Hip Hop Distribution is here to discuss issues relevant for indie musicians. Music distribution has become very easy to attain and earning a living as a musician is possible. The main obstacle for musicians is keeping consistent marketing plans during times of being understaffed or unorganized. Speaking from personal experience, nothing in this music industry comes easy.

As an independent musician and label partner in Fried Roots, distribution was the initial obstacle. Fried Roots has used services for distribution such as Songcast and Tunecore to get our music with different major online retailers, and they work just great. Since iTunes currently is the #1 digital music US retailer, we felt that our music needs to be seen by that large of a domestic and international base.

Once your music is submitted with a distribution service or you set your own store up with options like easybe 1-2-3, you still need to direct traffic to your album. Use social networks like Ourstage, Myspace, or FutureProducers to promote your music in various arenas. From personal experience, I have learned alot from speaking with fellow forum members on sites. Use your FREE resources.

The great part of this is hip hop distribution can be packaged for multiple stores, such as iTunes, Rhapsody, and Napster. The main view point with this is you don’t know what music store all of your fans prefer when it comes to listening to and purchasing your music.

Cover your ground and expand your music to other stores to reach as many people as possible. Sell your music worldwide and give yourself a chance to make it.

As an independent musician, you must take advantage of the free promotion arena. Ourstage is a great website that should be added to your music marketing plans.

The sign up process for Ourstage is free and all you have to do is upload your original music. The concept here is unique. Once you submit your music, you categorize it according to your genre. Your song is now placed against another artist and independent fans vote on which song is better. The more fan votes you receive, the quicker you climb up the charts. To keep the integrity of the ranking and judging system, fans must listen to at least 15 seconds of each track to proceed to voting on the next songs.

Ourstage provides great incentives. There are monthly prizes including cash, gigs and career opportunities for the upcoming artist. Once your tracks are uploaded, you can also sell them through your profile, great add on. Add new fans and let your music be heard. The more distribution outlets, the more chances for album sales.