DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION COMPARISON SHEET
AWAL - CD Baby - The Orchard - IRIS - IODA - Reverbnation - KVZ Music - Symphonic Distribution - OneRPM - Believe Digital - INGrooves - Route Note - Virtual Label - Zebralution - Catapult Distribution - Topspin
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Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
TOPSPIN $25 91% Any 30 YES NO /NO NO $0 0

Overall Notes:
This company will rival any company for being the worlds worst distributer or aggregator or i am not even sure what is going on with this company.

They somehow got a deal to work with Viacom and with the MTV Networks to give any band or artist a false sense of security, that their music would be considered to be played on their TV shows. I must assume that since MTV Networks, etc., is notorious for being “cheap” with regard to paying staff, and with regard to spending any money, is the ONLY reason that Topspin got that deal. I must assume they pay Topspin no money to allow the integration to create what is called an MTV Artists Page. I would like that feature if anything worked but the fact is that I had tried to get anything to work within that system, and nothing ever worked. I had to go through so much just to get them to delete anything from that system. They are so bad at their jobs that yes, there is NO way to delete anything from that system. Which is the A, B, C’s of programming anything in that world.

These assholes are so bad at their jobs that they had requested to do a phone conference call, to let them know what and why things are not working which I did at some time this year. I took time away from my real work to consult them gratis mind you, and they still did nothing to this day. Actually, they scrunched all of my artists into this menu that you could NOT even see the full list and you still cannot add whatever label.

Therefore, when one takes time out of their life to say, submit their songs for inclusion into that MTV Networks per se, who the hell knows if its actually working. Its a crap shoot whether anything takes in that system.

And, then what occurs is that name or band or artist that you claim on their site, blocks you from being able to use it. The system is somehow set up to not allow you to take your own copyrights.

I maintain that I have no clue why the Viacom’s of the world, would affiliate themselves or allow that affiliation of that company, with that brand. Unless again, it comes free. I would also so far to say that MTV aint no dummies in the sense that any server space needed, would be paid for by Topspin. And, housing any band that is willing to sign up at Topspin, is like renting a store at a mall. It’s a huge expense to take on every month. Therefore, a ton of money needs to be made to cover it and MTV must know or think that its ore cost effective to allow them to carry that expense and even further is that once you sign up for this service, and say you do get placed on Snookies show at MTV, its given over free. MTV gets that license for gratis. Its brilliant for TV but there are not too many companies in this world, that would allow it.

And, if Topspin does not get paying custys fast, they will not be here in a few years. The MTV deal is a good one for them but again, its going to take a lot to keep them alive considering that system today.

Oh and you need to see the support function at Topspin. Not that you would get any reply because again, I have NEVER received any reply by that company, until a major conference call where I tell them what they are doing wrong and then to get a response to it, by them doing nothing for me, but to waste so much of my energy and time.

But I do hope I was able to make things better for bands in the future but I doubt it, these guys are hacks that work at Topspin. They will need to be bought out by some other company. This model is awful. Like I said, the ONLY redeeming thing about topspin is that they can say they work with MTV.

They also use every other company (third party) as a way to get anyone’s product into stores. I would assume that you need to sell a lot of product or pay them excessive fee that need to be covered every month, to use their product. I don’t really know what’s up with this company. They absolutely need to get their shits together to become a viable player in this part of the industry. They need a better system in every regard (customer service, integration, EVERYTHING….). and Please know that it was not for lack of trying ten times over with these people. Nothing worked. Not even the integration with Viacom because even those tools could not match up the songs with ASCAP. Its just an odd system that again, basically takes your copyrights, to potentially work for free. That’s the goal at Viacom / MTV. They want as much music to place on those reality shows they play on their networks, for free. This is the brilliant way they (MTV) skate around any real license of any music related material. Remember that MTV REALLY needs to show your video, they will pay a license for it. Whatever they are doing here is a bit shady but then again, I am sure many bands like to see their name under credited on the Jersey Shore shows, etc. That’s the pay off here. If you use Topspin, and then get your song played for 4 seconds on their show is the absolute pay off for young bands and young artists. No established acts get worked this way. Which gives young and unsigned bands the ability to get placed this way. Again, that’s the great pay off here. You get a conduit to be heard for a few seconds on those shows.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
CATAPULT $25 91% Any 30 YES NO /NO NO $0 8

