After you've produced your songs and the mixing and mastering process is complete, it's time to publish your music on streaming services and download shops like Spotify, Itunes, Apple Music or Beatport. Read more about digital distribution platforms and possibilities you have!
What you can learn here?
- Best Free Music Aggregators
- Other Music Distributors worth mentioning
- How to get your Music on Spotify directly
- Aggregators including Beatport and Juno
- How to release Native Instruments STEMS?
- How much Music Streaming services pay?
How to distribute my music on Spotify, Itunes and Shazam for free ?
If you don’t wanna spend money before releasing and sell your own Music on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Itunes, Shazam or Pandora. There are some free of cost solutions to distribute your Tracks with spread income. As an example, the Distributor gets 15%, and you keep 85% of the revenue. Often it makes more sense for independent Artists!
If you have the question "How to sell/distribute my Music on Spotify or Itunes?" You can read my reviews for the free Digital Music Distributors I found on the Web. Some of the best music aggregators 2018 / 2019 are Soundrop, Awal, Routenote, Bandcamp, Amuse, Fresh Tunes, Level Music, Distrokid. All these Distribution platforms have no yearly fees and no sign-up fees, some of them are entirely free digital music aggregators and others take a commission.
Read more about the cheapest digital music distributors you can find online:
In the following Blog post I compare these points:
- Who has the best free music distribution service
- Which distributor can supply the most download and streaming services?
- How high is the margin the distributors charge you per stream or download?
- How much do you have to earn till the music distributor is paying you out?
To find out which are the most important and best Music streaming service providers 2018. Look at the following chart to see who has the most monthly listeners at streaming platforms like Apple Music, Pandora Radio, Spotify, IHeatRadio, Soundcloud, Amazon Music, Shazam, TuneIn Radio, Google Play, Music Slacker Radio.
Good luck finding the best monetization options for your music!
Best free music aggregators 2018
My comparison for the best music Aggregator: Itunes, Apple Music and Spotify Distribution. Soundrop vs. Routenote vs. Awal vs Level Distribution vs. Distrokid vs. Bandcamp vs. Amuse vs. Fresh tunes vs. Horus Music.
Soundrop Review:
*Soundrop Distribution is the replacement for Loudr.fm, whose service has closed in 2016. They offer a almost free Youtube Music, Apple Music and Spotify Distribution. They charge 15% of your download and streaming revenue if you use their service.
Soundrop distributes your music to the following stores:
- Youtube Music
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Spotify
- Amazon Music
- Google Play
- Deezer
- Pandora
Spread Income with Soundrop:
- Soundrop keeps 15% of your download and streaming revenue.
When do you receive payment from Soundrop?
- Once the balance on your Earnings page has reached the USD$20 minimum threshold amount
Extras:
- Use Show.co marketing tools for free
- Set up payee splits to distribute revenue automatically among multiple rights holders.
- Sell Cover Songs - Pay a one-time fee of $9.99 per composition they will take care of calculating and paying all the appropriate publishing royalties on your behalf.
Routenote Review
Routenote is a digital music distribution platform and was founded in 2007. They operate from Great Britain to help artist release their music
Routenote distributes your music to the following stores:
- Apple Music, Itunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Play, Deezer, Youtube, Shazam, Pandora, Melon, Soundcloud, Juke mymusic, Groove Music, Claro Musica, Tidal / WiMp, eMusic, Napster, Omnifone, Anghami, Gracenote, Kanjian
Spread Income with Routenote:
- Routenote keeps 15% of your download and streaming revenue.
When do you receive payment from Routenote?
- Once the balance on your Earnings page has reached the USD$50 minimum threshold amount
Extras:
- Non Exclusive release agreement
- RouteNote Premium - For a small upfront cost you keep 100% of the royalties. You pay $9.99 annually ongoing and one time per release (Singles $10, EP $20, Album $30, Extended Album $45)
- Youtube Content ID
Awal Review
Founded in 2003, Awal Distribution is owned by the Kobalt Music group and represents more than 4000 Artists and Labels. It's Music Aggregator service is App based and invite only. You can submit your own music, but Awal will review your sound quality, social media reach, press releases and Spotify plays from the past.
Awal distributes your music to 200 territories and many download shops and streaming services:
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Spotify
- Amazon Music
- Google Play
- Deezer
- Pandora
- Napster
- Tidal
- Beatport
- Boomkat
- Soundtrack your Brand
- Svooq
- Juno Records
- Traxsource
- Beatport
- Vevo and many more
Spread Income with Awal:
- No upfront fees but awal takes a 15% share of revenue
When do you receive payments from Awal?
