Can You Upload Your Own Music To Spotify For Free
You won’t earn exactly what you’d expect, but you might earn something. The royalty calculations are a lot more complicated than a straight up amount per stream.
When compared to other industries, the recording industry really hasn’t been around that long. And in the century or so of recorded music sales, a lot has changed. The past two decades have seen the biggest changes. The last five years especially have pushed us exponentially into a brave new world. We’ve already explored the turbulent voyage into digital music distribution. Today, however, we’re going to hone in on one specific aspect of modern music distribution: self-publishing–more specifically, how to publish your own music and get it out to the masses without a label.
There are a few hoops to jump through on this journey, but none are too cumbersome on their own. So we’ve broken down how to publish your own music into 5 categories. These don’t necessarily follow an order, but each one matters nonetheless.
1. Go PRO (Performing Rights Organization)
If you’re serious about publishing your own music and want to earn royalties from it, one of the first things to do is hook up with a performing rights organization (PRO). PROs essentially ensure that you’ll receive royalties for your music when played in public venues (restaurants, shops, etc.), or when performed.
In the U.S. the two PRO mainstays (often referred to as the Coke and Pepsi of PROs), are BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) and ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers). Other PROs exist as well, such as SESAC, but this one’s a bit more exclusive than BMI and ASCAP.
Both BMI and ASCAP have their advantages, such as workshops and meet and greets, and each boasts an impressive stack of artists, from smalltime songwriters to pop superstars. You can join BMI or ASCAP as either a writer or publisher. As a writer, you’ll receive half the royalties for your song, while the publisher will receive the other half. In other words, if you are your own publisher, you’ll get all the royalties. Fees vary depending on the PRO and the status (writer or publisher). In short, it’s free to sign up with BMI as a writer and costs a one time fee of $150 to become a publisher. For ASCAP, it costs $50 to join as either a writer or publisher. Further fees and payout schedules can be explored on their websites.
2. Try a publishing administrator
If you’d rather another entity handle the workings of publishing, consider using a publishing administrator. For a small commission fee, these entities oversee the publishing and distributive rights of your music. This way you don’t need to publish your own music and you’ll still be compensated fairly for any sale or performance of your copyrighted property. Companies like TuneCore and CD Baby are considered publishing administrators. CD Baby Pro, for instance, collects 15% of any royalties they claim for you. By going through these sites, you can share your music via every digital platform (Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon Music, etc.) and make money for streams, downloads, YouTube plays, and even ringtones!
3. Make it your business to publish your own music
If you’re going to become your own publisher, it’s a good idea to form a legal business entity to handle fees, taxes, and transactions. This way you can separate your personal finances from your business’. Plus, maybe you’re not the only one in charge. A band, for instance, might have four members. Each member might play a specific role in the writing and recording process, or maybe everyone contributes evenly. By keeping things on the books, you can sort out the division of labor, compensation, and potential member changes with no confusion.
A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is the most common type of business structure for publishing your own music. These can be set up online through sites like LegalZoom, or via a knowledgeable attorney.
4. Don’t forget to copyright
No matter how you plan on publishing or distributing your music, make sure you get it copyrighted. If you publish your own music, you already legally own the copyright to your songs. Otherwise, to ensure the ownership of your music, you’ll want to go to the U.S. government’s copyright website (or via whichever country you’re in) and register with a $35 fee (for U.S.).
In truth, copyrighting your music is more of an insurance measure than anything. While you technically already own your own music when you create it, you lack access to certain legal remedies if you don’t claim a copyright. For instance, let’s say someone “steals” your melody or lyrics. Your song might have been created first, but the other artist, in this case, has their song copyrighted while you don’t. Chances are you’ll lose that battle.
5. Getting Physical?
The majority of music consumption might be digital these days, but that doesn’t mean people don’t still enjoy collecting physical copies of songs and albums. In the past, record labels handled physical creation and distribution through their own channels. Back then, unsigned artists had no real method for manufacturing records or selling them. In recent years, some business savvy people saw an opportunity in creating these means, opening the door for artists of all levels.
We’ve already mentioned CD Baby when it comes to publishing administration. The company also handles CD and vinyl manufacturing and distribution. With connections to thousands of brick and mortar stores, CD Baby can get your album on shelves with ease. Additionally, the site offers other means of distribution like Amazon, Facebook marketplace, a personal website, or even via CD Baby’s store itself. Of course, CD Baby collects a percentage of record sales.
