Continuing the discussion from She thought to see Dragons:
Just continuing a discussion regarding the prospect of getting @emma’s music on iTunes, Spotify, etc., and curious to get input with what has and has not worked in that process for those that have gone down that road.
@Emma, consider yourself nudged 
Feel free to use this thread to keep a log!
Tunecore seems pretty good?
I have friends who have used it sucessfuly
Thanks holster… must admit I’m a dreadful procrastinator… 
Every time I think about it, it seems to become complicated, I mean who are these ‘aggregators’… some charge a flat fee, others take a percentage…
If you’re not signed to a label or distributor, we have deals in place with companies who can deliver your music to us and collect royalties for you. These are called aggregators.
If you’re an artist, we suggest using one of these aggregators:
TUNECORE
CD BABY
EMU BANDS
RECORD UNION
SPINNUP
AWAL
Shall I set a deadline for you then? Lol
I use Distrokid and it works decently. $20 a year to put up as much music as I want.
The CD Baby story is very interesting, founded and headed by Derek Sivers until he sold it off. He wrote several books talking about a lot of that. Not that it helps with the topic of the thread, but some might find it entertaining. 
It was started very small and with a pure spirit to help musicians market their music and retain control of it, and giving them the largest share of their sales that could reasonably be achieved. I don’t know if it’s still maintaining that philosophy.
Spotify may have some usefulness in helping people find your music and directing fans that you have already established a relationship with to your new releases, but making money from Spotify is about as fruitful as getting blood from a stone. You would have to have your songs listened to millions of times to make a very small amount of money. I think they pay something like .00013 cents per play, but I’ve heard other numbers too. In any case you need to have a huge fan base that will stream your songs on Spotify to make any half decent money. But why would you stream your songs on Spotify for those prices when you can sell a digital album or song from your own website/ webstore and receive the full asking price without having to split your purse with some big corporation?
Itunes is ok, but you’re going to be giving them a percentage of your earnings too and very few people will be interested in buying an unknown artist’s music if they have no clue who they are and what they’re all about. The best thing to do is to market your music, promote your music, make a brand and get people interested in what you’re creating…Then draw your fans to your website, to your sales page and ASK them to buy. Don’t try to give them a hard sell, just tell them you have some new music that you’re releasing and you need their support in order to fund the costs of the project and the costs of your next album/project. This is the new way of earning a little …or a lot of money without touring. It’s extremely time intensive and requires lots of hard work…It’s probably more time intensive and grueling than making the music…, and it;'s usually the most difficult thing us musicians have problems accepting and doing. This seems to be the new music business model. Of course, gigging and touring can be lucrative to if it’s done properly…But if it’s done wrong you can lose money and be wasting your energy.
I would release only one or two songs on Spotify just to put your music “out there” for the potential for people to discover. Put your best songs. If someone loves what they hear, they may seek you out via google, website, facebook, etc. That’s when you invite them into your musical world personally. Give them something free…Talk to them and always be responsive to their questions and feedback. It’s like customer service…except you want to form a bond with them. Bands and musicians used to be hard to access but the modern way, all the social media has created the desire in the fan to connect more closely with the artist. Give them your devotion like you would to a friend.
I’m only really looking for a platform that is easily accessible for people to listen to my stuff, not some big cunning plan. I used to quite like soundcloud for that but it has gradually become quite hopeless - and friends and family keep nagging me to get stuff on spotify/google play… etc. I’m also quite paranoid about signing over the rights to my stuff… legacy from when I was signed and lost the rights to my songs for 5 years, I hated that. I seem to remember when I checked out this aggregator thing before, there seemed to be complexities… duh, spose I’d better do some research.
If you want an aggregator use Distro Kid. It allows multiple uploads over a year for a set fee which is = to what the others offer for one album.
This means you can release stuff as you record it over the period.
And never let it be said that I have any personal interest in you doing this.
Tunecore charges an annual fee per release. CD Baby charges a one time fee per release. Depending upon how well your releases sell, this is definitely something to consider…
Wow! Yea definitely, I haven’t read i to it or used it myself. Just a friend of mine uses tunecore and is happy thats all i know.
But yeah if thats the case then cd baby sounds better 
How would you like to sign on to Clownpenis.fart Records? We distribute to circuses all across the United States of America, Kiwi.
Ahh, but y’see, I want an aggregator not an aggravator!!
Come on, I’m not that bad. What’s wrong with me?
I predicted female forum discontent in another thread. I’m precognitive and clairvoyant, by golly.
There are only two or three women on here right? How many regular users do we have? You, Holster, Big Al, Jonathan, Wicked, LazyE, Boz, feaker, Chordwainer, and Clownpenis seem to be the biggest posters. Would you agree with that assessment?
That’s a fair assemesment, but we’ll have another contest fairly soon, so things will stir up again soon!
I like it. We’re all close because we’re sparse. I’d love to welcome any new comers and share all the knowledge I can though.
Yes it’s a small and generally tight-knit group. As you point out, about 20-25% of the group could be women, and that could grow. I think it keeps bearing in mind the conversation and conduct. Nobody is asking anybody to be a saint, simply to be respectful.
I think this is a valid point.