A Guide To Getting Into The Music Business For Rappers

So, you've got songs on your rap beats and instrumentals and they're sounding hot! Now you need a place to sell them. The next thing you need is some distribution. This is very, very critical to your success in the music business. People need a way to hear about, access and purchase your music once it's done. There are two different parts to making that happen: distribution and marketing. Distribution is the main focus of this particular article. There has to be a way people everywhere can get their hands on your music. Having your music in different stores around the world is a large part of this. Getting your music distributed is very important to your career, yet many rappers and singers don't know how to get this done.

You need to get some sort of distribution before you can properly start to promote and market your music. Having your CD in retail and online music stores everywhere should be one your major objectives. Having the trunk of your car as your only store will only get you so far, after all. You need to have a place where people can find and purchase your music. You can't just ask iTunes or BestBuy to carry your CD as an independent music artist. You'll be lucky to even have your call taken, or email responded to. You need the services of a distribution company or aggregator. These companies already have relationships with the stores in question and will take your music and place them in these shops.

If you are not manufacturing a lot of physical CDs and just want digital distribution (MP3 Downloads in iTunes, Napster and the like) a good option for you would be a company called TuneCore. They offer digital distribution to all the major online music stores like ITunes, Rhapsody, Mp3.com and a huge list of others. It will cost you bout $50 for a full album but for a single it's only $10. If you want both digital AND physical (CD) distribution to actual retail stores like HMV or CDPlus you want to go with a company called CDBaby. This means that people can special order your CD to their favorite music store (HMV, Best Buy, etc.) anywhere in North America. Their prices are very similar (possibly cheaper for albums) to TuneCore. The above mentioned companies may have also partnered with the website ReverbNation, so that ReverbNation could offer digital distribution as well.

Massive companies exists (incuding record labels) who can get your music everywhere, even little mom and pop music stores in your city. Usually, these bigger companies want to know that your music will sell before taking you on as a client or partner. You have to already have sold lots of albums (about 2000) before approaching these bigger companies. Instead, do some research in your city about the local stores that sell music and contact them. A consignment deal is usually something these shops will be willing to do, so just ask.

Whenever you're working with a distribution company or aggregator it's important to follw-up and keep on top of things. Whether they tell you it will take a couple of days or a couple of weeks, it can sometimes take a lot longer. They usually don't contact you to let you know the status of your submission either. Don't ever forget about your submission until you are certain of what the outcome is. When your CD or single is ready to be placed into stores and the aggregator has it, you can get ready to start your heavy promotional and marketing grind! Lastly, your own website is also an amazing place to sell your own music. A massive source of income is from selling on your own site because any distributor you work with will take a cut of the sales. You get to keep all the profit when selling on your own site!