Overall Notes:
They use a Third Party to deliver any material to iTunes and to all retailers. They aggregate for ringtones with the ability to do Pre Orders and they do accept individual artists to distribute. The cost to distribute ringtones is $9 per track. The cost to work a single is also $9 with albums costing $25. Optional Services: UPC Registration Service. Barcode Creation Service. Soundscan Registration Service. iTunes Digital Booklet Service. Daily iTunes and AmazonMP3 Trend Sales Reports and Metrics. They partner with Mixonic for all CD and DVD Manufacturing of Physical Product. I have no experience with this company but I don’t like that any so called distributer is in need of a third party to help get their product into stores. However, the fact that spell it out on their site is a huge plus with regard to not being a company that hides that fact. Which is my main pet peeve with that part of the landscape of distribution today. They also use PayPal as they way to pay you for any sales.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
VIRTUAL LABEL $0 ? ? ? YES YES NO YES/ ? 8, 9 or 10

Overall Notes: 
Virtual Label is not a record company nor is it a management company (though we do manage a couple of artists!). It is a 360° full-service company that provides access to everything that is needed to grow a music business and successfully sell and market an artist and their recordings. We have rock solid national physical retail distribution, a direct channel into digital distribution via all the key on-line services and direct access to CD and DVD manufacturing services through our relationship with a top replicator. In addition we can help with outsourcing all other aspects of running and building a record label, including marketing, promotion, licensing and royalty administration, in order to help minimize your administrative overhead costs and maximize your creativity. In short, we can fill in whatever blanks are necessary leaving you to do what you do best. Virtual Label is the brainchild of Peter Wright. After spending over 25 years working in every aspect of the record business for such luminary independent labels as Mute, Rykodisc and Instinct, five years ago Peter decided to have more fun using his skills to promote his love of music and Virtual Label is the resulting lovechild.

They also boast about having “We currently have in place deals with:” just before listing some of the main outlets but they also mention One RPM. I am not sure if they use One RPM’s free services or if they pawn that work on to their system. They also boast that “We also partner in Europe with state51 in order to deliver our content to the following secondary services:” before that list.

Physical Distribution is done via E1 Entertainment which is the old Koch company. That a great deal for artist and also, I do know the names of two (Peter Wright, John Allen) of the people that run Virtual. One I think worked with me at MCA back in the early 90s and if it is him, I would have to get him to sign off on deal memo’s while he worked at MCA Distribution. I think it’s the same guy (John Allen) They were/arte quintessential music industry people and they are NOT from the computer world like many of the staffers at the aggregators today. They also have an amazing artist roster with not only artists that are popular music artists, I happen to like a lot of the bands in real life. They also have what is called Beam Camp which is way cool. Beam Camp is the “official” camp of Virtual Label. Founded by Brian Cohen and Danny Kahn in the beautiful wilds of southern New Hampshire, Beam Camp’s mission is to provide children with exciting experiences in creative problem solving through working with their hands and actively working with others. We also share a passion for summer camp fun and learning that is grounded in our own childhood and family experience.

Further, they also provide Licensing, Management, Marketing, Mechanical Licensing, Mastering and according to my label partner rep at iTunes, they do music videos at Virtual, though I cannot see that on their site. I have no clue what their terms. Even though they state that they are not a label, they sure look like one. I assume their is an A&R hierarchy to be able to work your music product through them. They do accept individual artists along with partnering with labels.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
INGROOVES
FONTANA		 $0 15% 0 90 YES YES NO /NO $0 2

Overall Notes:
This company is as corrupt as it gets in this industry. They seem to be the company that picks up other aggregators being their third party to get that music related material to retail outlets. And, in doing that for other company’s that are also corrupt in this industry. I found at least 20 to 40 titles of mine that had been illegally distributed through this company.  I contacted them about it last June and they ignored me until this year or after I placed them on legal notice for their part in that piracy, and they said they would deal with getting it all down from their system, but they have not to this day. And, they ignore me again which means the ONLY real way to deal with it is through a law suit but I am trying to get all dropped artists and I will do those DMCA filings when I have the time.

They somehow bought out Universal or Fontana or visa versa but now, the staffers are the ones that come from the computer world. They are based in San Francisco and as far as I know about that company, none of the principles at Fontana came t work at In Grooves. And, its an odd deal because I relate it the same way Napster douche got his money after giving out music free because honestly, I don’t think Uni felt like encoding or decoding their music catalog. I can only think that they pawned that work over to the In Grooves company. Because even though they distribute or aggregate the Uni catalog of recorded music, they do NOT own it and I don’t even think the deal is an exclusive one. Again, I think its more about convenience and maybe what is cost effective even though there is no way in hell that would have been cost effective for Uni to contract that work. I just don’t get that deal and again, they are not motivating to my product down from their system. And, its not like they pay us any of that money. I have never been paid one penny from In Grooves.

