Independent music distribution versus traditional record deal. Let's discuss the difference between independently distributing your music versus waiting for a traditional major record deal. What does each mean? What goes into releasing music by yourself versus having a record company as a partner and what distribution outlets are currently available to artists today? Distribution is defined as the action of sharing something out among a number of recipients. Independent music is a powerful avenue for artists to release their music without relying on outside involvement. It allows artists to directly upload their tracks to digital platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play and more. Taking the independent route gives artists control over their releases, ownership of their music and the ability to reach a global audience without the need for major record companies. Independent distribution offers artists and independent labels several advantages. It provides a quicker route to market compared to the often lengthy process of securing a record deal. Artists can enjoy creative freedom allowing them to explore different genres without label restrictions. Additionally, the direct connection between artists and fans is strengthened, fostering a more authentic and engaged fanbase. Here's a few key advantages to distributing your music independently. Ownership, artists can own all the music they release. Speed, you can make a song and release it the very same day or whenever you want. Creative freedom, when you self-distribute you become your own label and the decision maker on what to create without having to answer to a record company that may or may not share your vision. Too many people think they can't earn a living following their creative passion. What if you could earn enough money to start paying your bills by releasing your music independently? Would that make you consider putting more effort into your career? Wouldn't that be enough proof that there's a way to make your music your primary means of income? A major label isn't interested in this type of mentality, but independence allows for this type of approach and that's important to point out. With all the upside in your hands, there are certain responsibilities that need to be assumed when you independently distribute your music. Let's go through some of them. Marketing, promotion, social media management, sample clearances, sync efforts, interactive campaigns, artwork, and administration. This information is not meant to overwhelm or deter anyone from going for it, but it's important to give context so that you have an entire picture. Now let's go over the traditional record deal. The traditional record label route is still a desired path and this is where a record label invests in an artist's career and music. This can bring financial support, industry connections, and extensive marketing resources to an artist. However, there are definitely drawbacks with this path such as potential loss of creative control and having to share in revenue with the label. Traditional record deals typically include negotiations and company approvals, which can be time consuming and lead to artistic and business conflicts. Waiting for a record deal can present several challenges. The negotiation process can be time consuming delaying an artist's ability to release new music. The industry is highly competitive and not all artists secure deals. This waiting period may also risk a loss of momentum and relevance. The industry evolves rapidly. Okay, today we're going to have our first guest on roll call, a very special one at that, the CEO of the most important independent distribution company in the world, Tunecore, Andrea Gleason. Hello. Thank you so much for having me on. I'm happy to have you here. I'm so excited to be here. I'm a little nervous to have you here. You're nervous to have me here? A little bit because we're going to be talking about something that I think is a very controversial topic and it is a sticking point between independent and major label artists for God knows how many years before us. So let's jump into some of the biggest stigmas associated with independent distribution. I've heard everything from if you independently distribute your music, it means that you can't get signed to choosing this route is not really a choice. It's by force. So I really want to get a little bit more clarity and I want to be enlightened from someone in your position. Why would someone choose to go independent? So let's let's talk a little bit about one of the first stigmas that you said, which is that some artists are forced to do this or they really seek to be signed by a label not the priority. What I'll say is that the music industry has just changed as a total. You don't find that labels sign artists anymore. They're actually signing audiences. So they're not really signing the artist. They're signing the audience that the artist has amassed. Yeah, and obviously there's the artistry and you want to get behind someone who has a future and you believe in, but if they're not at a certain level, I mean, gone are the days that, you know, you'd look at like five artists and you'd say, okay, has a good look, has a good voice, we're going to match them up with a killer songwriter, a good stylist, and we're going to get them some great choreographers and we're going to make them a superstar. So you're saying an artist has to independently get themselves to a certain level that is attractive enough to a major label to even draw interest. Correct. You