An educator's guide to digital music distribution

We spend a lot of time encouraging students to write, to be creative, to make music. Occasionally those students produce something magical that they want to share with the rest of the world. YouTube, SoundCloud and social media platforms allow anyone to upload their content just by creating an account. And then there are platforms that do not deal directly with individual creators. In order to get music on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Beatport, Tidal, Deezer, and the hundreds of other music streaming sites, artists have to go through a distributor. There are around 30 distributors out there who will accept submissions, ranging from free services like Amuse, to services such as Ditto Music and Distrokid that offer unlimited releases in Stereo and ATMOS format for upwards of £300 per year. Distributors provide a range of services, including uploading artwork, video content, sourcing metadata, and offering performance analytics for artists to monitor how their tracks are performing. Ari Herstand provides a regularly updated comparison chart of the major players in this field.