It has made Universal Distribution of Music look like amateurs in that part of our industry. And, In Grooves does take individual artists but again, its not like you would be distributed by Universal. It’s a bit convoluted how they work that deal but its almost backwards to me. Because the most redeeming about In Grooves would be the affiliation with Universal but its them doing that dirty work so to speak. You cannot reap off Universal marketing and whatnot by running your material via In Grooves. Yet every Universal artist is run via In Grooves. It’s a weird deal. And, it’s a bit misleading to the common folk. And, In Grooves make sure they use that FONTANA name in every last thing they do when again, its not how it seems. Ina nutshell though, INgrooves Fontana provides digital distribution to over 600 online and mobile destinations worldwide in more than 100 territories. We have solid partnerships with and deliver to retailers like iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and many more. Our end-to-end digital asset management platform automates many distribution and administrative functions. Our platform is a content hub that connects directly to all leading online and mobile stores worldwide. Utilizing the client console, you have total visibility on the status of your releases- how, when and where they have been distributed, the ability to opt in and out of retail deals and review and export monthly sales reports for all retailers. INgrooves Fontana is a true digital distribution company, not just an aggregator of services. Mobile distribution is key to expanding your consumer each in the digital marketplace. Ringtones, Ringbacks, Wallpapers, Full Track downloads and Video Ringers are being offered by carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. INgrooves Fontana understands the market potential and can discuss opportunities to create visibility for your catalog within the mobile space.

The ONLY reason they get a two (2) rating is because they can boast the word Fontana, misleading artists and bands into thinking they have something to do with Universal.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
BELIEVE
DIGITAL		 $0 0 0 90 YES//NO YES//NO YES//NO YES//NO $0 0

Overall Notes:
They distribute Music Videos and they do deliver recorded music to iTunes and to retail, via a third party.

More Coming This Week

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
ZEBRALUTION $0 ** 0 90 YES NO YES/ YES//NO ** 10

Overall Notes:
They distribute Music Videos and they do deliver recorded music to iTunes .

Zebralution Distributes music & music videos, audiobooks, audio drama and books.

**For our distribution service we agree with you a distribution fee on the basis of a percentage of sales. In addition, expenses for technical services can be incurred. I’ll assume they take anywhere between 10% and 20% again, depending on the deal and sales revenues expected by anyone worked this way. Zebralution offers its partners effective guidance to work out individual strategies for “Achieving the best store features for your digital releases in the retail market.” The International sales marketing team comes with long-term experience and is in constant dialogue with the retail contact people. In weekly calls and regular face-to-face meetings new releases and catalog reissues are Discussed and coordinated with the retail partners. Weekly newsletters Ensure early attention for upcoming releases and Reliably support our retail partners in Their scheduling feature. Frequent updates and additional mailings Provide A Further information flow, always keeping our retail partners informed about last minute events and important news.

I have no experience with this company and I don’t really see any negatives or hidden situations as a way to extract fees without doing any work for that money. For now, I am giving them a ten because I don’t see anything issues, however, if I do find out ever that they use a third party company to get anyone’s product into stores, I would deduct two points right away for it. If I get conformation from anyone about that not being the case, then I would not e that here upon that verification.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
ROUTE NOTE $0 15% 0 90 NO YES /NO /NO $0 7

 Overall Notes:
The rep from Route Note contacted me last week about  adding their company to this directory. That effort gets added points just to be that confidant to put themselves out there this way. I commend anyone that is real that way and as we all know then, is that aside from that inquiry, I have no experience with this company.

Artists pay an upfront ($10 – Singles, $20 – EP, $30 – Album and $45 – Ext Album, then $9.99 annually) fee. Artists keep 100% of the royalties. Onsite, artists can upload tracks to the RouteNote catalogue and enter into a non exclusive agreement permitting us to distribute their music to a worldwide audience in a matter of moments. They then select partnered retail outlets that they wish their music to be available through (e.g. iTunes, Amazon Mp3, eMusic, Spotify, Deezer, Thumbplay).

The ONLY real negative that I can see bands or artists would see are/is the stores they have deals, are limited to the ones listed in these notes. However, they are the main revenue sources for music artists, but again, I hear bands boast about how their aggregator or distributor can get them into a million stores even though most of those places are not even viable this day and age, but for work direct to these outlets, I would assume they do it well for artists and bands

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
AWAL $0 15% 30 90 NO NO NO YES $50 5

Overall Notes:
I did NOT have a good experience trying to get things going with this company. They are very hard to communicate with as far as time frames to make sure your product gets placed at retailers. We decided not to work with this company and doing so, it was not that bad of a situation when all was said done. However, the contract is vague, and, in defense of how they worked with our labels and artists, they were very easy and very applicable to when it came to our parties not executing the deal. There was none of our music placed up online and aside from time to go through the processes, this was not an awful situation. They never collected any of our money in any way. They also get your product into a ton of stores.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
CD BABY $49 9% 30 Perpetual YES YES NO YES $20 8

Overall Notes: 
First thing to note is that signing up to CD Baby’s digital service means you also have to sign up to their physical program, and send them at least 5 physical CD’s. On top of the signup fee, you’ll also need to pay them $20 to set up a UPC for you [we do this for free], then they’ll take 9% of the revenue that comes back from their online retail partners [slightly less than 10%]. Their signup fee is a flat, per release deal, and they now offer a fee to release “singles” for $9.95.

