Music Distribution on the Web: Create Buzz, Sell CDs!
Introduction to Online Music Distribution
MusicCity.com Review
Review
by David Nevue, The
Music Biz Academy
Author
of How
to Promote Your Music on the
Internet.
MusicCity.com
is a portal site created by
StreamCast
Networks designed to
"level the playing field
for musicians to help them distribute
their content to the world."
This is accomplished through
their peer-to-peer file-sharing
application called Morpheus.
Morpheus works much like the
Kazaa
file sharing network, though
it isn't quite as popular. According
to the latest figures provided
by StreamCast (May 2003), Morpheus serves
1,000,000 simultaneous users
at any given time.
Much
like Cornerband
allows you to distribute your
music through Kazaa, MusicCity.com
offers independent artists the
opportunity to distribute through
Morpheus. Once you sign up and
submit your music, your pictures,
bio, and links will be included,
along with your music, in a
secure file-wrapper called 'CintoA.'
This file-wrapper is a security
measure that allows you to control
how many times a listener can
preview and/or download your
music from the network before
they are prompted to purchase
it. Once the wrapper is complete,
your song (or album) will be
placed on the MusicCity servers
and from there propagated into
the Morpheus P2P network where
millions of users can download,
listen to, and have the opportunity
to buy your music. Participating
artists are also featured at
the MusicCity.com home page.
Current participants include
Five-time Grammy nominee Thomas
Dolby.
Unlike
Cornerband, you're not just
selling your physical album.
You can also sell your music
files as permanent digital music
downloads, giving paying customers the
option of burning your album
straight from the network. MusicCity
recommends you sell your digital
'singles' for .99¢, and 'albums'
(up to twelve songs) for $8.
You keep 70% of the gross from
sales, and checks are sent out
monthly. MusicCity.com also
has a partnership with CD
Baby, so you have the option
of sending people directly to
CD Baby to purchase your retail
CDs. You can also, if you'd
rather, link to your official
web site.
Compared
to Cornerband, MusicCity.com's
feature set is a bit slim. You
cannot, for example, tie your
music to selected keywords to
target customers searching the
network. MusicCity is also much
more expensive to participate
in. The cost for artists to
include their music on the Morpheus
network is $125 per song, or
$495 for an entire album of
songs (up to 12 songs).
When
all is said and done, however,
the distribution potential of
Morpheus may be too large to
ignore. The MusicCity.com opportunity
is tantalizing, though if your
budget is limited, I recommend
waiting until the technology
matures before investing heavily
in it.
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