Every artist wants to be on itunes, spotify and digitally distributed across the world, and they want it quick and easy. But a lot can go wrong when you aren’t careful with digital aggregation services. Just ask Josh Solomon from The Empty Pockets. In our last blog, Josh talked about what he calls “Waiting For My Prince to Come Syndrome” and the tendency of bands to think if you play great music in bars forever, an A&R guy will one day discover you and make you famous. Josh knows to be skeptical. This is exactly what happened to his band years ago, and they’ve been recovering ever since.
The Empty Pockets acquired a big name manager and, seemingly out of nowhere, a record deal. After being flown to meetings all over the country, they were offered a deal with a Chicago based label distributed through Universal. After a strange deal with very few promises fulfilled, the label ceased to exist one day without warning. When they decided to go the indie route and re release their records, they received a harsh surprise: they couldn’t sell their own music. The record label had taken their copyright and disappeared.
It took them years to get the rights back to their own music. The woes Josh and The Empty Pockets’ faced with their label can also be caused by working with certain digital aggregation services due to unintentionally, but harmful policies tucked away in their user agreements. The most important thing an artist can do is read their user agreement. If your eyes go cross-eyed, hire a lawyer. If you can’t afford a lawyer, go to rockandrolllibrarian.com, for $5 they’ll read your agreement and send you the gotchas.
At Indiehitmaker, we know the dangers of rushing into Digital Aggregation and we want to protect artists from the kind of misfortunes that Josh and The Empty Pockets (and many many other artists) have suffered. We are dedicated to helping you find Digital Aggregation services that are artist friendly, clean licensed, and 100% rights protected. Email artists@indiehitmaker.com to learn how Indiehitmaker can help you distribute your music safely and efficiently.
Grant Maloy Smith hits three charts his first week with IHM by reporting digital downloads from his official website.
For the fourth week, Bob Pressner remains at #1 on the Hot Singles Sales Charts by reporting direct-to-fan sales using IHM Dropkick Smart.
Stephen Pressner continues his 5th & 6th weeks confotabluy on the classical charts by reporting mail order from his official website and digital downloads form his IHM digital music marketing campaign.
