What is digital distribution for artists?
Digital distribution is a crucial part of today’s music industry for artists and fans alike. Understanding how to use it to meet your artist goals is key.
In this post, we’ll explore where digital distribution comes from, how it works today, and ways artists can use distribution choices to their advantage. We’ll also take a look at how you can automatically import and manage your released tracks using a Catalog Import tool.
Ready? Let's dive in!
The Rise of Digital Platforms & Intermediaries
You might have heard about “the digital wave that decimated the music industry between the 1990s and 2000s.” This quote refers to the pivotal moment in music history:
The advent and widespread adoption of MP3.
See, MP3 is a compressed digital music file allowing for easy storage and transfer of audio. From its start, music fans no longer needed to go to the record shop to buy tracks, but could access music directly at home—with the ease and simplicity offered by the digital age. The impact of this change was enormous.
Between 1999 and 2009, sales revenues of physical goods such as CDs dropped by half; and this introduction led the way for the arrival of digital platforms, such as Napster, which at its peak had 80 million users.
Built on the peer-to-peer free exchange of audio files, however, Napster faced many legal challenges that led to its shutdown in 2001. Being an online library of free, downloadable MP3 files wasn’t ideal for protecting artist’s copyright.
However, everything changed with the introduction of iTunes in 2001. iTunes was the first digital music seller where music copyrights were respected, making it a legal platform that could ensure artists compensation and protection of their music. By 2008, the platform had quickly become the biggest music seller in the United States.
Growing DSPs and Intermediary Services
In the following years, more digital service platforms (DSPs) rivalling iTunes began to emerge, including Deezer in 2007 and Spotify in 2008.
With this rise, intermediary entities also grew—linking artists with DSPs more effectively and with certain standards.
The term for these entities became 'digital distributors,' and they began to play a pivotal role in the evolving landscape of the music industry.
How does digital music distribution work?
Digital distributors help artists and labels digitize and distribute music online. For artists looking to reach a broad audience on DSPs like Spotify, Deezer, and Apple Music, digital distributors are indispensable.
At a basic level, digital distribution ensures that music is delivered to the right platforms, in the right format, with the right data attached.
Key Players in Digital Distribution
The digital distribution market comprises four main groups:
Artists and performers, who create the music.
Rights holders or financiers, such as labels, producers, or self-funded artists.
Digital Service Providers (DSPs), where listeners stream and discover music.
Digital distributors, who act as intermediaries between artists and DSPs
Together, these players ensure music reaches audiences efficiently, with the technical and rights-related data needed for accurate royalty tracking.
Why do artists use digital distributors?
For artists, digital distributors are key players often holding expertise, access, and experience. Their role has expanded significantly over the years, adapting to artist expectations and ensuring that DSPs are continually accessible.
Uploading Music to Streaming Platforms
At their core, distributors act as a bridge between a growing number of artists and an equally growing number of platforms. Artists upload their tracks once, and distributors handle delivery to DSPs, ensuring files and metadata meet platform requirements.
Quality Control and Metadata Standards
Digital distributors are responsible for ensuring metadata accuracy and for delivering high-quality audio files. They also issue essential identifiers, such as International Standard Recording Codes (ISRCs) and Universal Product Codes (UPCs), which serve as unique identifiers for your recordings.
Centralized Data and Revenue Tracking
Digital distributors provide dashboards centralizing key information, such as listening statistics by streaming platform and the income generated by your tracks. Having greater insight into music analytics and performance, allows artists make more informed, data-driven decisions.
Simplified Multi-Platform Distribution
Digital distributors deliver your content to multiple DSPs simultaneously, managing numerous profiles on your behalf. They also act as a central payment hub for your royalties: collecting what you have earned and allocating it out to you.
Adapting to Trends
As the market and industry trends evolve, distributors are continually improving their offerings. This includes supporting new DSPs, helping artists release music on TikTok, and more. This ensures that artists can reach their audiences at the best touch points.
How to choose your digital distributor?
There is no absolute right answer to this question, as all distributors have different advantages and disadvantages. Finding the best music distribution service depends on your career situation, resources, and needs. While there's no one-size-fits-all answer, we've provided some advice to help guide your decision:
Ask yourself: Who is this distributor built for?
The first question to consider is whether the digital distributor matches your artist profile. In other words: looking at who this distributor is designed to serve.
Are you an independent artist producing your own music?
Are you signed to a record label and under contract?
Depending on your specific circumstances, some distributors are better matched to meet your needs. Save time by making this the first step of your research.
Next, evaluate pricing models and royalty splits.
Digital distributors typically have different pricing structures: from annual subscriptions, monthly fees, costs per release, to revenue commissions. Evaluating the costs of different providers is key before deciding, to ensure alignment with your budget and career. Of course, switching distributors without losing streams is always possible.
Finally, focus on the services that align with your needs.
Beware of the tendency to jump headfirst into distributing your music. It can seem attractive to spread your tracks on every platform possible, but this might end up costing you.
Focus on the services that align with your specific situation.
The tools you use should match your long-term artist goals, music strategy, and where you are as an artist in this moment.
Make distribution part of your broader workflow.
As artists grow, distribution becomes one step in a greater scheme of music success. Other responsibilities, such as managing releases, collecting copyright and master royalties, and promoting tracks often means juggling multiple platforms.
In the past decade, artists have gained greater access to more tools than ever before. But the costs of such a change add up.
Making it in the music industry is becoming increasingly more expensive. Artists have to rely on multiple tools to release, promote, and earn through music—meaning less time and funds to dedicate to true growth.
At Winamp for Creators, we’re changing this narrative by creating a single music ecosystem for emerging artists.
One platform and workflow so artists can take control of their music management.
With Winamp, artists get unlimited, free digital distribution to major DSPs, along with access to a broader set of tools—including copyright collection, music licensing, digital promotion, website building, and direct-to-fan services.
Plus, (re)distributing your music with Winamp for Creators is easier than ever with our Catalog Import tool. With just your Spotify Profile URL, automatically import all your released tracks, with ISRC numbers, cover art, and titles transferred straight from Spotify. Feel free to watch how catalog import works, or try for yourself today.
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