There are many ways that a musician can get paid for their music. Music distribution is simply the process of recorded music reaching consumers. Technology has changed the distribution ecosystem, and there are plenty of options for independent artists that don't involve a record label.
Throughout the years, music distribution has transitioned from a physical to a digital format. It is of the utmost importance that an artist both understands and utilizes the new and different ways that they can get their music out to the public. As part of the A3C Festival & Conference, a seminar was held focusing primarily on the current options of music distribution.
The panelists at the Music Distribution: Exploring New Models seminar were Odell Simmons, Jonathan Master and Griffin, all industry experts in the field of distributing music. These experts elaborated on unique tactics to get your music out there. Odell Simmons stressed that the music video is very important when it comes to distributing music, and that some consumers are more focused on the video than the actual audio, so having great visuals that accompany your single or album will only help when it comes to pushing your product.
Stations like Music Choice have made it their business to merge music and video. Also, music streaming has become an integral part of hip-hop. Questions were asked to all three panelists about music streaming and how they felt about how it translated to sales for the artist. All three agreed unanimously about musicians being able to be paid off streaming, because that is the way that music is commonly consumed in this day and age. People aren’t buying albums anymore, they’re streaming singles and projects on various media platforms, and it’s only right that artists be compensated for that.
Griffin of CD Baby briefly discussed the pros of signing up for that website. As the “Amazon of music distribution”, CD Baby gives the artist the opportunity to get their product from the studio directly to the consumer. This seminar was very insightful and each panelist gave great options for artists to distribute their music. It’s a new day for hip-hop in the digital age. You can either adapt, or fail. The choice is yours.