earlier talked about all the hats that artists have to wear. Right. They have to be their own social media manager, do their marketing, booking their shows, if they're performing live, etc, etc, like all the hats, right? So many like at the end of the day, you always hit a point where you need more team members around you. When an artist reaches that threshold, and I have my own opinion on this, but I want to get yours, that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to take a major label route because they want that team around them. You can either go a label route where you plug into a team. Right. You're saying a traditional record label route. But there's other choices. So by contrast, another great example is Chance the Rapper. Chance the Rapper released color and book on tunecore. His first major release was on tunecore. That's what he won Best New Artist at the Grammys with. Right. He has made the decision to stay independent all this time. He just has hired his team around him. Yeah. But you still need more people. You need help. Independent musicians are much like entrepreneurs. They're companies, right? They're companies. You are a business. You know that you need to start hiring the first person, the second person when you are walking away from opportunities just because you don't have time to do the work. I don't want to mislead anybody because I think for talking about traditional versus independent, it's important to be clear that in a traditional record label, you usually sign up for a royalty deal, which means you relinquish ownership of the master recordings of whatever term or amount of projects you agree to. And then you receive a royalty of net income based on your stream, sales, downloads, sinks. And that is giving up ownership as opposed to a setup where you're independently distributing, let's say through tunecore. If you distribute on tunecore, you retain ownership. And I'm not bad malving taking the major label route because selling 10 million copies could be more fruitful than selling 10 copies independently on tunecore. Let's be fair. But there are drawbacks and perks of each decision. Totally. Unlike a major record deal where they control your decision making process, you could say, I want to release a specific song that I wasn't able to in my other situation and see if the fans, whether it's a small audience or a big audience, agrees with your decision and run with it without anybody interfering. Major labels have a ton of upside, a ton of resources and connections, but they are also glorified banks. Yes. And a lot of times aspiring artists don't understand that the advance that you get or that money that an artist gets to sign with a label is nothing more than a glorified loan. Yes, because you're getting an advance on your future earnings. And an advance means you're getting money that they're expecting you to earn. Yes. We want to be clear because people hear advance and they think they gave me that money. No, you have to pay back that money like you would any other loan. Or depending on, again, the deal you sign, you may not be able to get out of your deal in the time frame that it was actually time for if you haven't paid back your advance. And there could be all sorts of restrictions. Again, every deal is different. Of course, not one shoe fits all, but it is important to note that the term advance means a loan. We have something called tunecore direct advance where artists can actually get money to fund their future projects. If you distribute through tunecore, you get 100% of the income. You see that Ian Schwartzman earns $500 a month. If I go on to tunecore direct advance and I know I need $3,000 to set up the next 20 singles that'll run me through the next four months, you guys will look and say, okay, we see that he earns 500 a month. We'll give him that $3,000 and then your earnings will go to recouping that advance. Yes. Obviously, that's a loan as well. However, the concept behind it that I see as an advantage for an artist that's looking to stay independent is that they may say, I need this $3,000 because I believe in this project I'm making and 500 a month doesn't fund the video I want to make, the artwork I want to get because if I could make this new project, I'll be able to get a thousand a month. Yes, exactly. And essentially, will help them build an even bigger book of business that will help their career grow. Tunecore and other competitive companies like tunecore seem to be the most viable option if you're willing to put in the work. Yeah, you got to put in the work though. That's the really the key because you got to be willing to wear all the hats, but the work ethic to your point, you need to have it all. No matter where you are. No matter what. And that's very important for artists who are listening this to take note because you've got to have the discipline. We want artists to grow. We just don't want their music out with no streams. We want to get artist's music into the ears of listeners that have an affinity for their music. The benefit of that is you're not just offering artists a way to get their music out there, but if you could offer them tools that are going to actually help them geolocate, advertise, promote, and effectively you've now broken another threshold that doesn't exist in the digitally cubed ecosystem for a digital artist. I'm glad that you are providing and that tunecore provides a place for artists to actually grow a business, not buy into a pipe dream. If our artists are successful, we're successful.