CD Baby is best suited for new artists and overall is a great system that seems to work like a machine. I use their Film Baby and Book baby which I am very happy with and I have had one album at CD baby. You do NOT have to worry about getting paid and you get paid like clock work every pay period. They are NOT a company that is going anywhere and therefore all young artists can be secure in that regard. They offer marketing tools like a store at Facebook, Download Cards (for a fee), web hosting plans and they do happen to offer anything an artist may need to set up and work their product. I also feel that business plan of combining the likes of Discmakers and CD Baby, is a great one for music artists today. 

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
REVERB
NATION		 *$119 15% 30 TBD NO YES
ON-DEMAND		 YES YES $20 1/2

*$119.95 & $94.95 Accordingly – $59.95 & $34.95 – (Plus $59.99 Take Down Fee)

Overall Notes:
They have two plans. One gets your product into 40 Plus stores and the lowered price gets you into 30 plus stores. They have since changed up their pages that did say that they had one time fees but what I want to do now, is take you on the life cycle of one account (Kevin Hart), which they refuse to take down to this day. They have also added terms along the way to help them gain more fees. It is absolutely impossible to get them to take down your product and in getting it taken down, they add fee after fee. For instance, we had “abandoned” the digital distribution after about a year and to take that down that album, we had to pay a $20 reinstatement fee, and then we had to buy the year of digital distribution which was another $60.00 just to pay another $30.00 to take it down. And, we had used what was a balance in that account just a day after we had transferred money to the payPal account. And, rather than taking the money from the balance in the account, that company put back the money that had been transferred to the Paypal bank. That in turn, created a situation where we had to transfer lesser money that month, and then wait to get paid the balance due a month later. As far as getting paid your own money every pay period, they post your money however, they hold that money for 60 days. It comes up as 30 days but its not because its always posted before that last period, and then to get your money, it takes anywhere between two (2) and five (5) days to get the money into your PayPal account (which then takes another two days to get the money into your actual bank account)

At least today, they have adjusted their FAQ and/or term sheet, to reflect those fees but they were not listed there when we signed up. And, further, they have also since adjusted the lie that the ONLY fee they take, is the initial one. Now, it does not say anything like that on their site. They have since stopped lying to gain business, but it also took putting them, and many retailers, on legal notice. We are still waiting for them to NOT collect any more money, however, they continue to do it to this day. But they went from not charging any fee to me complaining about that lie, because in fact, you cannot start that process at Reverbnation, without paying the take down fee.

I have therefore paid out a total amount of $150 to set up and take down one artist title.

Plus, if you consider the total accumulated amount of money of all of the closed artist accounts, that have NOT met their $20.00 threshold, Reverbnation gained over $200 of our artists money for free. 

And, when calling them out on the way conduct their business, they point to some made up term on a FAQ as their binding contract that again, evolves every day to suit their needs, and that came about after they realized that most bands that are credible in this industry, would not use a company like reverbnation, unless they were amateur and not established in any way. They make 100% of that money. Its a rather high tech and pretty way to scam many young artists out of their money. I would love to get an audit done of that company, to figure out the amount of money they gained that way. I will eventually find out how much money they have extracted from artists that way.

And also, even though you abandoned your title and project, they still collect that money and again, if that account is closed at Reverbnation, they not only collect that money, they keep 100% of your money. You must get the retail outlet to take that down by what I call the roots, and to “point” any accounting to new and proper distribution company. Reverbnation will NOT only NOT help, they are pro active in scamming clients this way.

Now, I don’ know why anyone would use this company, and pay those fess, when every other company on this planet, is half that cost and they work with artists and not against them.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
ORCHARD $0 30% NO 1-5 YR YES YES NO YESLICENSING NONE 8

Overall Notes: 
The ONLY real issues I had with this company was the communication between myself and their label partner. It seems like at that time I thought about working with the Orchard, they had a lot of kids running around that office. I like the business plan with their acquisition of the NIN catalog and by acquiring the entire TVT records catalog. I like that business plan of them owning the copyrights. It reminds of how a major label would work. They have also since combined partnerships with the IODA (IODA also recently bought the IRIS company) company, and they will all be worked via the Orchard today.

