The music industry is quickly moving online and becoming more autonomous for artists but big labels and publishers are still leaving artists out to dry.

In the last year the US music industry made an absolutely whopping $43 billion in sales as digital music continues to provide the first growth for the music industry in years. The report, released by Citigroup, revealed the great news, however, also revealed some pretty shameful news; Out of that $43 billion in revenue, artists and musicians only received 12% of it.

The figures represent revenues for music in the US from physical sales, on-demand streaming, ad-supported streaming like YouTube and Spotify Free, radio royalties, and concert tickets. We’ve long known how much big record labels will take the majority cut from artists for their work but in the digital age it’s becoming more glaringly obvious how artists are being ripped off. Especially now that there are alternatives.

The beauty of the time we are living in now with music going online is that artists can take the power into their own hands and no longer need big labels. Labels used to be the cash cow for pushing CDs, records, and promotion around the world but with the internet an artist can do this all themselves – for free.

Social media has become the new biggest marketing tool – the biggest brands in the world use it so why wouldn’t you? Creating a Facebook page and/or a Twitter page for your band gives somewhere for fans to show their support and keep updated with what you’re doing. You can even pay Facebook and Twitter to promote your posts to people so you can advertise on your own terms. Facebook are clever in that they allow you to target promotion for people who like similar things to you and are in your area so you know it’s reaching the people who count.

When it comes to reaching listeners: we have the solution for you. We offer free distribution to all of the world’s top streaming services like Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, TIDAL, Deezer, Google Play, Amazon, and many more. With our help you can send your music all around the world, reach listeners in every corner of the globe and make money from your music wherever your fans are – and it’s FREE.