How to get your music on streaming services

by · July 19, 2017

Streaming is the wave. In 2016 streaming accounted for half of the entire US music industry revenue. More than 100 million people are now paying for streaming with Spotify leading the charge. A&R’s, labels heads, music supervisors, and other music pro’s use these services to not only earn money for their artist but to identify emerging talent. However, if your music is not on at least one of these services you could be missing out. Below I will briefly talk about the benefits of having your music on a streaming service and how to actually get your music up on them.

 

Why Put Your Music On A Streaming Service?

  • It’s the future, now!

All three major labels, Universal, Warner, and Sony have committed resources to curating and promoting playlists on Spotify. If the biggest names in the music industry are committing big bucks to streaming, what does it tell you? The numbers are in! Streaming is the future of music and the shift is and has been happening right in front of our faces. As we speak, the “higher-ups” are prepping the industry for its new reality. Laws are shifting, and new tech is being developed ensuring that creators will finally get their fair due. You have heard of blockchain, right?

 

  • Monetization

Subscription based services pay out more royalties than online video and radio. Spotify, for example, pays music rights owners 70% of what they receive from a particular track. Two times more than video outlets like youtube and online radio.

 

  • Brand awareness

Spotify sends your subscribers alerts automatically anytime you release a new song on the service. If your music lands on a playlist it has the potential to reach larger audiences giving your music more opportunity to win over fans and introduce them to your artistry.

 

How To Get On A Streaming Service

Getting your music on a streaming service is surprisingly less complex than you may have anticipated. That is because these streaming companies rely on a network of reliable organizations to deliver them content. These organizations are called Digital Distributors.  

 

  • Digital Distribution

Unless you have a label or aggregator that will upload your music for you, you will have to link with a distributor that delivers music to the streaming service(s) you’re targeting. There are a lot of distributors out there. Luckily many of them deliver content to all the major streaming service such as Spotify, Apple, and Tidal. On each company’s website, it will give you a list of distributors they work with. To get you started I will post the distributors that Spotify, the number one streaming service, use to collect content. TuneCore CD BABY EMU BANDS RECORD UNION SPINNUP and AWAL. Not only will these distributors get your music to Spotify, they will collect and pay out the royalties you earn from your tracks. These services vary in price per company. Explore and see what works best for you. TuneCore, for example, charges $9.99 per single and $29.99 per album and allows you to keep 100% of your revenue while Record Union offers three separate plans for you to choose from.

 

Conclusion

Streaming is how people listen to music now. In a few years, I predict that over 90% of US music industry revenue will come via streaming. The question now becomes, how will this change affect the music industry as a whole? We’ve already witnessed the growth of hip-hop with the emerging popularity of streaming. What else will come from this shift? Get the conversation started and leave a comment below.

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2 Responses

  1. Jaleel says:
    July 21, 2017 at 2:31 am

    This is an extremely helpful article for artists, I have a question though, I heard that artists aren’t really getting paid for they’re streaming, so how are artists supposed to make money and make sure their music is in position to be listened to?

    • Bryant Lloyd says:
      July 21, 2017 at 3:18 am

      Great question! Yes, streaming isn’t earning artist a lot of money, but many artists aren’t making money at all.. On top of that things are beginning to change in the industry. In another article, I speak about blockchain, tech that will make sure right owners get their money from their songs. There is also a shift in legislation coming soon that will increase streaming rates for right owners. So in other words artist need to plan for the future as well and position themselves to earn now and later.