Overall Notes: Bought Out By The Orchard. Now A Part Of The Orchard System.
IODA $0 30% NO 1-5 YR YES YES NO YESLICENSING NONE 8

Overall Notes: 
Bought Out By The Orchard. Now A Part Of The Orchard System.
IRIS $0 30% NO 1-5 YR YES YES NO YESLICENSING NONE 8

Overall Notes:
Bought Out by IODA which is now A Part Of The Orchard System. Some elements are exclusive but not master recordings. High threshold and long terms require careful consideration. Very Hard to take down your material but again, that was when it was IRIS. They did not respond to any calls, emails or any letters for months. It took sending out a fake press release and spending money on legal to get them to start the take down process, and to pay everything to do the artists they collected money for in that span of time. It was obvious why they had to be bought out by the IODA company.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
TUNE
CORE		 $49.99 0% NO 6 Months NO YES
Amazon		 NO NO $0 9

Overall Notes:
They really have it together in every way. As much I want to find something off about the work done by the staffers at Tunecore, but they are very good to great at their jobs. Money / Accounting comes in like clockwork every couple weeks. Their customer service has grown to be perfect today. The ONLY real negative issue I had was at first and only with regard to them making our physical product. That had since been worked out, however, there was a time line broken at that time in 2007. Things in that regard work perfect today. Their royalty accounting is top notch and they show money received to the 15th of decimal point. They also seem to get things placed at retail, within days from the submission.

They boast(ed) to having an 8 point process to determine what retailers that work which I love the concept, but they do only deal with a precise set of retail outlets. They work only with iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, I Heart Radio, Spotify, REAL/Rhapsody, MySpace Music, MediaNet, Nokia, Zune/X Box Live, Verve Life, Google Play, SIMFY, MUVE, Rdio and they charge either a flat fee of $49.99 (plus $49.99 Annual renewal fees) or you can purchase being placed in stores a la carte, for $0.99 cents per store.

UPDATE MAY 5, 2013: These guys have lost their ways in this part of the music industry. For instance, I have made the request at least 10 to 15 times to NEVER allow any automated charges or payments of any fee’s and that has never been implemented to this day. This last month, it happened with a couple artists.

With that said now, an artist that should have been “taken down” last year, was not done and so that artist placed what is a DMCA report which is what I told all artists not with Sunset, to do with their product.I made sure they did it because it cost more to the accounting in some cases, than it is to just cut any losses. And, I mean no disrespect to any artist and any label situation,  I am however, speaking about it because of the situation I faced last week. In getting that DMCA report which again, the artist did at the perfect time I had told them wait, etc., but these guys never took it down but here is the licker about it and what they did to me. The pin heads took all monies made by that account and any monies made in the history of that artist having its product in stores, and deducted it from my account.

Now as we all know about DMCA filings or reporting any copyrights to be worked in certain direction, it is set up for “take down” issues and there is never any monetary term. Its not about gaining money.

Therefore, let me explain in simple terms because yes, I paid any fees over the years to make sure that artist had its product in every outlet on the planet. If it were up to the staff at this company, they would then in turn pay the artist 100% of any revenues brought in under those accounts, but it gets better because me, the label, then pays out 70% net profit on any digital sales, for every artist. From an artist POV, I get that anyone would love to be paid a total of what? 1,400 percent of every sale?

Regardless, it took many hours to explain that what they were doping is beyond corrupt and most of all, just stupid to do that to anyone in this industry. Its hard for me to describe it any other way but maybe reckless, but it was unbelievable trying to get these people to think about the broad picture. And, most of all, if an artist is dropped per se from any label situation, they do NOT, NOT….stop getting paid for that work. Besides, we pay an annual fee.

Remember that the main staff that started and ran Tunecore left the company last year.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
KVZ
MUSIC		 $0 15% 30 60-90 YES NO NO NO $50 2

Overall Notes: 
This is a an unusual situation because even though I have had my issues with regard to getting paid on time, and even though I have had issues with regard to communication between our two companies, I also feel they were a victim of being lumped into the companies that pirate music. If you use this company, be careful with all meta data because they have made a lot of mistakes with text copy and its not necessarily them as workers, its about that admin system. You have to write exactly how you need it without any mistakes and some of their listings of our product, was inconsistent with things like the Pline and the Copyright name. Most songs if not all though, we entered in perfect. I don’t know if that’s an issue that was our data entries fault, or whether the system in the admin section at KVZ is hard to deal with or figure out and/or if it was them that made those typos and/or added in the wrong information. Regardless, if you check your data entry work, you should be ok and also, the way that you get paid is a bit old in the sense that you must take your Excel Spreadsheet they post every pay period, add up the numbers in Euros. And, then you must send them invoices as opposed to getting the money automatically placed into your account, and even though they state it takes 3 to 5 business days, its always taken a longer amount of time to get the money. In the last pay period, it went weeks before we saw any of the money due and invoiced for that period. You will also have to pay some type of fee to get your money from this company (maybe not in Europe, but for American bands and companies). If you use PayPal to transfer that money from KVZ, you will no doubt have to  pay a percentage of that money, to PayPal. Also, if you do use a bank wire transfer, you are also subject to paying that fee from your bank. The other issue that should be spelled out more on their contracts, is what “third parties” they use because in most cases for bands and labels, you can go direct to those companies yourself and that way, get paid 85%, rather than 85% of 85% (of 100%).

