I was elated to be able to finish two new music albums and upload them for distribution in October. First time since 2022.
But now it appears that the "free" distributor Routenote has disapproved the first album I uploaded without any messages to me. The album simply disappeared about 1 week after submission, without any email, explanation, or anything. You have to ask what went wrong now. I think it's likely the second will meet a similar fate, as it's not any better.
Routenote has been successfully distributing my 'Mythic Rocks' album, though the earnings so far ($1.36 on 1500 plays) are pitiful.
Pitiful earnings are likely anywhere, but I need to go ahead with some kind of distribution, because my music is not something I can play at street corners or bars. I can't 'develop' without some kind of audience.
A paid distributor like Tunecore or Anti-Joy might work better. Routenote has become notorious for their unhelpful rejections. I released my very first album on Tunecore in 2006 but quit paying for distribution long ago, thinking I could do just as well with free distribution. Free distribution worked OK for Mythic Rocks anyway. (It didn't work with a second album I tried to release in 2022 because I was recycling some of my older songs I had previously distributed as if they were new songs, but under a new artist name, and I should have known Routenote would figure that out even if the song was no longer being distributed the metadata persists. But I didn't make that mistake this time, everything was all new in the albums I attempted to release in 2024.)
Now it looks like the charges at Tunecore are reasonable and anti-Joy might be even better.
Here's another 'complete' review of "all" the services, but lacking the colorful comments by users about their experiences. They only put down Routenote as not having the most complete service (and nothing about its infamous review process, "customer service," etc). This is a useful resource*, but limited, and it seems a few services highly praised in the earlier reports are missing (notably anti-Joy, which seems to be the favorite at the first link I posted). Actually, what we really want to know, is which distributors are assholes. Personal reviews call them out, though problematically every service is called asshole by someone. The linked detailed reports are more useful and may give some personal experience, but limited to that of the author who is an accomplished musician and knows how to deal with these people.
It appears now that a submission to Routenote is more like an audition, where you get a phone call three weeks later if you've been chosen. They aren't a 'distribution service' but more like a record producer (in fact, they are a record producer). The want the reputation among streaming services as a consistent provider of Good Music, which has it's perks like getting to the front of the line. They also don't want to bother with music that isn't likely to pay them sufficiently in commissions to justify the costs. IOW, they're likely looking for a set of albums to gross around $75/year or more of which 15% would be theirs, or about $10. From an artist who hasn't yet, but just might break through, which they could see a month of or more. Though they accepted my Mythic Rocks album when I submitted it, and it's only paid about $1.36 in two years, of which they have pocketed everything for now because it doesn't meet their $50 or $100 minimum, they may have fine tuned their algorithms since then to reject such freaky stuff in the future, because it's not just worth the costs for them. And then the fear of bots, etc.
One musician described Routenote's opaquely applied standards as Fascism.
Routenote has never been the top distributor, and often they aren't even included at first in lists. The 'free' model got them a lot of attention at first but it's all cooled now as people find out that means they're very picky, slow, and opaque, and people who are good enough to pass muster can probably afford a better service with faster updates, more info, more customer service, etc. I only found them because they advertised a high definition capability, and I figured that would mean I could upload 'high definition' files. But, as it turned out, you have to be a major artist for that capability to even be available. I have always sent, and they accepted, 24 bit flac files, but streamers will only see 16 bits because that's the way the system works, High Definition is a "premium" for "top albums," everyone else gets 16 bits.
If they'd give me a list of what's actually wrong that would be helpful.
While I originally thought the commission model would give them some incentive to help me along, in the final analysis the opposite is true. The commissions they expect to make from me aren't worth their efforts at all, they figure, so no I get help at all, as I might at least get modest help from a company who at least hopes to keep pocketing my annual fees.
It appears I'm just going to have to go back to a paid service. I'm leaning towards Tunecore again. Everything is compared to Tunecore, the pioneer, and they've now re-designed their current pricing tiers to do better than major upstart alternatives. Annual fees cover unlimited albums, and most authorities say you have to release about one a month to make money now. They're widely reported to at least have reasonable customer service.
*The overall review section is useful, but devoid of actual experiences, and therefore reminds me of the reviews I used to read in Stereo Review magazine in the 1970's. Everything is good, but some things have more good features than others. That sort of industry-submissive attitude was undermined by audiophiles who wanted more dirt, and Stereophile and The Absolute Sound were born and Stereo Review went bust because nobody wanted to bother with their pablum. But Audio magazine was a bit more informative than Stereo Review and Audio went bust anyway. Actually I think Stereophile and The Absolute Sound were and still are too cranky, but sometimes fun and I don't miss Stereo Review.
No comments:
Post a Comment