Interesting move from Tunecore. I love how the table only puts them in a favourable light ;)

If you were paying $50 a year to distribute your record, and only making $20 a year from it... it's more/less simple math.

Where is that new middle class of professional musicians the web was supposed to empower? When $50 a year for the distribution of an album is too much, I think you have your answer...

this begs the question...

If the Internet is working for musicians, Why aren't more musicians working Professionally?

You can't reallly go wrong, as Tunecore competitors Orchard, CDbaby and mayn more quote their fees on theire websites and distribute to the same stores::: or am i missing something?

It gets better!  Indie musicians expect to make an entire album for $5000 or less!  35% of them want to make a full-length album for under $1000!  They WILL NOT spend thousands on equipment.

http://www.myspace.com/musicianengineersurvey/photos/14560613#{%22ImageId%22%3A14560556}

Interesting.  But how old is this, what musicians took this?

This survey is from 2009.

Look at the results of the Musician/Engineer Survey 2009 as well.

Read the fine print. They are not dropping their fee. this is a first year offer. the next year costs exactly the same as before.

Because 99.9% of artists are charitans and posers who can't compose their way out of a paper bag.

I think it is rather quaint to observe people supporting the idea that digital distribution for indie artists should be practically free.

As distributors we haveto keep complex books on even the tiniest sales for each artist. We haveto store and backup all file data and metadata. We haveto provide ISRC  and UPC codes for each single and album, the list is actually rather long.We also haveto provide the IRS with tax information and do the same for various other countries .

So .

if you as an artist feel this service should be free here is our suggestion.

Negotiate deals with all the important stores. then build and maintain an interface for uploading storing and reporting. keep track of all the invoices you send to all the stores. Then make sure you get paid. Once you have done all of this you can pay yourself.

Distribution fees should be higher than they are, but also, the amount an artist can earn should be higher than it is via the internet.  It seems ludicrous for a digital distributor to take a chunk of money when the artist will only earn back thousandths of a penny for use.

If digital distributors wanted to make this about an equitable exchange, then they would discontinue providing music to streaming entities and only distribute to 'sales'.  Leave distributing to the streaming entities to digital radio promoters like iPluggers.com.

Equitable exchange? Are you kidding?

indie digital distribution is mostly about stroking massive egos and trying to avoid distributing songs that are so bad you will loose your deal with itunes.

99% of all tunecore type artists are nowhere close to needing a commercial outlet, and dealing with their content is a real job that someone has to actually do.

Even a rubbish song streams or sells enough to need book keeping.

As far as not distributing to spotify etc is concerned, it is the artists that choose what stores & streaming services they want for each release on almost all proper distribution services, so the simple fact is that the artist wants to be seen and to hell with the rest of it. 

I got news for you from the trenches: they're not spending thousands on studio time either.

You don´t need to negotiate deals with important stores or build and interface, keeping track etc. If your distributor is too expensive, (or too exclusive :)) you can start one yourself using a ready to use interface.

Compare digital distribution to sending emails. This used to be a paid service, now there have many free options..and it´s the interface and quality of the service which really matters.

This market is only 10 years old and still very much evolving, I know how complex the distribution process is, but raising fees is not an option. And I don´t think a one-time 20$ discount on a service that´s already expensive will make a big difference.

Making better services will, however, make a difference. And only those services will deserve the money from the DIY artist. And they will only make sense to artists that make music that sells. It´s about interfacing, connecting the artists to the stores, and build value around this.

Silly complaints. Any of these distribution systems are an excellent deal, whether TuneCore, CDBaby, or one of the competitors. I can release an album for less than the cost for dinner out with my true love? I'll do both and keep the change.

- V