How to sell your music online? This is one of the biggest questions many rising music artists ask themselves after the release of an EP, LP, Album, Single, or even a Demo.
It’s all part of the plan; release a single or album, get the exposure, sell it, and make the bucks off it.
Beyond album launch parties and personal sales, you can leverage the numerous platforms online to sell your music whether you are just getting your foot on the door or you are in the music scene already and living out your dreams.
But the question of how? and where? to sell your music online still lingers. You already know when to sell your music.
In this article, these questions will be answered, and all it takes is a total commitment to the sales of your music from your end.
Enough of the ado already, let’s delve right into the good stuff.
Selling your Music online
Let’s start with the
How?
For starters, you can sell your music online by creating a website and uploading your music on it. It’s that simple but then, it’s just a start and you might not have the substantial resource to build and sustain a website if you are a newbie.
You need to promote the music first even before it arrives. You need to raise the anticipation levels of your fans (if you’ve got one) to the high heavens that they can’t wait to start downloading as soon the album drops.
If you are thinking you don’t have a fan base, well, I say you’ve got your family and friends. They are your first listeners and cheerleaders. Never undermine their capacity to place you on that high pedestal to success.
You can build anticipation on social media by constantly posting details about your incoming album or single. Then you can urge your family and friends to start liking and sharing.
Beyond that, you need to give them a sneak peek of your act. People won’t start supporting you when they’ve not heard what you’ve got to offer for their listening pleasure. If you are already making waves in the industry, then you’ve already got a fan base and you can just give them one of the best songs on the album to build the anticipation.
However, if you aren’t up for an album, and you’re trying to release your first single, a free demo can help you raise awareness about your debut single.
Where to Sell Your Music Online?
You can sell your music online via four major routes.
They are;
- Digital Retailers
- Music streaming platforms
- Music Distributors and
- Your Website
- Digital Retailers: Google Play, Amazon, and iTunes
These three platforms are foremost across the world as digital music stores and people are comfortable getting content from them. They are global brands with a track record of quality and transparency. People trust these platforms and tend to associate any content found in them with quality as well.
Google Play and iTunes are two of the world’s biggest and most popular operating systems. They run on mobile phones, making it seamless for your songs to be downloaded on platforms where your fans already have accounts.
Other digital music stores include; Soundcloud and Musicdiffusion.
- Music Streaming Platforms: Spotify and Apple Music
Streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music are increasingly getting popular and preferred by many music fans. What these streaming platforms offer in terms of financial benefits are lesser relative to digital retailers like iTunes and Google Play.
However, they are better at announcing a young artist to the world. They create better visibility for artists and can help them with recognition faster.
- Music Distributors: Tunecore, Rumblefish, and CDBaby
There are some sites whose job role is to help distribute and sell client’s music on as many platforms as possible. They can help you upload your songs on iTunes and Google Play as well may other platforms.
Some will demand a certain percentage from your earnings as commission, while some will allow you to enjoy all 100% of your earnings but you have to pay yearly for the service and additional fees for your songs to be distributed to new sites.
These distributors are your best shot at selling your music online. They know the ins and out of the industry and how the sales work. They can help you upload your songs while you sit back and watch as the process fetch you consistent income. A site like Rumblefish can even help you obtain a license for your songs to be used in films and other creative projects. You only pay the part payment for the license while the 100% benefit of the deal is entirely yours.
- Your Website
Having a website where people can download your songs is one of the viable ways of marketing your songs online. You’ll have to make a little investment on this for the bounty benefits ahead. These days, every serious business has an online presence and your music career will benefit from having one as well.
With a website, you have the freedom of engaging your fans, getting their opinions, and even offering them freebies for their patronage. You can also use your site to create an email list from your audience by simply asking for their emails so you can keep them updated on everything about your music career.
But you need to make your website fluid and user-friendly so fans won’t have any issues navigating around it. You don’t have to run this on your own, you’ll need the services of a professional web designer who has probably done the same for another music artist.
Finally
Making massive sales from the release of a single or album it’s the ultimate dream of every music artist while fame is constant. Thankfully, there are many ways to sell your music in contemporary times unlike in the past when artists are limited to album launch parties and music distributors.
Now there are numerous online platforms to not just help you sell your songs but also announce you to the world as a rising star and give you more followers.
The music industry is growing larger each day and more people are willing to pay for your songs than you think.
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