Conclusion
The reality is, labels are dying. Sure, they’ll be around a while longer, like newspapers, infomercials, and talk radio. But their prominence fades more each day with DIY musicians taking their music into their own hands. While you’ll still have to shell out for publishing your own music, these costs pale in comparison to what labels regularly siphon from even the biggest artists. Nothing is stopping you from getting your music out there and earning off your hard work. The gatekeepers simply can’t hold back the eager masses any longer.
PreviousUsed Audio Software & Subscriptions: Save a Few BucksIn 2016, I wrote an article CDBaby vs Tunecore that went a little viral and I still like CD Baby but here’s the thing times change and there are so many music distribution aggregators it’s hard to keep up, as well as try them all out.
But over the last year I’ve been trying out a few different ones and I’ve actually found two that are absolutely free. I know I usually save this kind of info for my email subscribers but I’m in a generous mood tonight.
I should also point out that we’re not affiliated or get any kind of kickback from these companies for mentioning them so if you have a horrible experience with them don’t @ me. Use these services at your own risk.
Awal Music
The first company I tried is called Awal Music after they were recommended to me by a friend whose also a recording artist and who had nothing but good things to say about them.
Basically how it works is you apply online to join their roaster of artists (they don’t accept everyone) but if your music is already on Spotify and Apple Music and you have a few things like all your social media accounts and maybe a music video or two, they should accept you (don’t quote me on that, they accepted me).
Obviously, if your music sounds like crap and isn’t mixed and mastered properly or if you have a Soundcloud with like 2 followers they probably wont accept you (again don’t quote me on that, I don’t know what their guidelines are, I’m just taking educated guesses).
According to their site, they’ll distribute your music to Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play and pretty much all the other streaming platforms for free and you’ll keep 100% ownership of your music. The only drawback is that they’ll take 15% of your revenue. So if you make $100, they’ll take $15, which isn’t too bad considering CD Baby is charging $9.95 per song before you make anything (and takes 9% in royalties).
In my opinion, AWAL is pretty professional and has a sleek website and user interface and seems like they have their stuff together and would make a good partner. And 15% isn’t too much to give away at first, but if your song blows up and makes a million than you’re giving way $150,000 which seems insane.
I would hope they would provide additional support and they do list things such as playlist promotion (which is probably pure b.s. they can’t pay Spotify or Apple Music for playlist placement, I mean they can, major labels wine and dine playlist creators but that’s illegal).
Amuse
Another free music distribution service I tried out is called Amuse and they offer a free mobile app that you use to upload your music and cover art and they send it out to Spotify and Apple Music and wherever else people are listening to music.
And it’s totally free. Unlike, AWAL that takes 15%, Amuse takes zero, zilch, nada.
I should point out that this company is based in Stockholm and perusing their site you’ll get the feeling that English isn’t their second language but they do have a snazzy site and their app first approach is pretty cool.
The only issue I had with them is that when I uploaded my song to them it created a new artist profile on Spotify and Apple Music and the song didn’t link to my old profile.
Can You Upload Your Own Music To Spotify For Free Trial
This was kinda of annoying as my followers on those platforms wouldn’t get notified of my new song.
The good thing was that I was able to contact them and within about a week and a half they had corrected the issue. If you’re an artist that already has music on Spotify and Apple Music, you’ll probably run into the same issue, so be aware of that.
Another cool thing is that you can see via their app how much your songs have earned and you can withdraw your money when you have a minimum of $10.00.
The only thing that concerns me about new companies like this are what happens if they fold and go bankrupt?
If they get 100,000 artists and they all have $5 in their account and the company goes bust, they just keep the $500,000?
Also how is this company paying to keep the lights on if they’re doing all this for free? On their site, they claim that the reason they can do free is because if they find an artist they believe in they’ll sign them and go 50/50 with them.
I’m not buying that reason as there’s no proof of them signing any artist and making any money just yet.
Should We Get Rid of the Middlemen?
I wonder when Spotify and Apple Music are going to quit the shenanigans and get rid of these middlemen and just allow artists to upload straight away to their platforms?
While it is convenient as it would be insanely painful to upload to all of the streaming services individually (there’s like 20 of them), I guess these kind of aggregators do have a role but it’s hard to quantify how much they should cost, what’s a fair price and how long will they be in business?
Hey do you know of any free distribution services? Well then please share with us in the comments.