How to Sell Your Music on iTunes
Know that it is difficult to get music on iTunes without an aggregator., Review a list of Apple-approved aggregators., Consider the upfront cost of your aggregator., Know if your aggregator takes a percentage of sales., Understand how aggregators...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Know that it is difficult to get music on iTunes without an aggregator.
Apple has made it hard to publish your music to iTunes without hiring an outside company called an aggregator.
Aggregators convert your songs, communicate with Apple, and handle the legal hurdles of publishing music.
If you don’t have an aggregator you can still put music on iTunes if you meet several conditions:
You must have at least 20 albums.
You must buy a Universal Product Code (UPC) and International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) for each song.
You must have a Mac running OS X
10.5.8 or later. -
Step 2: Review a list of Apple-approved aggregators.
There are hundreds of music distribution companies online that promise to put your music on iTunes for you, but luckily Apple has published a list of its preferred aggregators.
Look into several aggregators before picking the first one you see on Google.
Popular aggregators include Tunecore, CDBaby, and Catapult.
There are many other popular aggregators that work with iTunes but are not on Apple's list, including ADED.US Music Distribution, RecordUnion, Distrokid, Ditto, and ReverbNation. , Click on the button labeled “Pricing” on the homepage of most aggregation sites.
Music distribution companies charge a flat fee, take a cut of your royalties, or a combination of both.
General upfront costs include: ’’’Single Songs:’’’ $10-$15 per song. ’’’Albums:’’’ $20-$60 per album (first year) Some companies charge annual fees to keep you album on iTunes, usually $40-$50 each year., Apple takes 30% of the revenue from every song sold on iTunes already, meaning you are making roughly $0.70/song before an aggregator takes their share.
Usually, companies with low up-front fees take a larger cut (10-15%) while other companies charge an annual fee to keep your music online.
Some examples include: ’’’CDBaby and Catapult:’’’ Take 9% off of every song sold, but they have no annual fees. ’’’Tunecore and ReverbNation:’’’ Take nothing for each song, but they charge $50/year.
Companies that take a percentage of royalties usually make you more money if you sell less than 1000 albums., An aggregator is simply a music distribution service that publishes your music on Spotify, iTunes, SoundCloud, and other music services.
As such, the aggregator is paid for each of your songs sold on iTunes, and the aggregator then sends you a check.
Some aggregators pay monthly, others bi-monthly, and some weekly.
Research your aggregators “royalties report” timeline to find when they will pay you. , For example, few aggregators will charge extra to put your music on Spotify and other music services.
Yet some companies, like CDBaby and Catapult, charge $20 per album to buy a UPC, which is essential to sell on iTunes.
Other features to look for include: ’’’Outside Royalties:’’’ Tunecore, for example, will handle TV and film rights for you for a flat fee of $75, while CDBaby will collect royalties from other sites like SoundExchange for free. ’’’iTunes Preorder:’’’ Some companies (CDBaby, LouderFM) offer this for free, while others do not offer pre-orders (Distrokid) or have extra costs (Tunecore). ’’’Reporting:’’’ Almost every aggregator will send you statistics based on how your album or song is selling.
Some will send you trend reports each day (Distrokid, Tunecore), while others sent reports weekly or monthly (CDBaby, ReverbNation)., There are a lot of choices , but the biggest decision to make is whether you want to pay annual fees or a percentage of your royalties.
After you’ve made that decision you can choose between the features each site offers by checking the “FAQ” and “Services” pages on their website.
New musicians should avoid annual fees.
Unless you can sell thousands of copies, you will make more money paying a cut of royalties to a company like CDBaby or MondoTunes.
This allows you to keep your music on iTunes forever, not until you the day you can’t afford an annual fee anymore.Established musicians should contact small, niche aggregators.
Companies like InGroove and The Orchard only a few bands based on their quality and following.
However, this means that they spend more time marketing your band and working with you to maximize sales.Musicians with a large online backing should keep their royalties.
Sites that charge annual fees but let you keep royalties are more profitable if you can sell over 1,000 copies a year.
These sites are made for mid-range to large bands who can tap into an online community to drive sales. , Once you’ve chosen the perfect site to handle your music, upload the music and artwork and let them take care of the rest.
Most sites get your music onto iTunes within 1-4 weeks, and some boast that they only need 2-3 days.
Send the aggregator the best quality sound and picture files you have – they will convert them to the preferred iTunes format.Some sites, like Tunecore, offer offer custom album artwork if you don't have it. -
Step 3: Consider the upfront cost of your aggregator.
