3 ms·

Spotify, Rdio and all these other sites need to open up their catalog to local and independent artists. That's one of the reasons iTunes was so popular -- they

by jnfr 15y ago

Spotify, Rdio and all these other sites need to open up their catalog to local and independent artists. That's one of the reasons iTunes was so popular -- they allowed Youtube singers and other aspiring artists to post their songs and allow people to purchase them. They tapped into this long tail and both Apple and these indie artists made money from it. These companies can't compete with the big players by offering less. No one cares about the piracy thing, they just want their music, and they want the music they are looking for. 'Social discovery' can be great and all but if I'm looking for a very specific, hard-to-find song, chances are I'm going to find it on Youtube instead and forget about Spotify/Rdio, etc. I think Grooveshark let users upload their own content, but failed in that aspect because their catalog ended up being way too messy. Difficult problem to solve, wonder who will prevail. /edit typo

tsellon 15y ago
I've only used Spotify, but it actually has better coverage (from what I've seen) of independent acts. It's very easy to get your music on there. CDBaby will register an album on Spotify, iTunes, etc for $30.
- WiseWeasel 15y ago
  $30 AND a large chunk of your sales profits.
  - tsellon 15y ago
    Genuinely curious: Do you have a citation on the percentage CDBaby takes? I didn't notice one on their site, but I've not used them either.
    - WiseWeasel 15y ago
      Actually, it turns out to be only a 9% cut on top of a $39 fee for them on digital distribution; I thought it was more: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:us356v0X9hoJ:members.cdbaby.com/faq.aspx+cdbaby+percentage&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:us356v0...
scelerat 15y ago
At Mog (where I work) we have a highly responsive catalog department. We can pretty much get anything that is already in digital format. This includes bands who are distributed solely through CDBaby or other non-label services. Labels push stuff to us on a weekly basis, but for smaller bands, it may be a matter of making a request. Then there's the flip side: bands who don't do digital distribution at all. Tapes and vinyl. There's nothing a digital music service can do for these. Unfortunately, a lot of my favorite bands are like this. They'll take convincing.
- zargon 15y ago
  How do I create a Mog account without using Facebook?

by jnfr 15y ago

tsellon 15y ago

I've only used Spotify, but it actually has better coverage (from what I've seen) of independent acts. It's very easy to get your music on there. CDBaby will register an album on Spotify, iTunes, etc for $30.

WiseWeasel 15y ago
$30 AND a large chunk of your sales profits.
- tsellon 15y ago
  Genuinely curious: Do you have a citation on the percentage CDBaby takes? I didn't notice one on their site, but I've not used them either.
  - WiseWeasel 15y ago
    Actually, it turns out to be only a 9% cut on top of a $39 fee for them on digital distribution; I thought it was more: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:us356v0X9hoJ:members.cdbaby.com/faq.aspx+cdbaby+percentage&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:us356v0...

scelerat 15y ago

At Mog (where I work) we have a highly responsive catalog department. We can pretty much get anything that is already in digital format. This includes bands who are distributed solely through CDBaby or other non-label services. Labels push stuff to us on a weekly basis, but for smaller bands, it may be a matter of making a request. Then there's the flip side: bands who don't do digital distribution at all. Tapes and vinyl. There's nothing a digital music service can do for these. Unfortunately, a lot of my favorite bands are like this. They'll take convincing.

zargon 15y ago
How do I create a Mog account without using Facebook?