Media Publishing and Distribution

I am currently enrolled in an Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution course. One item of interest has been reinforced with me this week; the need for a strong distribution channel when self-publishing ones material. I personally love the website CD Baby for the musical artist. It is a complete service for any musician needing and wanting to self publish their music. The site offers a large variety of services; the name does not give it justice. According to CD Baby an artist can, “Distribute your music to every popular download and streaming site. Sell your CD's and vinyl in stores around the world. Make money from your songs on YouTube. Share and sell music on your website and Facebook page. Collect global royalties with CD Baby Pro. No distributor offers more stores, more opportunities to make money from your music, and more heart than CD Baby” (CD Baby, 2015). The services I have found most useful are the physical duplication of music.Once signed up an artist can distribute their physical copies of their music in stores around the world. The site even has a graphic design department that can help with the art for CD cases of any type, as well as vinyl design. What many people do not realize is vinyl has made a huge come back. According to Newsweek “ In the first half of 2014, sales of vinyl records were 4 million, compared with 2.9 million for the first half of 2013, an increase of almost 40 percent"(Bernasekm, A., November 6, 2014). It is smart with music distribution to stay up-to-date on current trends. Even though digital downloads still out rank all album sales and were up to 70 billion songs downloaded in 2014, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the trendiness of vinyl records is on the rise. “When you buy virtual music you’ve got nothing to hold on to. So for the first time with records, kids are holding something physical in their hand and collecting something they can show off and be proud of” (Wright, C. Owner of Innersleeve Records). This is why services with wide distribution such as CD Baby are important to artists. These services stay current with trends so when artists reach out to self distribute, the ideas are already there.