It’s no secret that the retail record environment has been shrinking at a tremendous rate. Stores are closing, and getting CDs into the remaining shops is a daunting proposition for today’s artists. But here’s the good news. Digital sales are on the rise. With this in mind, we have created Digital Nations, a digital-only label and subsidiary of Favored Nations.
Digital Nations (DN) works as a digital distribution network for our artists. Here is how it works: The artist supplies DN with the music and artwork. For sites that include PDF booklets with downloads, DN will upload the artwork in its entirety. DN then uploads your content to the entire list of DN’s digital music stores, well over 100 of them — and growing. Many of these stores offer hi-def downloads, ringtones, streaming, etc. The continually expanding list of stores serviced by DN includes many international stores, including all five major iTunes in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia/New Zealand. So every DN artist is assured of maximum possible distribution in the worldwide digital marketplace.
DN acts more as a digital distribution service for artists than it does a conventional record label, so DN artists have the significant advantage of retaining all rights to their masters. Because of the many complexities of setting up a release and taking it down, DN requests a one-year exclusive term. Following the first year, DN offers month-to-month rollover terms.
DN pays the artist 70% of any funds received from all of the digital stores DN services. For example, for every iTunes single download, DN collects the full rate of $.71, so the artist’s portion of the sale is close to $.50 per downloaded single. The artist is responsible for paying any third-party royalty recipients such as producers, musicians and managers. The artist also assumes responsibility for paying mechanical royalties for territories in which the digital store does not pay them directly to the mechanical rights societies. By joining DN, this simplifies the artists’ business responsibilities, so they can focus on making music and earning money, while DN handles all the rest.
Yes, there are still ways that artists can create a piece of work, get it out across the globe, and receive a respectable royalty on their product while still retaining all rights to their intellectual property.
Please contact DN today to begin receiving the considerable benefits of your own deal with DN. We look forward to servicing your music to the world.
