This article will show you the seven ways to upload songs on Spotify and make name, fame, and money.
Who else in the world doesn’t want money and fame? Especially, in the music world, we all come for these two things.
Isn’t it?
The world of music and movies is full of glamour, fame, and money but not most of us get these in our life. Even if we are good musicians, producers, or anything else.
We can’t get success until this world listens to us. As music makers, we must provide this world with our compositions so that this world can give us some value.
In one sentence,
skill is useless unless it is shown to the world
In the old days, there were only records, cassettes, and CDs that helped us to distribute our creations to this world. In those days, due to the heavy cost of media creation and distribution, not everybody got the chance to show off their work to the world.
But today the media is changed and the cost is reduced to the pennies when it comes to distribution. The Internet is now the number one medium to distribute your songs to listeners.
And Spotify became the number one song-selling website for indie producers.
Now you can easily upload your original creations to Spotify.com and get millions of eyeballs searching to buy songs on the internet.
But when it comes to uploading songs on Spotify the biggest hurdle is they don’t accept direct applications. Maybe this is to get rid of fake uploads that would violate copyright laws.
So, the question is if you can’t upload it directly then how can you upload songs to Spotify?
Well, there are various distribution channels on the internet that not just upload songs on Spotify but other song-selling websites too, including iTunes.
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7 Different Ways To Upload Songs To Spotify
Let us get the details of the 7 most popular channels out of them. Here is the list.
- TuneCore
- LANDR
- AWAL
- Believe Digital
- RouteNote
- Ditto Music
- CD Baby
These distribution channels are called DSP(Digital service provider). These are the companies that allow you to upload your music creations as an indie producer.
These companies charge you a nominal monthly or yearly fee to avail of their services but it’s a winning deal if you have a good product.
1. TuneCore
Tunecore is the most popular way to upload songs on Spotify. There are several features of tune core such as,
- Either pay 9.99 USD for a single release or 29.99 USD for 2 or more songs.
- Yearly renewal.
- Distributes over 150 digital music stores around the world.
- The biggest music stores are iTunes, Spotify, Google Music, YouTube, etc.
- Artist keeps all the rights to your music
- there is no cut in your royalty, you get 100% of your royalty.
- Monthly music sales reports.
- You can create custom cover art.
- Free media player etc.
With TuneCore, you can reach millions of listeners around the 150+ music store network. In my opinion, Tunecore is the best network for digital music distribution.
However, it charges a fee but it is worth it. If you see the services that Tunecore provides to you, the charges are not as much. As well as you get 100% royalty of your music. They don’t cut any commission from your royalty.
2. LANDR
LANDR is another great music distribution platform. With the distribution service, they also offer a mastering service for your songs.
Even they offer audio mastering services for the songs that you distribute with them. They charge a monthly fee to distribute your songs to the music stores.
Here is a quick review of the fee that they charge to distribute your music(They have 3 packages).
they also offer a free trial of their services. It’s a good thing because every person wants to try the product before purchasing.
The trial offer is not just limited to the distribution but they also offer the first 2 songs’ masterings for free.
Do you know, LANDR mastering services are fully automated which means no engineers are sitting on the backend? So the work process is much faster than manual mastering.
3. AWAL
The full form of AWAL is “Artists Without A Label”. It clears the thought of their business. They are built for indie producers.
The best part of using their service is to give artists a label without having to sign any rights to their music.
Another benefit (or you can see it as a downside) is you don’t have to pay for the distribution. Instead, they do take 15% of your royalty on the sale.
AWAL also provides you with several other resources, such as,
- A&R and marketing
- Run campaigns
- Playlist promotion
- community playlists
- Allows you to receive funding through their A&R team.
- They protect your music from piracy
- And last but not least they invest in you as an artist if they see potential in you.
So, if you want these amazing services without paying any upfront fee then you should choose AWAL.
4. Believe Digital
Believe Digital is similar to AWAL but there are some core differences between them. Such as,
- They don’t have any fixed commission percentage. Rather, when you are accepted, they will contact you to offer their commission percentage.
- They just don’t accept all applications. They are choosy in accepting applications. However, if you are accepted, they will distribute your music on all major marketplaces.
- They take care of all your trades, licensing, etc.
- They have local product managers to help the artists in the service.
- One of the biggest features of Believe Digital is that they’ll even try to set up brand partnerships for you.
The only disadvantage I see in their service is they don’t have any fixed commission structure which is quite confusing for indie artists. However, if you want something more than music distribution, Believe Digital is definitely for you.
5. RouteNote
RouteNote is my favorite service and I’ve been using it for years. It’s free to post your original music on Spotify via RouteNote and I think it’s only DSP that provides this feature for free.
Not only Spotify but this DSP will also post your music on 19+ other music stores. They charge a 15% cut from your royalty and this is the only fee that you have to pay. There is no other upfront fee like other DSPs.
If you want 100% royalty then they charge a fixed fee for each song. It’s an upfront fee so you have to pay it at the time of uploading your song.
6. Ditto Music
Ditto Music is a great platform to distribute your music on popular music stores. Against the distribution, they charge you upfront fees. But it’s great as you will receive 100% royalty for your music.
Here are some features of Ditto Music
- Distribute music to all major music stores
- Provide services like PR campaigns, Radio PR, Social Media promotion, etc.
- They have a big list of genres.
- There are three fee structures. All are nominal.
- There are no hidden costs.
- You can track your sales and profits 24 hours
- They have a pre-release function so you can create hype before release.
- Play-listing facility is available.
If you see the features it’s a good DSP for indie artists. There are nominal upfront fees that anyone can afford. If you are searching for a reliable and cheap solution to upload music on Spotify then this is a perfect fit for you.
7. CD Baby
And last but not least CD Baby. They claim to be the biggest DSP platform for music distribution. They support 30+ music stores.
Here are some features of the CD Baby distribution network.
- Nominal fee structure
- Music Licensing
- Social media monetization
- CD distribution
- 30+ music stores
- Vinyl selling
- and much more.
If you want digital+physical music distribution then this is the best platform for you.
FAQ
Do I need a music distributor to distribute music online?
No, you don’t need a music distributor to distribute your music online. You can join online music distribution services for this.
What is the best music distribution company?
In my opinion, the best music distribution company is Spotify.
How much does a distribution deal cost?
Music distribution cost differs from distributor to distributor. Some charge a few dollars and some hundreds of dollars.
Can I make money through online music distribution?
yes, you can make money through music distribution. In fact several artists and singers are making lots of money by distributing their music online
Conclusion: 7 Different Ways To Upload Songs To Spotify
Well, above we have discussed the list of 7 ways to upload songs on Spotify. In my opinion, when you are just starting, commission-based distribution is the best option for you such as RouteNote.
But if you are not a beginner and know that listeners will like your music then don’t go for free distribution. Because if your songs go viral, you will lose much money paying the commission to the DSP.
Now, it’s your turn. Let me know in the comments, which one you have chosen to distribute your songs to. Share this article with your social circle so that others can benefit from it.
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