Self-distribution 101

You have a publishing company, now what? You need to distribute your work. TuneCore and CD Baby are the most used music distribution services today. These services offer digital distribution through channels such iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, among others, and physical distribution by delivering hard copies to the customer.

CD Baby started back in 1998 by a guy who wanted to sell his music through his website. Nowadays, CD Baby is one of the most reliable distribution businesses in the market.  They charge a $35 fee for each album you want to sell through them and 9% of revenue for each download goes to them. TuneCore has a similar business model. TuneCore charges about the same fee for each album, but charges an extra $20 per album each year. The good new is that TuneCore never take a cut of the revenues. For instance, a relatively unknown band could sell around 100 tracks in a year. As the owner of the work, the artist will probably get around $0.60 of the $0.99 that most sites charge. These 100 tracks result in $60 in revenues and CD Baby take 9%, leaving the artist with $54. For the first year, TuneCore would leave you with the full $60. Now, if you sell a decent amount of copies, TuneCore would be the best option. With TuneCore, the artist’s business reached breakeven at approximately 370 downloads. After that, it is all profit for the artist. 

Unlike TuneCore, CD Baby offers a physical distribution too. This service could be a deal breaker for artists with a high demand for hard copy sales. If the artist signs up for TuneCore for distribution they would have to find a different service provider for physical distribution. With CD Baby, all these services would be covered.

According to the information expressed above, TuneCore sounds like a good choice since it doesn’t take a cut from revenues. However, it is important to expect sales of at least of 370 downloads to avoid losses during the year. Check this review on TuneCore for more information.