Extras:
- They don't accept everyone
- you keep 100% ownership of your Music
- Awal App to track play stats etc.
- Marketing
- Funding
- Playlisting and Radio Submisions
- Data Analytics
Level Music Review
Level Music is completely free in its Beta Period
Level Music distributes your music to the 9 following stores:
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Spotify
- Amazon Music
- Google Play
- Deezer
- Pandora
- Napster
- Tidal
Spread Income with Level Music:
- Level Music keeps 8% of your download and streaming revenue.
When do you receive payments from Level Music?
- You can withdraw your payments via Paypal
Extras:
- You can showcase your music releases with landing pages that route fans to their preferred streaming or download service
Bandcamp Review
Which Shops for Download and Streaming are Included?
- Bandcamp Store
Spread Income:
- Bandcamp keeps 15% of your download revenue.
When do you receive payments?
- Your share of each digital transaction is transferred into your PayPal account 24 to 48 hours after the sale
Extras:
- Physical Records & Selling Merch(vinyl, posters, tickets, t-shirts)
- Optional High-quality download formats like FLAC, Wav and Apple Lossless
- Pre-Orders
- Discount Codes
Amuse Review
Amuse was founded in 2016, tt is a App based and 100% free music distribution service. Upload your music and get your songs distributed to Spotify, Apple music and Itunes in just a few days.
Amuse distributes your music to following stores for free:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Deezer
- Google Play
- Youtube / Youtube Music
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Napster
- Shazam
- Pandora
Spread Income:
- Amuse keeps 0% of your download and streaming revenue. Everything is free, and 100% of the royalties go to the artist.
When do you receive payment?
- If you’ve earned $10 or more you can withdraw your royalties using PayPal
Extras:
- They discover artists they believe in and will offer them a record deal that includes marketing, financing, promotion and playlist pitching. If you are one of them, they split the profits 50/50 with the artists.
- First app-only Music Distributor with no desktop site, you have to upload your music to Icloud, Dropbox or Google Drive to release your music
Amuse Rating:
- 3,9 out of 5 (Source: Apple App Store / Google Play Store - December 2017)
Visit Amuse or download the free app @ Apple's App Store or Google Play Store
Fresh Tunes Review
Freshtunes is another free music aggregator, You keep 100% of your royalties and rights. Just upload your music, after 24 hours your album or EP is checked and will immediately be send to Spotify, Itunes, Deezer and other shops.
Fresh Tunes distributes your music to the following stores:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Deezer
- Google Play
- Youtube
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Napster
- Shazam
- Yandex Music
- Guvera
- Saavn
- Spinlet
- Claro-Musica
- Zvooq
Spread Income with Fresh tunes:
- Fresh Tunes keeps 0% of your download and streaming revenue. Everything is free and, 100% of the royalties go to the artist.
When do you receive payment by Fresh tunes?
- If you’ve earned $25 or more you can withdraw your royalties to your bank card, Payoneer or WebMoney account
Extras:
- You can pay Fresh tunes to get Promotion, Album Art Video production, Artwork production or to find a producer
Fresh Tunes Rating:
- 4.3 out of 5 Points (Source: Facebook - December 2017)
Digital Distribution Comparison Chart
Best Music Distributors 2018, a summary in visual Data:
More Music Aggregators worth mentioning
Distrokid Review
Distrokid distributes your Songs to more than 150 stores like:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Google Play
- Youtube
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Shazam
- Beatport
- Soundcloud
How Much does it Cost?
- The cheapest plan starts at $ 19,99 per year, to upload unlimited songs & albums
Spread Income with Distrokid?:
- You keep 100% of your royalties when releasing music with Distrokid
When do you receive payment from Distrokid?
- Your money will be sent within the 1-14 days of a withdrawal request
Extras:
- Releases on Beatport
- Spotify has a distribution partnership with Distrokid
Horus Music Review
Horus Music distributes your Songs to over 200 stores like:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Google Play
- Youtube
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Shazam
- Saavn
- Beatport
- Vevo
- Soundcloud
Spread Income with Horus Music?:
- [update September 2018] They changed the pricing, now you pay an upfront fee (starts from £10) for 100% of the revenue back to the artists.
When do you receive payment from Horus Music?
