I want to start releasing my own music and have no interest in the corporate streaming platforms. I have only a basic conceptual understanding of torrenting but it seems to me like a nice way of sharing my music with people directly.

What do I need to do and consider in order to make a music release freely available in this way?

Currently my knowledge and experience is limited to using an application on my computer to search for and download files from others but I’m willing to learn.

Any advice or signposting much appreciated :)

  • Ajen@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    Nothing to worry about unless you’ve signed a contract with someone. Normally when you sign with a record label you’re selling them the rights to your music, so they could sue you if you try to give it away or sell it without them being involved. Record labels are known to be pretty predatory…

    • Churbleyimyam@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      Thanks for those links :)

      Yes, I’ve been looking at licensing today too. I think I will use the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. If I’m correct this would allow free sharing between listeners and adaptation for creative use with attribution, while preserving my ability to charge for commercial use.

      • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        These restrictions are meant to forbid what other people can do. So you yourself can do anything with your content, no matter what’s in the license. It just means other people can’t use it in their projects if relates to making money. But I think something like CC BY-SA or BY-NC-SA is a solid choice. I’m always for freedom, so I’d drop the NC and allow my audience to do practically whatever they want… But it’s your creation and your choice.

        • Churbleyimyam@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          0·
          10 days ago

          I commend your generosity! I would like my music to be as free as possible but to retain some control over who gets to make money from it and how. If another poor artist wanted to use something in a sample or piece of video or performance art I’d be inclined to let them use it for free or cheap but if a powerful and exploitative company wanted to use it I would want to extract a price from them or deny it’s use if I didn’t like what they did.

  • Telorand@reddthat.comEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    Funkwhale is a federated music sharing platform. In addition to some of the good suggestions here, maybe add that into your mix.

      • apotheotic (she/her)@beehaw.orgEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        With the utmost respect - if your music reaches enough people its going to end up on YouTube like it or not, especially under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0. But I respect not wanting to endorse the platform yourself.

  • JoYo 🇺🇸@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    im just posting on my personal instance at thejoyo.com

    there’s a popular electronic producer that had their shit stolen by Apple back when iTunes was a thing and they published their music for torrenting and found some support from that.

    the flashbulb

    • Churbleyimyam@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      What is your instance running? I can see that it’s federated but I don’t recognise it. Thanks :)

      • JoYo 🇺🇸@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        yah, i only recently got into synths and watched some of benn Jordan’s yt videos and when he mentioned his music my jaw dropped. ive been listening to them for decades as the flashbub.

        • emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          0·
          10 days ago

          He released some glitch/acid jazz stuff under the name acidwolf thats pretty good too, but not as good imo. The range of his flashbulb stuff is just incredible though, and i dont think hes ever made a song i dont like

  • HouseWolf@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    Leave a text file along with your music including a donation link and thanking people for listening.

    I’ve heard more than a handful of artists getting some money that way after putting their own albums up on torrent/file-share sites.

    • enkers@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      If you’re releasing in a format that supports tagging, there’s usually either a comment field or custom field that you could put this into in as well.

    • Churbleyimyam@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      Thanks for the link - been down a rabbit hole for the last hour or so! Really interesting. I’ve never really dealt with crypto but direct transactions look awesome. The fact that it uses open protocols is great too.

      Have you released anything on it or are you a listener?

  • Dil@is.hardlywork.ingEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    Been telling ppl they have a better chance of eventually blowing up on Funkwhale and then making money off their fans in the future than they do organically any other way now. Im delusional about the fediverse tho.

    • Churbleyimyam@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      I don’t think you’re wrong. I think the big corporate music streaming platforms are basically a low key scam. They are effectively pointless (beyond free file hosting), unless you are one of the 0.001% of artists that are heavily promoted on them and are an insult to musicians everywhere. More musicians need to reject the proposition of being one of the bottom stones that holds up their pyramid. I would rather my music was unknown on independent sites than unknown on theirs, where it will only add value to an exploitative business model and help to further entrench it.

  • orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    I release music. I use a low cost platform for distribution. There are free ones. I understand your position because I feel similarly.

    I never expect to make money or get recognized, but I think my music is good enough to share. To do that, you need a distributor and to be on the major platforms.

    Look into Soundrop. You can also put your stuff on bandcamp for free, but at least get it out as widely as you can.

    https://open.spotify.com/artist/3Pdxd1oiWnNZK8NktgL7V3

    • Churbleyimyam@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      I’ll do that too but I would like to get actively involved in a music release pipeline that I think could be really positive. I guess I want to give to the listener as directly as possible.

  • tenchiken@lemmy.dbzer0.comMEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    If you have access to certain music-focused private torrent trackers, many will do spotlight articles on independent or smaller artists who are also members.

    This kind of sharing is often welcomed and a valued thing, so could even be a way in to some of those communities.

    Redacted does this, and I’ve been introduced to some really good music this way.

    Alternately, as others have noted, Bandcamp is a good way to offer as well. If you go this route, even with setting the music as free, you might make some small money… I’ve often tipped a bit via the “Pay what you want” pricing tier.

    • Churbleyimyam@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      Thanks :) What are private torrent trackers? And what is Redacted?

      Yes, I may use Bandcamp too or perhaps Faircamp, which you can host yourself. Bandwagon and Funkwhale appeal to me a lot as well, for the federation.

      • tenchiken@lemmy.dbzer0.comMEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        Private trackers are closed communities for sharing torrents. Often you can either interview to get access, or occasionally one with have open sign up for access. These usually have strict requirements to maintain a reasonable ratio of seeding for your downloads to prevent greedy users from ruining performance of sharing.

        Redacted is one of these communities, based strictly around music and maintaining quality, refusing to allow low quality encoding of the data. It is harder to get into the community, as well as very strict seeding requirements to maintain.

        Information about who they are and how to apply for access can all be found at https://interviewfor.red/

        • truxnell@infosec.pubEnglish
          0·
          10 days ago

          Also checkout orpheus alongside redacted. Smaller site but significant overlap with redacted, many have accounts with both. You can ‘crosspost’ your music torrents to both.