I was recently in a writing session with indie artist. I asked her if she liked streaming platforms. I wanted to hear the opinion of a Belmont graduate and indie artist. To my surprise she said she LOVES it! (Side Note: you can submit your music to our Spotify Playlists and YouTube Playlists for Free.)

I have used a couple different streaming platform distribution companies, which is a company that will upload your music to Spotify. Distrokid is by far the best… and most affordable. Some companies will charge you per song but Distrokid only charges $20 a year per artist with unlimited songs. If you use this link you will get a discount with Distrokid – Distrokid.

Back to my story, it seems the majority of what I hear is artists complaining about not getting paid enough, Spotify continuing to lose money, etc. But there is a large amount of indie artists that are benefiting because it’s giving them a way to generate revenue from streams. “When I was a boy”….streams were only on the radio and that meant hiring a radio promoter and praying that a program director added your song. But with streaming platforms like Spotify in place, indie’s are able to make some money without breaking the bank. She mentioned that she released her album earlier this year and due to streaming revenue alone, she’s almost recouped her recording and marketing costs!

She is on some great playlists and is getting a good amount of plays. Back in the day you’d look at these numbers and say….”I should be getting a pretty good check this quarter.” Although it’s not nearly as much as when a single is purchased for $0.99, I think she has the right perspective. People are listening to your music for free, yet you’re still getting paid!! The way people consume entertainment is ever changing. The new music business model enables indies to thrive. It’s pretty exciting!!