Music Promotion

In a more traditional artist and music label deal,  the music label are assigned and keep certain rights of ownership to a recorded material or music product.  The label also acts as distributor of the music product and takes a cut from all revenue generated by record or album sales.  This form of revenue is called royalties.  Why is this so?  This is a music labels’ way of earning back the investment made from producing a single or an album.  However, in a music distribution deal, which is more predominantly practiced today due to the rise of indies or independent artists who have taken up the cudgels to produce their own singles or albums, indie artists merely assign distribution rights.  Meaning, you as an indie artist signed-up an agreement with the music distributor to be your partner, an ally in selling your songs to music retailers, such as iTunes and Amazon, mobile partners like Nokia, and music streaming portals like Spotify. Apart from enjoying the benefit from an organization that facilitates the of selling your songs, indie artists now enjoy the full reigns of creative freedom and retain full ownership of publishing rights, songwriting credits, and master recordings.

A music distributors’ main function is to sell music, manage, report, and turnover income to the artist.  However, not all music distribution deals are cut from the same cloth.   Artists should pay close attention to the terms surrounding their distribution deal.  Almost every distribution use the sales pitch to artists that they will get “100% of their royalties”.  No question about it, as this is often true.  Yet, what artists tend to overlook is the condition that most distributors charge either monthly or annual fees (calculates to about $50-$60 a year as maintenance fees for the continuing service of selling your songs
online). Do the math and compare whether your royalties exceed the fees monthly/annual fess that you pay for.  The JMD Distribution advantage is an obvious one. We pay artists 100% royalties without every charging monthly or annual fees.