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Routenote.com: Online Music Distribution Service

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The Internet has changed a large number of industries and market segments, and music distribution is no exception. Album sales are dropping year after year, and online music sharing or market places like iTunes are prospering.

For a normal band or independent artist, however, it could become cumbersome to discover all the right places and strategies to promote and sell music online. In order to solve this problem, there are some companies appearing to bridge the gap between not so tech-savvy music artists and the myriad of online opportunities available for them.

RouteNote is one of them. The promise is to promote and sell the music of independent artists through online partnerships. What they want in return? 10% of the sales revenues. Here is a quote from the about page:

Onsite, artists can upload tracks to the RouteNote catalogue and enter into a non exclusive agreement permitting us to distribute their music to a worldwide audience in a matter of moments. They then select partnered retail outlets that they wish their music to be available through (e.g. Napster, Snocap, Samsung Mobile) and within moments their songs are earning money as part of a world wide, web wide, distribution network. Our rates for providing a distribution service are currently the best in the market, and our ever expanding catalogue gives us increasing muscle with which to negotiate deals from which everyone, artists, clients and distribution partners included will all benefit.

Should the idea work, it would be pretty compelling to music artists that wants to get started online.

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Comments

  1. Hey, I think there’s small typo:
    “The Internet has changed a large name of industries”
    Did you mean “number” instead of “name”?

    Just noticed it…

  4. I’ve signed up with RouteNote and have been uploading my tracks.

    Only takes two minutes or less for each song. I’m using Roadrunner, so maybe that’s the reason my 320 Kbps MP3 audio filles are uploading so fast.

    They encouraged me to apply for ISRCs for my tracks and I had the info in one week from the RIAA.

    I’ve did make one big goof. I uploaded a track that already had an assigned ISRC as a result of it being distributed through CD Baby.

    I’m sure RouteNote will remove the track for me. As of this posting, there is no option for an artist or band to delete a audio track once it has been uploaded.

  5. @Jimmie Thanks for signing up to our service. With regards to the CDBaby track it will eventually get removed from our service.

    With regards to an option for artists to delete an audio track, it is currently not an option in the site, because it may already have been uploaded to our partners sites. If you can please send an email via the site of which track you want to remove, we will remove it for you.

  6. Routenote seems like a good service. But I’d check out WaTunes.com. They are much more cheaper than Routenote. You earn 100% of your royalties, sell unlimited songs and albums, and they actually work with you personally to help you market and promote your music. All of that for just a measley $10 a month. Very cool people to work with 🙂

  7. Hi everyone,

    Sam is right. As I am informed, RoutNote doesn’t deal with promoting music at all. They only distribute it to their retail partners. WATunes is something I’d rather check out now, exactly because of their way of communication.

  8. @Sam and vidyps. Yes your right, even though it’s an expansion for the future, currently routenote does not get involved with any kind of promotion. However, we are targeting bands and artists who do not want to take the risk or cannot afford monthly payments. The whole point of routenote is to be a free service. It all depends on what you want from a distributor and whether you are willing to pay for it. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that WaTunes are cheaper than Routenote, 10% is a minimal cut.
    Routenote.com have also recently started writing album reviews and published a self promotion guide to help new artists get started.
    Thanks for taking the time to camment anyhow.

  9. I have had nothing but problems using Routenote and its been a complete nightmare trying to get it soted out. I was promised my music would go online in under a month, and it has so far taken 9 weeks and it is still listed wrong on a majority of the sites. Customer support is diabolical and from what i can gather this is because there are only two people working from a home somewhere. I was promised the world before signing up and have received pretty much nothing. It really does make angry that companies like this promise unsigned artists the world, and when it comes to it, are happy to take the money and run. I would steer as far clear of Routenote as possible.

  10. @radiogaga. Sorry you have faced so many problems whilst using our service. We are not 2 guys from home, but a small office with a site still in beta and in heavy development. We try to be a efficient and punctual as possible whilst we work on perfecting the service. Your case is definately an anomaly. Most users are happy at the quality of service, even in it’s early stages.

  11. @James Bennett. I have worked with a couple of music distributors and I understand the troubles every distributor is going through. Namely, most of them do work from home, pretending to be “serious companies”. Some of them aren’t even able to afford static IP addresses, which are required by eMusic, MediaNet etc. And definitely, none of them (as far as I know) do not have any suitable software for dealing with music distribution. “iTunes Producer” is certainly not something you should be too proud to use, I think.
    You cannot do everything just using Word and Excel, it’s not professional. There are some special applications for music promotion and distribution to major digital services, but many of distributors find them too expensive?! Nobody can make business without putting in any single penny, right?

  12. Maybe you could explain why your office is a home address then?
    And the only registered member of Routenote is Steven Finch who is nothing more than a blogger.

    Steven was recently publically in trouble for not paying people for his other business a blogging site and i know this because one of my friends is still awaiting payment.
    “Beta?”
    This means you dont have enough money to finsih the site, which has been the same for over a year now.

    With all those monthly payments coming through your books of other peoples itunes money, i wouldnt be surprised if you disappear at some point and give them the same lousy excuses you gave my friend.
    Do not trust this fraudster

  13. @Ray You might want to check your facts. Im quite insulted at your comments that Im nothing more than a blogger. I personally run a few blogs that seem to be doing a lot more traffic than this site.

    RouteNote is a privately funded company which is completely seperate from my personal sites.

    RouteNote is located in Redruth and our address is on our website. This is our business address in which we have 5 fulltime members in the office. You should come visit and say hello!

