illuminations saidSo who want to give everybody a quick run through of the most efficient and cost effective way to get up on itunes and the best way to attract a few buyers there?
I’m no expert on this (maybe Tim or PZ could chime in?), but I’m uploading an albums worth of stuff as we speak to Reverbnation, and going to use them as a music aggregator to get my stuff into iTunes, GooglePlay, Amazon, etc, using their à la carte distribution option.
You have to pay a yearly fee in order to do so ($49 a year for RN), which is variable amongst aggregators, but if you don’t meet iTunes requirement to go directly through them (such as having 20 albums in your catalogue and a bunch of UPCs/EANs/JANs/ISRCs for your music), then you’re going to have to use an Apple approved aggregator anyway. But my guess is everyone’s situation is going to be slightly different. Also, non-US peeps will need to acquire a US Tax-ID (EIN) too before they can start earning on iTunes, so that’s something else to sort out.
There’s quite a few distributors, so best check them out and all the options via the iTunes submission application. Personally, I’m avoiding certain companies such as TuneCore and CD Baby, as I believe they’re involved with digitally fingerprinting your music for YouTube monetization, something that may conflict with my involvement with AdRev. You may be able to opt out of this, but rather not take the risk, as it could potentially open a massive can of worms.
Personally, YouTube is going to be my main portal for promoting my iTunes tracks. I’ve lost count of how many messages I receive via my YouTube channel asking if they can buy the music via iTunes, for “doing their homework to”! It’ll probably just be a case of adding a new link in the video description and video annotations, giving the option to purchase specifically for “personal and home listening” or something like that. I’ll chip in on this if I discover any other enlightening things along the way.