- The payment threshold depends on where you are based. If you’re not in the UK Horus Music has a £10.00 minimum threshold. For UK based clients Horus Music has no minimum payouts. They will pay your royalties through Western Union each month.
Extras:
- Paid Option to receive 100% of your royalties
- paid options to Create your own VEVO channel, Sell your music video on iTunes, Tidal & FunonGo
- Physical distribution
- Urgent iTunes music delivery
- Mastered for iTunes
- MIDEM Representation
- Music Distribution to Asian markets (including China)
- Playlisting Campaigns
- Telephone Support
- Radio and Social Media Support.
Horus Music Rating:
- 4.0 out of 5 Points (Source: Trustpilot / Google - September 2018)
CD Baby (starts from $ 9.95 - one-off fee per release)
Tunecore (starts from $9.99 - annual cost)
Emu Bands (starts from $ 42.50 - one-off fee per release)
Record Union (starts from $ 7 - annual cost)
Catapult Distribution (starts from $ 9.99 - one-off fee per release and takes a 9% share of revenue)
how to get your music on spotify directly?
- Currently, the Swedish company Spotify is in a beta test phase with which musicians and producers can release their own songs. This would give you the opportunity to publish your own music for free and without any additional costs via the most successful streaming provider. Spotify confirmed that it’s paying 50% of the net revenue to the artist if you sign a direct deal. You can upload your music via the Spotify For Artists section of the platform. The artist must have a verified account first before joining Spotify For Artists.
- At the moment Spotify offers this option with invitation only, but soon more artists and labels will be able to join. You can learn more about this topic through this link.
- Spotify and Distrokid agree on cooperation! Artists who upload their music directly through Spotify for Artists (still in beta) will soon be able to distribute directly to other streaming and download shops. This will be done in cooperation with the aggregator Distrokid, founded in 2013, which serves 250,000 artists
Aggregators including Beatport and Juno
Are you an ambitious electronic music producer who is planning to release music or manage a label in the future?
To sell electronic dance music like Techno and House, it is an advantage to find an aggregator specializing in this field. These distributors can usually supply shops like Beatport, Juno, DJtunes, Whatpeopleplay, Trackitdown or Traxsource. These download shops are the market leader when it comes to electronic music, most of the clients are DJ's and electronic music lovers of techno, house, tech house, minimal electronica, disco, downtempo, deep house, bass house, and many more sub-genres.
Too find the best electronic music distributor for you, we have prepared a nice overview for you. This is a good starting point to find your Dance Music aggregator.
Start to release your Music on Beatport with these Aggregators:
How to release Native Instruments Stems Files on Beatport?
A STEMS file includes 4 musical elements and can be used by remixers and DJs with Native Instruments Hardware or Traktor.
To release a STEMS file on Beatport, Juno Download, Traxsource, Whatpeopleplay, Wasabeat or Bleep. You could use one of these music distributors
- Digdis!
- Fuga
- Finetunes
- Labelworx
- Symphonic
- Move Music Distribution
- Jamvana
How much Music Streaming services pay?
Streaming services do not pay very much, but as a musician, you should still be represented on Youtube, Spotify or Apple Music for reasons of advertising! Or you are one of the producers who release vinyl only and thus creates an underground status? Many musicians earn most of their income through their concerts and gigs. But first, you have to build your fanbase on streaming services.
Let's say you generated exactly 1 million plays on each of the following streaming providers. That would be your estimated revenue:
- Napster - 19.000$
- Tidal - 12.500$
- Apple Music - 7350$
- Google Play - 6760$
- Deezer - 6400$
- Spotify - 4370$
- Amazon - 4020$
- Pandora - 1330$
- Youtube Music - 690$
Is it enough money for you? Can you afford your new synthesizer and still have enough money for food?
Music Revenue statistics for Vinyl, Cassette, Compact Disc, MP3, Ringtone and Streaming from 1977 till 2018
I hope I could answer your question, how to find the best free music aggregator to make money as a music Artist and getting your Songs on Spotify, Itunes, and Amazon!
*If you discovered more free Music Distributors, please add a comment!
Check some other comparisons: aristake, heroic, digitalmusicnews
Please share this Blog post about my Music Distribution comparison 2018, to help other music producers and musicians to release their Music with the best rates!
FAQ: What is a Music Distributor / Music aggregator?
A company who supplies Music to stores and streaming services like Itunes, Spotify, Beatport or Deezer that sell to consumers. These distributors pay you as an artist for your streams and downloads.