With digitally distributed and produced music, breaking into the market with new music has never been easier. Now that the opportunity and the demand are there, how will you utilize them?
The first thing you must do is find a digital distributor for yourself. Keep on reading to find out how!
How to Produce Music Digitally
Equipment Needed
When producing music digitally, you may need multiple pieces of equipment or software to install on your computer. Equipment includes a computer or laptop, an audio interface, studio monitors, headphones, and microphones. The software needed includes a digital audio workstation (DAW), virtual instruments, and plugins for mixing and mastering.
Recording & Editing Music
Once you have the necessary equipment and software installed, you may begin recording your music and instruments and utilize a microphone to record your beats and vocals. Ultimately, it would be best to edit by adjusting the volume, adding any effects, and cleaning up wherever needed. Don’t worry, soon you’d be on to creating your very own music!
Postproduction
Once you have your music edited, all that’s left is postproduction effects. These may include mixing or mastering your music. Here you can use equalizing, compressing, and even limiting qualities to balance all the elements in the track. That gives you the best quality for music distribution on all different platforms.
How to Distribute Music Digitally
Digital distribution is the process of getting your music available at digital stores and online platforms for purchase or streaming by an audience. Over the years, musicians, especially new artists, only use these digital platforms to provide access to their music. This is mainly due to its accessibility and low release costs.
Find a Digital Distributor
Choosing a digital music distribution service is one of the first steps in digital music distribution. Each will vary depending on its pricing structure, terms, and unique features like a percentage of profits. Researching the different digital distributors is essential to find the one that best suits your needs. Factors to consider include pricing, royalty rates, and distribution channels.
Get Music Ready
Having your track ready generally comes under the production of music. But you must have the perfect file ready for your distributor as well. It means the perfect audio quality and file format. You must also provide metadata, such as song titles, album artwork, and artist information, to accompany your music in the digital stores and streaming platforms.
Upload Your Music
After preparing your music and metadata, the next step is to upload them to your chosen digital distributor. The digital distributor will then process your music and metadata and distribute your music to the selected digital stores and streaming platforms.
The reason you do it through services is because of their greater visibility. Once your music is available, you can promote it to your fans and earn royalties from streaming and sales.
Factors to Consider when Finding Digital Distributors
When working with any digital distributor, you must research and find a service that works well for you. Here are some characteristics or factors that you need to look out for
Royalties and Revenue
Digital distributors obviously will have their own financial and revenue models that you, as an artist, might not be familiar with. You must ask the right questions to ensure you are fairly compensated. There are many royalties you will have to consider. Once you join a service, they might own your music.
Visibility
The digital music industry is highly competitive, making it challenging for emerging artists to get noticed. Artists must work on marketing strategies to increase their visibility and attract new listeners, which you must discuss with your distributor beforehand.
Copyright Infringement
The internet has made it easy for individuals to pirate and illegally distribute music, and it can result in lost revenue and harm to an artist’s reputation. That’s because the music you have put time, money, and effort into is being spread for free, so obviously, not many would want to pay for it. It is essential to take measures to protect music from piracy and copyright infringement.
Conclusion
While there are significant challenges in the digital music industry, if you get the opportunity to get your music out there, you must utilize it. The traffic on these streaming platforms is huge, and coupled with the use of social media, songs, and albums can get viral very quickly if you have the right strategy in place.
