How to Sell Your Music

Selling Your Own Music

1. How to Sell Your Music Picture 1
   Record a few songs. Once you have perfected a couple songs, it's time to lay down the tracks. After all, you can't sell your music if you don't have anything recorded, but thanks to advancing technologies, most small towns these days have their own recording studios where musicians can go to record a few tracks or entire albums at relatively low prices.

   1. Check online to see if there are any local recording studios in your town, as the added quality of a semi-professional recording could make all the difference when you're trying to get people to pay for your music.
   2. Simply search for 'recording studios' and the name of the city where you live, and all the nearest studios will be listed.
2. How to Sell Your Music Picture 2
   Have your music available in multiple formats. These days, music is sold through different avenues, and each of these requires a different format. For instance, you can sell physical copies of your music on CDs or vinyl at concerts, but you'll need digital versions if you want to sell your music online and through electronic stores.

   1. When you go in to record your tracks, get them pressed onto CDs and onto vinyl if possible, and keep digital versions of everything as well.
3. How to Sell Your Music Picture 3
   Sell your music through digital apps and music stores. There are a multitude of digital music stores out there, and many of them have their own music apps that are used by different mobile devices—such as iTunes for Apple, Google Play for Android devices, Band Camp, and Amazon Music. As an artist, you can sell your music directly through these media.^[1]

   1. Some of these digital stores make it difficult for individuals to sell their music, and prefer that musicians use third-party networks.
   2. To sell music through iTunes, for instance, you need an Apple ID, a Universal Product Code, an International Standard Recording Code, and a U.S. tax ID.^[2]
4. How to Sell Your Music Picture 4
   Join a digital distribution network. These types of networks specialize in partnering with digital music stores and streaming services, and when you sell your music to these affiliates, you're paying for them to get your music sold through the most popular digital avenues. Moreover, these sites will be able to deal with all the red tape involved in selling your music digitally, and will format your music to the various specifications of different stores.^[3] Some of the more popular digital distribution networks include:

   1. RouteNote
   2. Songcast
   3. TuneCore
   4. Awal
5. How to Sell Your Music Picture 5
   Sell beats and instrumental music online. Just as digital music stores are places where you can sell your own music to people around the world, so too are there digital stores dedicated to selling beats, samples, and instrumental music. Like the digital stores and distribution networks, some of these sites work on a subscription basis while others are pay-per-tune. The most popular music production sales sites include:

   1. Soundgine
   2. My Flash Store
   3. Beat Stars
   4. Firstdub
6. How to Sell Your Music Picture 6
   Sell physical copies of your music online. You can sell copies of your records to people the same way people buy clothes online. When somebody purchases your album, they also pay shipping and taxes, and then you mail a physical copy of your record to their address. You can do this through your own website if you have one, your Facebook page, or through sites like CDBaby.

   1. CDBaby makes their money by taking a cut of every sale, but they can also convert digital copies of your music into CD formats.
7. How to Sell Your Music Picture 7
   Sell your music in person. There are many venues where independent artists can sell their own music, and this includes local shows and concerts, coffee shops, art galleries, and markets. Some places, like coffee shops, may ask for a small fee in return for managing your display, while farmer's markets might require you to pay for a booth.

   1. If you're looking for other venues through which to sell your music, ask around in the local arts and music scene to find businesses that are open to helping out local artists, and approach those businesses and ask if you can set up a display to sell records.