As far as the customer service, when you get the attention by their staff, they have been very hard to deal with and they also are proactive with their effort to be antagonistic and most of all, they withheld payment based on those childish tactics. It was very rough dealing with the staff people at this company. At first, I thought it was the language barrier but then I realize that they put other things in front of paying their bills. The main rep and maybe the owner was not only very loose with his words and comments to our complaints and legal notices, he lied in writing, on a forum and on our blog, many times. Plus, his comments were ramblings that made no sense to anyone that knows English and that’s when we started to feel bad about the people that work at this company.

I assume they are just learning how to deal which is great for anyone in this industry, but they did let intangibles like self conscious issues come first and before paying their bill. As far as them taking down any product, we fought tooth and nail so to speak, to get out of the deal. I feel they should list any and all third parties used to work any copyrights. I also feel that farming out this work, takes money from artists and from labels in such an unnecessary way. Most entities in this industry would go to direct to say IODA or The Orchard, rather than again, giving up that money for no reason. Its not bad if you spell it out that way and it is shady if that information is hidden in any way.

Last, after that last pay period, they did send us our spreadsheets the day of the due date (exactly 45 days after the last quarter). We sent them our invoice the day afterward and we should be paid in a timely way. I had replied to them on a public forum saying that even though they were self conscious about me not telling people that eventually paid us after like three weeks of fighting for it, that we shall see how they act in that next pay period. Therefore, I do want to give credit where credit is due because like I just said in this paragraph, they were pro active in sending us those spreadsheets. We will see if they pay within the 3 to 5 business days they say they will and even though we have NOT been paid yet, its ONLY been 2 to 3 business days since we received that conformation.

Overall, I don’t know what to say about this company. I don’t want to hate them but they did treat us horribly a few months ago. Maybe time will heal that about it, but I do want to give them credit for trying. Honestly speaking in writing because I do NOT have to way these words, but I had them at a SIX (6) out of my TEN (10) before I wrote my description or about my experiences with them, and after I rehashed it today, I lowered it to a ONE (1) for effort. I get angry when discussing what I had to deal with those weeks I tried to get my very own money.

They did pay what they are calling a FINAL PAYMENT to us this pay period, in a timely way.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
SYMPHONIC #1 $0 30% 30 60-90 NO NO NO YES $300 9
SYMPHONIC #2 $0 20% 30 60-90 NO NO NO YES $500 9
SYMPHONIC #3 $200 10% 30 60-90 NO NO NO YES $500 9
SYMPHONIC #4 $200
+$50		 100% 30 60-90 NO NO NO YES $500 9
SYMPHONIC #4 $500 100% 30 60-90 NO NO NO YES $500 9

Overall Notes:
I recently started to use Symphonic. I believe they either started as one of those places that gets dance and electronic music into the Beatports and DJ places accordingly, however, they have grown to deal with all outlets.

And even though I feel like I am walking away from a house built out of a deck cards (meaning waiting for something to go wrong), this may be one of the best systems in place today. They have plans for every walk of life which makes me skeptical but then at the same time, they have been good to deal with first hand. They also have an array of partners and therefore, if you work electronic music along with rock and say Urban or rap, they will apply your titles to each outlet accordingly. Which is hard t be that detailed and then they have many plans in place.

You can pay money upfront and receive 100% of the royalty money and//or a portion depending on your plan and then they offer percentage based plans.

I, honestly, put them through what I consider to be a grueling process and that’s why I am impress with their customer service. What I put them through is not appealing to most retailers and that’s why I was impressed with their customer service and again, that they did adhere exactly to what I needed today.

They offer a lot of ancillary services (Mastering, recording, Marking / Promotion, Piracy Protection, Licensing Efforts, Music Publishing Services, Web Design & Graphic design, etc.).

They seem to have a great business plan.

We will see how this deal pans out over the next few years.

