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Below you will find common questions asked by artists and labels.
No. All you have to do is read and accept our terms and conditions, then you can start right away.
Of course, you keep all rights to your music. We only need the rights for the digital distribution of the uploaded songs for the music stores and countries you select.
No, unlike other distributors, we do not have annual contributions or other recurring costs.
The support team will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Get in touch with us through the chat or write an email to support@hitmakerdistro.com.
You can quit at any time. There is no minimum term or hidden cost to cancel.
Hitmaker Distro offers you a variety of useful tools and services to promote your music or video.
You need a cover picture and the audio files and you need to have the right to sell the music in the territories and formats that you want to sell it.
The following formats are required:
• Songs as WAV file in 16bit 44.1kHz
• Cover as JPG file with at least 3000 x 3000 pixels
Depending on the number of tracks, the shops differentiate between the release types “Single”, “EP” and “Album”. Unfortunately there is no uniform regulation for all shops, but for releases distributed via Hitmaker Distro we say:
1-2 songs = Single
2-7 songs = EP
7+ songs = Album
Yes. When you create a release in your account, you have the option to set the release date and the preorder date. You can also set up Instant Gratification tracks on some services.
See the Tools section in your Hitmaker Distro account for more information.
Yes, you can edit your release at any time. If it has not yet been delivered to the shops, changes can be made free of charge, a small fee will be charged after delivery.
After delivery it is no longer allowed to change the tracklist, remove or add songs or change the codes (EAN / ISRC). However, audio files, covers or metadata can still be edited after delivery.
The most important stores are listed on the homepage. Among them are:
iTunes / Apple Music
Spotify
Amazon
Deezer
TIDAL
YouTube Music
The complete and updated shop list is directly visible in your account when you create a new release.
These fields are optional and can be left blank accordingly. In this case, “Hitmaker Distro” is automatically specified as the label.
So if you want to enter your copyright, label or (P)-note, the fields are at your disposal. In most cases, the (P) note must also contain the label.
If you need the EAN and ISRCs from your release in advance for mastering? No problem! Just follow these steps:
1. Log in to your Hitmaker Distro account and click on “+ NEW RELEASE”
2. Enter the basic information for your release
3. Fill in the tracklist including all track information and pay attention to the order of the songs. You can skip the WAV upload of the songs for the time being.
4. Send an email to support@hitmakerdistro.com as soon as you have entered all available information about your release and request the label copy including your codes.
5. Complete the tracklist with the finished mastered songs
The status of the delivery is visible in your account. If you click on the relevant release under “My Products”, you will find a detailed overview of the releases sent to the music stores you have selected under the menu item “Music Stores”.
This is different for all stores and can last from a few days to two to three weeks (for smaller shops). This depends on the shops and their processes.
We recommend that you enter the release at least two weeks before the planned release date, if you want to pitch the release or set up an advance sale even earlier. For example, Spotify explicitly requires that releases be delivered at least five days before the release date to guarantee that they will be available on the desired day.
We deliver the releases daily from Monday to Friday. If a release was added before 12 noon, it will be delivered on the same day.
As soon as your release goes LIVE after successful delivery to the stores, i.e. when it is available in the stores, you will receive an email in which you will find the links to all shops as well as your personal link site. The link site summarizes the links for all shops, clearly arranged on a page with your individual URL.
You can also find your link site including all store links in your account under the menu item “Tools” -> “Link Site”.
Sales will be reported by the Music Stores to the Chart companies in the countries where charts exist.
Spotify: Since Hitmaker Distro is a Gold Partner of Spotify, you can verify your release directly through us and get instant access to Spotify for Artists.
Apple Music: In order to verify your profile, at least one release must be available. Once this is the case it only takes a few steps.
Hitmaker Distro pays out 85% of the net revenue paid back to us by all stores.
Important to know: Music stores only pay a proportion of the selling price to the artist/partner. These payments vary depending upon the store but as a rough guide, for a song download with a selling price of 0.99 USD, a store may pay out approximately 0.70 USD to us as your distribution partner. We would then apply our 15% fee and you receive the balance. The value can fluctuate due to a number of variables including VAT rates (e.g. VAT in Germany is 19%, in Switzerland 8%), allowable deductions for credit card billing or payments made to copyright agencies.
In summary, 85% of the net revenue does not mean 85% of the selling price, but 85% of what the music stores pay us.
Stream revenue can vary and depends on a number of factors, including in which country the song was streamed and the type of service (e.g. Ad funded or Subscription).
The exact details of your earnings can be found in your account.
You can track your sales directly from your Hitmaker Distro account at any time. There are two different views available.
Sales trends view: Here you can see all your download and streaming revenue updated daily. The data is visible with a delay of two days. The trends are called trends because the numbers they provide have not yet been settled with the individual music stores and therefore have not yet been credited to you. The final settlement can slightly deviate from the sales trends due to currency fluctuations and corrections by the music stores.
Credits view: Here you can see all your download and streaming revenues that have already been billed to the individual music stores. Once a month a credit invoice will be created and credited directly to your account. Depending on the shop, it can take up to six months for a download from the sales trend view to be billed to the music stores. This is due to the fact that certain shops only bill their partners twice a year.
At the beginning of each month you will receive a monthly invoice via email with one month’s delay. That means, if you publish a release sometime in January, you will get the billing for the month January at the beginning of March.
The email with the invoice will give you a first impression of the performance of your music in that month. It shows you your top release (including income) as well as your top song (including income). You can get a more detailed insight into the statistics of your releases in your Hitmaker Distro account. There you can also download your statement as an XLS file or as a PDF invoice.
You can transfer money from your account to your bank or PayPal account at any time. The transfer usually takes 14-21 business days. At the latest, however, after 20 working days the money is completely transferred. Amounts can only be paid out from a minimum amount of CHF 30 / EUR 25.
In rare cases, a Music Store may make complaints about corrections or reversals, for example, due to cancellations. These are then automatically matched against your sales trends. The sales trends therefore do not show any definite sales figures. Only the monthly statements show the revenue effectively settled with the Music Stores.
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