Over the past year, we have tried several sites and found two free to use. We are not affiliated with and do not receive any bonuses from these companies. We also didn’t notice any terrible problems with cooperation. Use them at your own risk.
Awal Music
The first site we tried is called “Awal Music”. We were advised by a colleague who is the author of his own songs and who speaks flatteringly about this resource.
How it works:
- You apply to join the list of artists (the developers do not accept all artists). If your music is already on Spotify and Apple Music playlists and there are 1-2 clips present, they should accept you as part of their artist team.
- Your music should sound decent. Here we can offer professional mixing and mastering of music.
- According to Awal Music’s rules, they will distribute your tracks for free on Spotify, Apple Music, GooglePlay playlists and almost all other streaming platforms, while you keep 100% of your copyright. The only downside is that they will take 15% of your income. If you make $100, they take a $15 commission, which isn’t too bad considering CD Baby charges $9.95 per song.
In our opinion, “AWAL” is quite a professional site. It has an elegant website and user friendly interface. 15% isn’t that much at first, but if your track takes off and makes a million dollars, then $150,000 in commission seems crazy.
Amuse
This is another resource for promotion. It offers a free mobile offer. It sends all the data to Spotify and AppleMusic, as well as to other sites where your potential listeners are present. All this is absolutely free. Unlike “AWAL”, which takes 15%, “Amuse” takes 0% (which is certainly very nice).
— See also: The Best Websites for Selling Instruments, Beats and Cons! —
Amuse is based in Stockholm and browsing their website you will get the feeling that English is not their native language but they have an attractive design and friendly support.
The only issue we had was that when uploading their music, the site was creating a new artist account on Spotify and Apple Music and the song was not linked to the artist’s old profile. This was annoying as our clients weren’t notified when a new track was added. It’s good that we were able to contact the site’s support, and after about a week and a half, the problem was resolved.
Another interesting thing is that you can view through the application how many sales have been made and you can withdraw the accumulated funds when you earn at least $10.
Need to get rid of intermediaries?
I wonder when Spotify and Apple Music are going to eliminate workarounds and get rid of middlemen? Is it still impossible in 2019 to implement a direct route for music placement from artist to platform?
— See also: Steven Slate Drums released a free version of SSD 5.5 —
These issues remain unresolved, as to date, no company is meeting to make it easier to place materials directly into online music stores.
