03/10/24
Unit 11 - Getting Paid - How Do Composers/Musicians Get Paid For Their Work?
Website 1: Best Music Distribution Companies in 2024.
This article states that the aggregators they'll be listing and comparing are meant for independent musicians, not labels. These music distribution companies are your way, as a musician of getting your tracks onto online streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and even Tiktok. Distributer's are quite flexible, not only can you use different distributors for different releases, but you can also change what distributor you used after the original posting. One important thing to note is that these companies don't have rights to any of your songs unlike record labels, they take a commission from your earnings but thats it. The website continues to list different distribution companies and their features, in this current age of technology, online streaming is clearly one of the best ways to make money as an artist however, you typically won't earn much from streaming alone. So it's important to choose what companies you're going to use carefully and find one that has features to suit your career needs in order to keep the most of your profit possible.
UPC
UPC stand for Universal Product Code which is a series of black lines used to identify your product. It also has a series of numbers which are called the GTIN and make up the barcode. The barcode is then scanned when sold to correctly inform manufacturers of their stock.
ISRC
ISRC stands for International Standard Recording Code. If you're releasing a song for the public, you yourself are responsible for acquiring a ISRC code for each of your tracks. These codes are essential for distributors to do their jobs correctly and ensure you get your pay. Regardless of how big your music is, every track will need an ISRC code to make any money. Each code is completely unique and 12 digits long. It's split into four unique parts, the year of registration, the registrant code, the country code and a special identification code for the song itself. Each code allows the tracks rights holder to view how many times their song is being listened to and where. It also tracks the sales and downloads of each track. Each individual song requires its own code, you cannot just have one for a whole album. Even if you're simply publishing a cover of a popular song, it still requires its own unique ISRC code. For me personally, I plan to start releasing some solo music at the end of this college year so this is something I'll have to look into more before posting anything as this will be one of the only way I'll potentially be able to make a bit of money. To obtain a code, you have to contact your local ISRC Agency which you can find from this site's contact page: ISRC Agency.
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