    Our company has over 3,000 artists worldwide who we help and pay on a monthly basis. We are currently finalising VC funding, so we are going to be around for a very long time to come!

  14. Steven, you stated on another comment that Routenote had 7 employees, now you are saying you have 5? how many is it exactly?

    And do you really think insulting this blog, who is giving you promotion is the way to go around it?
    I dont really care if you do get more traffic than this blog, i don’t see what that has to do with music distribution, or would hold any sway to Routenote, whom i have never even heard of, being a reputable company.

    And if you were earning money, why would you be applying for VC funding? And why does your other company owe people money?

    I would be interested to see what information Companies House has on Routenote. This is information is free to access by the way.
    Anyone who is looking to work with any company of any sort should always check this.

  15. It depends on whether we count our development team that is based in India.

    I am not insulting this blog at all. Daniel Scocco who wrote the article I have know for quite some time.

    Im not going to state our reason for funding, but if you are asking that question Im pretty sure you dont really know how startups work.

    I find it funny how you are going out of your way to try to make us look like the bad guys, when we are offering artists an opportunity they arent going to find elsewhere.

    Feel free to check out company records if that makes you feel more comfortable. RouteNote will be around for many years to come and we hope that we can help millions of artists worldwide.

  17. I am in the same situation as Radiogaga, I have had problems with routenote. I just hope things get resolved soon as i dont want to do the publicity of the album untill i know its sorted.

  18. RouteNote has been had a huge amount of changes over the past 6 months. Our service is by far the fastest to market and upload tool is second to none.

    There are of course areas to work on, and within next couple of months everything will be greatly improved.

  19. Signed up with Routenote a week ago, uploaded 6 singles. A week later they were selling on Itunes Japan(thats where i currently live) and Germany.
     Had one question, the next day James Bennett replied to me. I say they offer a great deal and service. Maybe you guys who rant against them here are actually working for other competing distributors?
    Its possible, right.
    Cause Routenote offers something no other mid size distributor does- a way to upload your music for free. Does CDBABY offer that? Or anyone else?

    No i do not work for Routenote and they did not pay me to write this (how come 😉 ? ).
    Seriously, so far they seem very nice, hope that continues. Hope to sell millions of traxx and albums through their distribution system (millions of albums?) You bet, if Lady Gaga can do it(she’ s a weirdo though some of her music is great) so can i(though she dont use Routenote).

    peace out my

    EX-SAINT

  20. Actually there are many distributors who offer no upfront fees to iTunes and other services (Venzo Music, IODA, and the Orchard to name a few). RouteNote isn’t the first to come up with this idea. In fact, their previous competitor (now turned mobile app) WaTunes was the first to offer a completely free service before they decided to jump ship.

    Point being made is this folks:

    – When it comes to sales & accounting I recommend using Tunecore. Their system just ROCKS!
    – If you want physical & digital distribution, CD Baby is the way to go!
    – If you JUST want to get your music on iTunes? Then I highly recommend going though Venzo Music. They can put your music, music videos, and ringtones for free! They also do iPhone apps too!

  21. RouteNote is the only digital music distributor to offer both Free (no upfront fees) and premium (keep 100% of the royalties) services. Artists can move freely between the two options, which allows them to use the services that matches their needs, so they can make the most possible from their music. NO other service offers that!

    Additionally, artists have the ability to sell direct to fans via the RouteNote Direct service. It offers a customisable store, control your own pricing, play stats and sales go directly into your Paypal account!

    We are trying to help artists from all over the world and we will be adding a lot more great new features very soon.

  22. Steven Finch! Why would you want to offer a free & paid service just to confuse us artists? CD Baby’s model is simple, TuneCore’s model is simple. Your model I’m afraid is too confusing. You basically rip off TuneCore’s model and then add a basic percentage model. Why just stick to one model?

    Also based on other post, it seems like you cater more to the paid artists than free anyway. I suggest you work on getting a new design (as it looks old fashion) and definitely work on your system (based on videos on YouTube) as its the worst I’ve ever seen.

    And if you have capital, why can you not come up with a better solution to your artists problems?

  23. After not being paid from Routenote, and waiting 12 months i feel as though i should say something.
    1) They are broke, they dont have staff or an office
    2) They dont pay anyone, because they have no money
    3) The two people that do work there spend all day on message boards convincing idiots like me that i should trust them with my music
    4) they have 5 stores, no one else will touch them

    Use them if you want, i dont really care, i have given up trying to get my money or getting an actual person to talk to. But dont come crawling back like eveyrone else when your music is lost and u never get paid anything

  24. @Richard – We offer both a free and premium option for artists so they can optimise their revenues. If they find they are selling a lot of releases then they can easily move to the premium model and vice versa. Best of both worlds.

    We have a vastly updated version of RoutNote coming out in the next few months. Huge upgrades, more stores, more ways for artists to make more money!

  25. @Royal Music – All payments are automated so you would have been paid on time unless your account hasnt gone over the threshold ($50).

    1) We have paid out of $1 million to artists in the last 12 months. Our staff is growing – http://routenote.com/about – plus you should come visit our office and I will make you a cup of tea.

    2) We pay everyone on time! all the time!

    3) We are working very hard to improve our system and services for our artists.

    4) We only deal with the worlds largest online stores (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Rdio, Deezer). We dont want to deal with all the little stores who struggle to shift product. We want our artists to keep focus.

  26. STOP INSULTING ROUTENOTE
    They offer a really good service, cheaper or free too!
    They offer some services for free where with other distributor you have to pay them.
    So congratulations to all the staff of RouteNote for this excellent work and …thumb up!!

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