One of the last things bands and artists consider are who is going to distribute their music. There are many alternatives out there, all seemingly doing the same thing but ask anyone who uses them which one is best and you’re in for a headache. One person’s positive experience is almost certainly someone else’s nightmare. Check online and you’re bombarded with reviews, none of which seem to match. Thanks everyone!

Distrokid has made something of a game-changer move this week. Claiming (presumably correctly) that they distribute a third of all digital music, amounting to 2 million artists, the have launched Upstream, a service which allows labels both indie and major to access their data to sign up new acts, with Distrokid getting a finder’s fee.

The immediate concern is that once again this is going to take both money and artist control away from the musician but apparently this is not the case. It does all sound a bit too good to be true – are labels EVER struggling to find new artists? Surely it’s more a case of the other way around? Again, perhaps not as Republic Records, home of Ariana Grande, Drake and Post Malone, have already signed up. This could of course be a marketing ploy by both parties but let’s give them (a bit of a ) chance. If this works, it’s a massive, welcome change to how labels and artists work. We remain a little skeptical.

As reported by Music Business Worldwide