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Discover the Power of RouteNote: The Ultimate Music Distribution Platform for Independent Artists

RouteNote is a game-changing platform for artists looking to get their music out into the world. With its cutting-edge technology and easy-to-use interface, RouteNote makes it simple for artists to distribute their music to a variety of popular streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.

But RouteNote is more than just a distribution platform - it's a one-stop shop for all of an artist's music-related needs. Whether you're just starting out in the music industry or you're an established artist looking to take your career to the next level, RouteNote has the tools and resources to help you succeed.

One of the standout features of RouteNote is its comprehensive royalty tracking system. Artists can easily see how their music is performing across various platforms and track their earnings in real time. This is a crucial aspect of the music industry, and RouteNote makes it easy for artists to stay on top of their finances and make informed decisions about their career.

But RouteNote doesn't stop there - it also offers a range of other services that can help artists grow and develop their careers. These include marketing and promotion tools, artist development resources, and even music video production services.

Overall, RouteNote is a must-have for any artist looking to make a splash in the music industry. With its wide range of services and easy-to-use platform, RouteNote is the perfect partner for artists looking to take their careers to the next level.

RouteNote.com 

RouteNote Free Plan

The RouteNote Free Plan allows artists to distribute their music to a variety of popular streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube, at no cost. This is a great option for artists who are just starting out in the music industry and want to get their music out to a wider audience without incurring any upfront costs.

Under the RouteNote Free Plan, artists retain all of the rights to their music and receive 100% of the royalties generated from streams of their music on various platforms. RouteNote takes a small percentage of these royalties as a fee for their services, but artists still receive the majority of the earnings generated by their music.

In addition to distributing music, the RouteNote Free Plan also includes access to basic analytics and tracking tools, allowing artists to see how their music is performing on the various platforms and track their earnings in real time.

Overall, the RouteNote Free Plan is a great way for artists to get their music out into the world and start building a fanbase without incurring any upfront costs.

RouteNote Free Plan offers

  • Split revenue
  • Cover songs
  • Spotify & Apple Music verified artist pages
  • YouTube artist channel
  • Spotify pre-saves
  • Unlimited artists/band names
  • Upload unlimited songs
  • Customizable label name
  • Customizable release date
  • Customizable preorder date
  • Customizable iTunes pricing
  • Shazam
  • YouTube Content ID
  • Your music is sent to new stores and streaming services as and when they’re added at no extra cost (unless you opt-out)
  • Your music will never be deleted unless you ask us to
  • All of these features and many more are offered by RouteNote for free, with no hidden fees or recurring costs. Artists keep 85% of revenue, or choose Premium Distribution to keep 100% of the revenue.

RouteNote Premium Plan

The RouteNote Premium Plan is a paid subscription service that offers a range of additional features and benefits for artists looking to take their careers to the next level.

One of the main benefits of the RouteNote Premium Plan is the ability to release music on a wider range of platforms. In addition to the platforms included in the free plan (Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube), the Premium Plan allows artists to release their music on other popular platforms such as Tidal, Amazon Music, and Deezer.

The Premium Plan also includes access to a wider range of analytics and tracking tools, allowing artists to gain a deeper understanding of how their music is performing and make more informed decisions about their career. These tools include detailed performance metrics, advanced earnings tracking, and insights into the demographics of an artist's listeners.

In addition to these features, the RouteNote Premium Plan also includes a range of marketing and promotion tools, such as the ability to create customizable landing pages for each release and access to promotional campaigns to help increase the reach of an artist's music. With Premium Distribution, you also keep 100% of the revenue.

Overall, the RouteNote Premium Plan is a great option for artists who are looking to take their careers to the next level and want access to a wider range of tools and resources to help them succeed.

How does RouteNote compare to other services?

RouteNote, Tunecore, CDBaby, and DistroKid are digital distribution platforms that allow artists to distribute their music to a variety of streaming platforms and online stores. Each of these platforms offers a range of services and tools to help artists promote and monetize their music, but there are some key differences between these platforms when compared to RouteNote.

One of the main benefits of RouteNote is that it offers a free plan, which allows artists to distribute their music to a variety of popular streaming platforms at no cost. This is a great option for artists who are just starting out in the music industry and want to get their music out to a wider audience without incurring any upfront costs.

RouteNote also offers a range of marketing and promotion tools, including customizable landing pages and promotional campaigns, to help increase the reach of an artist's music. Additionally, RouteNote's royalty tracking system is comprehensive and allows artists to track their earnings in real-time.

RouteNote does not currently offer a service for publishing lyrics. Having saith that, there are a number of options available for artists to publish lyrics after the song is released on the streaming services.

RouteNote, Tunecore, CDBaby, and Distrokid offer a range of useful tools and resources for artists looking to distribute and promote their music. The right platform for an artist will depend on their specific needs and budget.

So, let's have a look at the potential "weaknesses" of RouteNote compared to the other services.

