I'm working with a friend who is a self-producing artist, and would like to get her music on iTunes. Apparently, in order to do so if you are an independent artist you need to go via a distributor.

Does anyone have any experience of doing this? I've gone to this link, but am a bit confused.

itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTune...1.5.0.7.3.1.11.1.0.5


Does anyone have any recommendationsor things to be aware of?

Thanks in advance

She has to go through an "aggregator" - we use AWAL.

Getting your music onto iTunes is not the problem !

Now that ever man and his dog has their own "label", promotion and marketing are even more important than before - to lift yourself away from all the dross !

JK2006 wrote:
She has to go through an "aggregator" - we use AWAL.

Thanks JK. We were looking at AWAL so I'll go for them. She's got stuff on iTunes and Spotify already, but wasn't happy with the people she went through.

We're very much on our own in this. It's just her, her son who produces, and me. And we really have no idea. But hey, we're releasing a single which is a really strong song and there will be a video to go with it.

In The Know wrote:
Getting your music onto iTunes is not the problem !

Now that ever man and his dog has their own "label", promotion and marketing are even more important than before - to lift yourself away from all the dross !

You are of course absolutely right.

Just a bit of background... the artist is a friend of mine of very long date from when I lived in France aeons ago. In her late 40s she is launching a music career, writing her own material with her son arranging and producing.

They have a great pop sensibility and some really good quality material.I posted a link to one of her tracks earlier this year and JK commented that it was 'not bad', which is already a compliment. She also once sang in front of Nina Simone, who gave her enthusiastic applause. And that is a compliment.

I'm joining them as the third member of their team, running her Facebook page, website, reverbnation etc.

I realise that I know nothing about music marketing, tho I have a background in other forms of marketing, so that's the reason I'm asking for recommendations here.

We decided on a new single yesterday and she is shooting a video tomorrow for the track. I'll post a link when it's online. Her name's Christine Rose.

good luck, david .... but I'm still not hearing what "angle" you will use to generate some publicity and attention !

david wrote:
In The Know wrote:
Getting your music onto iTunes is not the problem !

Now that ever man and his dog has their own "label", promotion and marketing are even more important than before - to lift yourself away from all the dross !

You are of course absolutely right.

Just a bit of background... the artist is a friend of mine of very long date from when I lived in France aeons ago. In her late 40s she is launching a music career, writing her own material with her son arranging and producing.

They have a great pop sensibility and some really good quality material.I posted a link to one of her tracks earlier this year and JK commented that it was 'not bad', which is already a compliment. She also once sang in front of Nina Simone, who gave her enthusiastic applause. And that is a compliment.

I'm joining them as the third member of their team, running her Facebook page, website, reverbnation etc.

I realise that I know nothing about music marketing, tho I have a background in other forms of marketing, so that's the reason I'm asking for recommendations here.

We decided on a new single yesterday and she is shooting a video tomorrow for the track. I'll post a link when it's online. Her name's Christine Rose.


Is this the same Christine Rose?

Yes it is, but don't watch that, this is much, much better:



And the new track is really top knotch, I'll post the video in a couple of days when they've finished editing it

In The Know wrote:
good luck, david .... but I'm still not hearing what "angle" you will use to generate some publicity and attention !

... but I'm still not hearing what "angle" you will use to generate some publicity and attention !

ITK is right David; the problem comes in getting exposure, praise, sales. As we found with Alex Day - a UK top 5 single but no cross over from there. There is still no "new model".

You are of course both absolutely right, and thank you for the feedback.

But I stress I am completely new to this and on many levels don't have a clue. I'm making it up as I go along, and it is VERY early days yet. The idea to become involved came not long ago when I spent a week with Christine and her son. They're beginning to get really good at what they do, but they're out on their own.

The first thing I've done is let them get on with the music without any interference. However, I've encouraged them to become much more focused on more precise goals, hence rather than put one song after another online with no real focus, to be much more selective, to focus on one song, to build momentum around it. That's happened in the past 10 days with the selection of a song as a single, recording, mixing and very importantly making a video which they have done. They've both entered into this with 100% dedication and hard work. Already the video is almost ready, we've shared photos from the shoot on Facebook and will post the video itself when ready, changing the look of the various sites to reflect the look of the new video and give all the different sites a unified feel and direction.

Christine already had a decent presence on social media, but we've spruced up the website, Reverbnation etc so they look much slicker and are working on increasing likes on Facebook, twitter etc. We're not doing badly tho for now on that front considering where we're starting from, we have:

Facebook 802 page likes
Twitter 5,837 followers
Reverbnation 1,200 followers

As I say, this is just a starting point, but I feel I have two artists (mother and son) who are suddenly really focused on what they're doing, that's exciting to see.

The next step is, as you both say, getting an angle. I am working on that.I am way out of my depth and freely admit that, which is kind of why I posted on here. But I have ideas for that too.

In the meantime, if you're interested- the social media sites, they are as follows:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/myofficialartistpage (I'm breaking my anonimity here asyou'll clearly identify me,oh well lol)

Reverbnation: www.reverbnation.com/christinerose?profi...w_source=profile_box

Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisAMSRecords

Anyway, I'll shut up now. Thanks for your comments! Any further feedback welcome,whatever it is. Cheers.

Well, essentially, these days having a nice body and getting your kit off helps

Well, we've got the new single on Spotify and iTunes.

My personal feeling is that this is too Euro for the UK, and that we should go for her more soul/r'nb side, for which she's received some recognition in the States, including a recent independent music award in Chicago. So we're going with that angle for the next single, probably with a song called Hold You Tight which has been very well received.

In the meantime,any thoughts on the new single Flower are gratefully received

open.spotify.com/track/7FmhhyWhoTcI85NYqvMUxf

My old Spotify won't play it! Is it on You Tube?

Got it on You Tube - you're right, very Euro; but essentially not a hit (as 99.9% are not unfortunately) - there's a huge gap between hits and non-hits in my ears though most other people seem to be less particular!

Ufortunately this particular track isn't up to it at all.

However, what you/she needs is to get on TV.

Thanks for the feedback NCS and especially JK.

I know this isn't right for the UK market but as it's a favourite of mine and theirs, it's a good track for a practice run,i.e. single/video/relaunch of website & social media etc and getting a product on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon, which we've done.

Next step is the second single 'Hold You Tight' which is from her soul/ r n b vein. It's been around a while and has had some great feedback from the US and UK, so we'regoing tohave a big push when we launch that around September time.

In the run up, Christine has got a strong live band together and is trying to get some gigs. She is a very strong and charismatic live performer, so that should play in her favour.

When we're ready to release Hold You Tight I'll post it here again for feedback if that's ok.

ok, just resurrecting this thread because they've recorded a new track which I think is superb.... excellent production and wonderful vocals. It's an electro track, probably the best thing they've done in my opinion.

Any views welcome

I don't hear a hit I'm afraid - no real melody and no serious hook.