribution without a record contract

Why indie artist should get Digital Distribution

Social media has made changes to the process of promotion, marketing and distribution of music. Many indie artist have stood the test of time through these changes, but many have given up along the way due to the evolution of the record industry. The beginning of this change started during the release of myspace and since then continues to grow.

With facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube and other social platforms along with apps, the record industry has took a turn to independence. Gone are the days where record labels would pump massive amounts of money into a single act hoping for their investment to payoff. Labels are more interested in pre developed artist, who are self reliant and able to do for themselves. You now might be saying ok! what does self reliance have to do with digital distribution.

Lets look at a few things here, record labels spend lots of money on digital distribution these days. If your a chart topping super star artist most likely the label will make a return on the investment. In essence they would be recouping the advance they gave the artist, but we will go into advances and recouping at another time. Now unfortunately for new artist fresh out of the stable investments can end up being a loss for record labels.

With that said labels would much rather market, promote and invest in digital distribution for artist who are already established and carry a following. Imagine if you were a record label and you invested lots of money only to see it become unsuccessful. Im sure the next time around you would be a little reluctant to opt into investing again.

It is important for unsigned artist searching for a break to not only release music online but also grow a loyal fan base. Once this is done, the next step can be to introduce digital distribution into the mix of a music campaign. Allowing the fans to get access to music that will inspire them to purchase. allot of indie artist neglect digital distribution and just place their music for free on soundcloud or hulk share. Now the truth is, artist are gambling with a 50% chance of devaluing their brand before building it.

Now in the beginning stages of a music campaign artist should give away some free music maybe even a whole album. Giving free samples of a artist music is highly encouraged, when starting a campaign. However their must be a goal at the end of the day and that is to generally be able to make sales independent of a label. Doing this would allow a artist to have references of their success when a label comes calling.

The goal of any independent artist is to make themselves a success instead of running to a record label. Remember the saying beggars cant be choosers, well it applies here! Record labels will not offer a talented indie artist a good contract. In fact they probably wouldn’t entertain the idea of contract negotiation. Their have even been situations in the past where labels have used artist as tax right offs sad to say.

The best thing for a upcoming artist in this new age is to become independent and serious about the music they make. Yes it will take money to go indie. Recording music, paying for a band, buying instrumentals, paying for marketing and digital distribution can cost a little. However for a artist now is the best time to make a name independently! With private marketing teams, social media and other tools at ones finger tips their is no need for not even attempting to try.