Releasing Your Music
The release machinery, demystified: which distributor fits your catalog, how playlist pitching actually works, and what pre-saves do under the hood. Read these before your next release date is locked, not after.
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Mechanical vs Performance Royalties: The Two Kinds of Money a Song Can Earn
Mechanical royalties pay for reproducing a song, performance royalties pay for playing it publicly. Both are separate from streaming money and often go unclaimed.
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The DIY Musician's Glossary: Distribution, Royalties, and Recording Terms Explained
A plain-English glossary of the distribution, royalty, promotion, and recording terms independent musicians actually run into, no jargon left unexplained.
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Album Artwork Specs and Mistakes: What Actually Gets Rejected (and What Just Looks Bad)
The real technical specs distributors enforce for cover art, the mistakes that get a release bounced or delayed, and the design mistakes that just quietly hurt streams.
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How to Crowdfund an Album: Kickstarter, Bandcamp, and What Actually Works
The honest mechanics of funding a record before you make it: which platform fits which situation, why campaigns really succeed or fail, and the math behind a realistic goal.
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How Song Splits Actually Work: Publishing, Masters, and Who Owns What
A plain-English breakdown of songwriting splits versus master ownership, why they're two completely different pies, and how to get agreement in writing before the session ends.
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Singles, EPs, or Albums: How to Actually Choose Your Release Format in 2026
The case for releasing fewer, smaller things more often, why the album isn't dead but it's not the default anymore, and how to pick a format that matches what you actually have to say.
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The Real Math of Streaming Royalties: How Many Streams Buy a Pizza?
What a stream actually pays in 2026, how the money flows from subscriber to artist, why the per-stream rate is a myth, and what the math means for a small band's strategy.
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CD Baby vs DistroKid: Pay Per Release or Pay Per Year?
The two default distributors for independent musicians compared honestly: pricing models, who keeps what, and which fits your actual release pace and catalog plans.
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Pre-Saves, Explained: What They Actually Do for Your Release (and What They Don't)
How Spotify pre-saves really work under the hood, why they matter for the algorithm, which pre-save tools to use, and the honest limits of the whole tactic.
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How to Pitch Spotify Editorial Playlists (The Only Way That Actually Exists)
The step-by-step walkthrough of Spotify's official pitch process: timing, the form fields that matter, the Release Radar guarantee, and what to skip.
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DistroKid vs TuneCore in 2026: Which Distributor Actually Fits You?
The two biggest DIY music distributors compared on real costs, what happens when you stop paying, and which artist each one actually suits.