Dist. Co        Upfront $     Sales %      Opt Out     Take Down    Exclusivity   Physical Product   On Demand   Mkg?   Threshold    Overall 10 Point Rating
ONERPM $0.99 Outlet 15% 30 60-90 NO NO NO YES NO 8

Overall Notes:
My ONLY pet peeve with One RPM, is that with any pay to play service, it should guarantee placement and I paid to have every artist placed at JB Hi Fi and I have not seen one title of mine, placed at that store. Therefore, I can’t trust them to have done it for stores we do NOT have access which again, were paid for ahead of time. I use their Mobile Services and Latin America services and because of it, I am shifting everything to another company to do this same work, but I put us on a percentage basis. That way there is NO up front money.

However, their interface is second to none. their system is pretty high tech. I love the way you can pick and choose your retailers. Its very easy to use and again, top notch programming.

I have to move these guys up a few notches because after I posted this listing, I was contacted by the reps at OneRPM saying that they had read this review if you will, and they wanted to fix it so kudos to them for being pro active about it. And, I gather they were surprised too, that we had not been placed at JB HiFi. regardless, that customer service goes a long way in this part of this industry and therefore any mishap would seemingly be fixed with great effort by OneRPM.

These guys have a great interface too. They really spell things out perfect.
DEFINITIONS OVERALL CONTENT:
Everything written here is based on actual experience between myself and any of the companies listed in this part of the blog. There is no hearsay and again, everything listed here on these pages, is based on pure experience, however, some of the terms are subject to have changed (please see below to contact us about any changes needed to be made) considering the landscape of this part of the  music industry today. There is paperwork that is legally binding providing any business science behind any content in this listing. Also, aside from Tunecore and where noted above in each listing, all of these companies have a list of the same retail outlets. They alls seem to boast about getting songs and music into the same list of stores. I assume its some network because in some cases, these outlets are not even operable toady. Further, I have no direct tie to any of these companies and even though we do us some of them to this day, I honestly think its the lesser of all evils and that they all pretty much suck in some way. There is no way any of these companies have done the work to score a so called “10″ (ten) or a perfect score by my standards of working music, and I am talking that none of these companies get close to the perfection level. I also want to say that I have learned more about the landscape of the distribution over the last 4 years, than ever in my life. In some cases which I have stated about myself, I was maybe less [patient than I should have been at that time. I wanted instant gratification day one, and I had no idea of the process and time it took to work music digitally into stores. Overall, the ONLY reason I am posting this in my blog is to help anyone to never go through what I have gone through over the last few years. I feel great about this part of my life today, but it took a lot to get to this point time and I am NOT even 100% satisfied. Plus, there are corrupt companies that are scum bags that continue to take advantage of the control they have over the accounting and in some cases, they continue to take it upon themselves to collect that money. And, we have no way to stop that piracy. Oh and very last is that of the retailers that complied with doing the right thing with regard to taking down any illegal product, Amazon is awful, but at the same time, do like 13% of the marketplace. Its hard to get legal on that company when its much of your revenues. And, conversely, eMusic, REAL/Rhapsody and MySpace Music were absolutely on it when it came to dealing with that type of an issue. I am going to do another sweep around retailers and the next thing will be to make sure these retailers pay artists. As far as digital distributors, the worst company to deal with by far is REVERBNATION. They are against the artist. They make no bones about it and their marketing tools to entice the client, are based on lies. They are by far the worst company with regard to control, online today. They disguise themselves as a powerful player in this industry, but the fact is that they NOT only scam you business, they will NOT allow to get out of it. I marvel at how corrupt that company is towards artists and I do think if you do NOT get roped into paying to play if you will, Reverbnation is an ok marketing tool. Though its dated today and that company is best suited for bands that suck, and that can’t get any type of distribution in any way. And, any music artist that would use their digital distribution service, is again, either very poor musically and/or can’t get any of the others to distribute them. You have to be an idiot to use this company unless you don’t mind spending however much money to get and to get out of that situation. When in fact, no other company on this planet, acts that way towards its artists. I can safely say that Reverbnation will NOT be a company in this industry within the next few years. I have that in writing today and I have said that to people in writing now, three times this year. No one that acts that way towards music artists, is doing well in the board scheme of life.
Distribution Company (Includes Aggregators):
Platforms are places people go to watch or buy films; aggregators are conduits between filmmakers/distributors and platforms; distributors usually take more rights for longer terms. And some companies combine more than one of these functions. They are the main conduits between labels, artists and retailers and various outlets that play or sell music.
Upfront Cost