RouteNote compared to Tunecore

One potential weakness of RouteNote is that it does not offer as many customization options for releases as some other platforms, such as Tunecore. Artists may also have less control over the distribution of their music on RouteNote compared to other platforms.

Tunecore offers a lyrics publishing service as part of its distribution package. Artists can submit lyrics for their releases when uploading their music to the platform, and Tunecore will handle the submission and registration of the lyrics with the appropriate rights organizations.

Tunecore, on the other hand, offers a wider range of customization options for releases and allows artists to have more control over the distribution of their music. However, Tunecore does not offer a free plan, and its subscription fees may be higher than those of RouteNote.

RouteNote compared to CDBaby

One potential weakness of RouteNote is that it does not offer as many physical distribution options as CDBaby. If an artist is interested in distributing their music on physical formats such as CDs or vinyl, they may be better served by a platform like CDBaby that offers a wider range of distribution options.

CDBaby offers a lyrics publishing service as an add-on to its distribution package. Artists can submit lyrics for their releases when uploading their music to the platform, and CDBaby will handle the submission and registration of the lyrics with the appropriate rights organizations.

CD Baby advertises features such as YouTube Monetization and promotional tools (such as Spotify Pre-Saves). RouteNote offers these features as well. Additionally RouteNote works directly with SoundCloud to help users monetize their content. CD Baby does not offer this feature.

CDBaby, on the other hand, offers a wider range of physical distribution options, as well as distribution to a larger number of digital platforms. However, CDBaby does not offer a free plan, and its subscription fees may be higher than those of RouteNote. I personally believe that in a one-on-one comparison, RouteNote is better value for money in almost every instance. 

RouteNote compared to Distrokid

However, one potential weakness of RouteNote compared to DistroKid is that DistroKid offers a wider range of distribution options. In addition to distributing music to popular streaming platforms, DistroKid also allows artists to release their music on a larger number of digital platforms, including some that may be less popular or specialized.

DistroKid does not currently offer a service for publishing lyrics. Having saith that, there are a number of options available for artists to publish lyrics after the song is released on the streaming services.

DistroKid also offers a range of additional features and services, such as the ability to release an unlimited number of songs per year and the option to purchase a UPC and ISRC for each release.

A number of basic Distrokid features are priced on top of the base subscription.

  • Shazam & iPhone Siri – $0.99 per song/year
  • YouTube Money – $4.95 per single/year, $14.95 per album & 20% revenue: Upload your music to YouTube’s Content ID system
  • Store Maximizer – $7.95: Automatically deliver music to new stores and streaming services
  • Leave a Legacy – $29 per single, $49 per album of 2+ tracks: Distokid never delete your release, unless you ask them to

A potential weakness of DistroKid compared to RouteNote is that it does not offer a free plan, and its subscription fees may be higher than those of RouteNote.

Support

Each of these services offers a range of support options for its users, including a comprehensive help center with articles and tutorials on how to use the platform, as well as email and social media support.

There is no clear trend when comparing the quality of support between these services. Each service has enthusiastic users, but also an occasional dissatisfied user. The impression I get is that dissatisfaction can happen with non-standard requests. E.g. when users want to change their artist name, upload a new version of a published recording, release poorly mastered audio, make mistakes because they don't understand the tools and processes used to release music, DIY transfer to a new distribution service (while not understanding the implications and how to get it done right). 

I replayed a number of cases and honestly asked myself if another platform would have been able to come up with a better solution. In my humble opinion, the cases I saw were exceptions that would have happened on any DIY music distribution platform and almost always the result of someone performing steps in a DIY process without a sufficient understanding of the full chain of activities. 

Music distribution has a learning curve, and the tools provided on DIY distribution platforms are built to simplify standard distributions. The risk of things going wrong increases when you go outside the standard processes, and that is where experience and a full understanding of each step in the release process are needed to prevent issues. I personally believe that most of the issues could have been prevented if people would have stopped when facing a challenge and asked for assistance from someone who has more experience, instead of pushing forward and thinking they are saving money (penny wise pound foolish). 

In general, it is important for artists to carefully research and compare the customer support offered by different digital distribution platforms before making a decision on which one to use. Some factors to consider when evaluating the support offered by a platform include the availability of resources such as FAQs and tutorials, the responsiveness of customer support teams, and the range of support options (such as email, phone, or social media) that are available.

It may be helpful for artists to read reviews or ask other musicians who have used the platform for their experiences with the support offered by each platform. This can give artists a better understanding of the level of support they can expect to receive from each platform... and hopefully, also help to decide if they should use a DIY music distribution service or look for a Managed music distribution service.

Conclusion

In conclusion, RouteNote is a digital distribution platform that offers a range of tools and resources for artists looking to distribute and promote their music. With the option of a free plan and a range of marketing and promotion tools, RouteNote is a great option for artists who are just starting out in the music industry and want to get their music out to a wider audience without incurring any upfront costs. While RouteNote may not offer as many customization options or physical distribution options as some other platforms, it is a reliable and comprehensive option for artists looking to distribute their music digitally.

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