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Step 4: Know if your aggregator takes a percentage of sales.
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Step 5: Understand how aggregators pay you.
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Step 6: Compare the extra features from company to company.
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Step 7: Sign up an aggregator that fits your band.
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Step 8: Upload your music and album artwork to your aggregator.
Detailed Guide
Apple has made it hard to publish your music to iTunes without hiring an outside company called an aggregator.
Aggregators convert your songs, communicate with Apple, and handle the legal hurdles of publishing music.
If you don’t have an aggregator you can still put music on iTunes if you meet several conditions:
You must have at least 20 albums.
You must buy a Universal Product Code (UPC) and International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) for each song.
You must have a Mac running OS X
10.5.8 or later.
There are hundreds of music distribution companies online that promise to put your music on iTunes for you, but luckily Apple has published a list of its preferred aggregators.
Look into several aggregators before picking the first one you see on Google.
Popular aggregators include Tunecore, CDBaby, and Catapult.
There are many other popular aggregators that work with iTunes but are not on Apple's list, including ADED.US Music Distribution, RecordUnion, Distrokid, Ditto, and ReverbNation. , Click on the button labeled “Pricing” on the homepage of most aggregation sites.
Music distribution companies charge a flat fee, take a cut of your royalties, or a combination of both.
General upfront costs include: ’’’Single Songs:’’’ $10-$15 per song. ’’’Albums:’’’ $20-$60 per album (first year) Some companies charge annual fees to keep you album on iTunes, usually $40-$50 each year., Apple takes 30% of the revenue from every song sold on iTunes already, meaning you are making roughly $0.70/song before an aggregator takes their share.
Usually, companies with low up-front fees take a larger cut (10-15%) while other companies charge an annual fee to keep your music online.
Some examples include: ’’’CDBaby and Catapult:’’’ Take 9% off of every song sold, but they have no annual fees. ’’’Tunecore and ReverbNation:’’’ Take nothing for each song, but they charge $50/year.
Companies that take a percentage of royalties usually make you more money if you sell less than 1000 albums., An aggregator is simply a music distribution service that publishes your music on Spotify, iTunes, SoundCloud, and other music services.
As such, the aggregator is paid for each of your songs sold on iTunes, and the aggregator then sends you a check.
Some aggregators pay monthly, others bi-monthly, and some weekly.
Research your aggregators “royalties report” timeline to find when they will pay you. , For example, few aggregators will charge extra to put your music on Spotify and other music services.
Yet some companies, like CDBaby and Catapult, charge $20 per album to buy a UPC, which is essential to sell on iTunes.
Other features to look for include: ’’’Outside Royalties:’’’ Tunecore, for example, will handle TV and film rights for you for a flat fee of $75, while CDBaby will collect royalties from other sites like SoundExchange for free. ’’’iTunes Preorder:’’’ Some companies (CDBaby, LouderFM) offer this for free, while others do not offer pre-orders (Distrokid) or have extra costs (Tunecore). ’’’Reporting:’’’ Almost every aggregator will send you statistics based on how your album or song is selling.
Some will send you trend reports each day (Distrokid, Tunecore), while others sent reports weekly or monthly (CDBaby, ReverbNation)., There are a lot of choices , but the biggest decision to make is whether you want to pay annual fees or a percentage of your royalties.
After you’ve made that decision you can choose between the features each site offers by checking the “FAQ” and “Services” pages on their website.
New musicians should avoid annual fees.
Unless you can sell thousands of copies, you will make more money paying a cut of royalties to a company like CDBaby or MondoTunes.
This allows you to keep your music on iTunes forever, not until you the day you can’t afford an annual fee anymore.Established musicians should contact small, niche aggregators.
Companies like InGroove and The Orchard only a few bands based on their quality and following.
However, this means that they spend more time marketing your band and working with you to maximize sales.Musicians with a large online backing should keep their royalties.
Sites that charge annual fees but let you keep royalties are more profitable if you can sell over 1,000 copies a year.
These sites are made for mid-range to large bands who can tap into an online community to drive sales. , Once you’ve chosen the perfect site to handle your music, upload the music and artwork and let them take care of the rest.
Most sites get your music onto iTunes within 1-4 weeks, and some boast that they only need 2-3 days.
Send the aggregator the best quality sound and picture files you have – they will convert them to the preferred iTunes format.Some sites, like Tunecore, offer offer custom album artwork if you don't have it.
About the Author
Gloria Miller
Writer and educator with a focus on practical lifestyle knowledge.
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