Any fee related to setting up your product in any way. Companies in this part of the music industry, do it either way. There are companies that charge up front fees and then in turn do NOT take any percentages of any sales. There are companies that cost you a set up fee and then they also take a percentage of every sale. And, then there are companies that have ZERO or no set up fee, and then you pay them ONLY a percentage of every sale. determining what is cost effective and most efficient and/or best suited for your project, is an article in itself, but I am in hope that this helps people figure it out a little better now that its laid out in one list.
Payment Threshold:
The amount of money you must accumulate in your account, to be able to transfer a payout. If you do not earn that amount each pay period, that distributor holds that money until any sales revenues hits that “threshold” amount of money. All companies work different and have different amounts and some do NOT have any thresholds and would pay you no matter how low amount of money.
Sales Fee (%):
The percentage of any sales revenue, that the distributor makes on any sale, and then keeps for its fee.
Opt Out Time Frame:
Many companies offer termination after a specific term is set. It can be done monthly, yearly, two (2) year deals, three (3) year deals and in one case, a five (5) year deal. Upon termination, it takes up to six months on a good day, to actually get retail to do one of two things, take your product down from the system so it does NOT show and/or retailers merely “point the accounting” to your new distributor. That way they do not have to do the work to take music down, and then place the same thing right back up with the same exact situation.
The problem with the latter is that it can create an effect where you have multiple listings up at retailers. The other problem with this way of dealing is that it derived from the computer industry and not the music business. That way of dealing is how the early online companies, dealt with changing music from distributor to distributor. For instance, if you have listing as Sunset records for three years and then you start using Interscope or maybe you change your label name or maybe you switched Indy’s, etc., if it does NOT read exact, and / or internally for them, if the text copy does “match” exact, you could feasibly have another listing posted, with that new information.
Time Frame Take Down:
Also, regarding the opt out period and its misconception that it can happen instantly, is just not scientifically true by any means and never have I seen any take down process be easy, and done in a timely way. I have NEVER seen it where every last title gets taken down from every ;last retailer. Amazon is awful at talking product down from its servers. And, even a “30 day opt out period” may seem like it gets done in that span of time, I have never seen it happen in my life so plan accordingly and keep on it. Plus, you may want to contact retailers direct to make sure there are no multiple listings.
In many cases like I emphasized about here, “opting out” of old deals can very much lead to multiple listings of the same exact title.
Exclusivity:
Some companies want to work your titles and copyrights, exclusively during its Term. Some do not, however, I urge anyone to work it where its as exclusive as possible and what I mean is that if you use say Tunecore, which is a company that has a certain number of retail outlets they service. I could see using another company to get you in every other outlet, but again, I recommend that you do NOT overlap and/or have multiple listings from different companies. It creates havoc with regard to accounting and there is never a doubt that you would be losing out money in some way. In some cases, I have seen artists pay a fee, and yet have to collect some of that money from the other company that takes a percentage. It adds insult to injury so to speak which is why its important to plan this out well before you close any deals.
Another piece of advice is that everyone should think in terms of quality over quantity. Companies van boast about being in 500 stores, but if they don’t pay or if they go under or bankrupt, they keep 100% of your money.
Its best to know what company is placing what into stores, in every way.
Physical Product:
This tells you whether you can work physical product like CDs and DVDs through them and into stores. Some are purely digital only and some use third parties and some have it under its own roof.
On-Demand Production:
This to me, is a form of digital distribution but I pay my artists a flat fee for any On-Demand sale. Reverbnation has an in house On-demand system for not only CDs, but also for a small amount of merchandise (T Shirts). And, most other companies will use Amazon On Demand which used to be Create Space. They do things in an automated way. You add artwork, music files, text copy, etc., all through your companies, and then rather than having to stock up product to house in your office, studio or closets, as consumers buy your CD, its make in automated way at that time after the sale. They have film on demand system at Amazon/Create Space
Marketing Efforts:
This shows if the company offers any types of marketing tools in any way. In many cases, some of these companies offer ancillary services like marketing, licensing, publishing, etc., on top of any digital distribution. Some are included gratis and in some cases like at TuneCore, you can pay for say, its Songwriters Service. Reverbnation has excellent free marketing tools and the Orchard seems to have a good hand in licensing.
Overall 10 Point Rating:
The ratings are based on experiences and I have done everything in a real and non partisan way. I tried to pat some heart and should behind it but as far as business science, I do have a 15 point rating system that gets us to these numbers or ratings. Those numbers get added up and then divided by TWO (2) as the way to gain the zero (0) through ten (10) rating number. The only intangible are with my comments and that guides me to the final number. I either add up and/or add down accordingly and considering my experiences.
If you work at another Distribution Company that is not listed on this chart, and you would like it to be listed, contact us at any time.
If you are you a Distribution Company that feels the information placed here has been written in error, is wrong in any way, and/or is outdated in any way, please feel free to contact us at any time to tell us about it.

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