How to Sell Music Without DistroKid, TuneCore, or Anyone Taking a Cut.

These days, everybody seems to be hating their distributor—from TuneCore to UnitedMasters to DistroKid—I get it. The truth is, you don't have to use them, and you can make way more money using other methods. By the end of this, you'll know why! So, if you wanna know how to sell music without using these platforms and going direct, tune in!

Alright now, I'm guessing for a lot of you, this is probably not your first time hearing this. The first thing I want to mention is that if you've failed at direct-to-consumer sales in the past, it's not on you. You don't know what you don't know. There's a lot of information out there, and it can be confusing. Many times that information overload keeps you from success. So, it's OK.

For those of you who've never done this before, I'm gonna crack your mind open. For those of you who have gone direct-to-consumer already, I'm going to level your game up.

My goal is to help you understand why direct-to-consumer is the key to unlock the money and relief you seek, and I'm going to show you 3 points of sale that will make it simple for you to achieve that result.

In order to put this together, I had to become a fan again with music. I had to find new artists that I loved and could build a relationship with, and then I could begin to purchase things that they had. As I began to go on this purchasing spree, I found three core points of sale that need to be accessed and improved for you all to make the money that you seek without having your distributor and to get relief by getting the most money possible from your music.

Direct-to-consumer is a given—many of you all know the platforms. However, there are other options that are floating out there that have not been perfected yet, but they're on the rise. So throughout this video, I'm going to tell you what they are and what you need to do to improve each point of sale.

How to Sell Music Direct to Consumer

Now, many artists think selling direct-to-consumer is just giving customers the same album, but in the WAV version. This is the number one way for you to NOT make any sales in direct-to-consumer. No fan is looking to buy the same version that they could've got on streaming. The only people who do that are supporters. They're not doing it because they love you. They're doing it because they feel sorry for your hash beginnings. The real reason that you can't move your music direct-to-consumer is because you're not offering the purchaser a solution to the use case they actually have. I'm learning this as a fan because as I'm purchasing more and more music, I'm starting to see that artists are just offering up the music itself, and as a fan or supporter, we don't want that. We're not looking for the music itself—we're looking for access into the music. So in short, we're looking for the factory tour.

I want you to offer a view into the world of the creation process. I want you to give a breakdown of every song. And if you do at least that, you will transform the amount of sales you get from your direct-to-consumer digital album 3 to 4X easily. If you wanna increase the transformation yet again on your side, then you offer it on several platforms at one time, including your website, EVEN, Bandcamp, Shopify, and other portals where people can purchase at their convenience. You must remember you have to serve the customer—it's not about you, but it's about the customer.

How to Sell Music At a Pop-up

The biggest misconception artists have around pop-ups is that they're only for merch or they're only for bigger artists. And while having a fanbase to conduct a pop-up may be true, it doesn't mean that you can't do it, and it doesn't mean that you can't do it to sell music either. Follow me.

The thing about it is, there are certain groups of people that will show up to the pop-up anyway—those are the fans. It's all in how you curate the pop-up that will allow you to sell music.

If all you create is dope music but you have no real merch yet, you can create your base-level merch: t-shirt, hoodie, hat, and bring your music, and boom, we've got a pop-up.

These are the basic things fans want, but they really would appreciate you signing it and taking a picture with them. In addition to that, you need to make it into an event. So bring all of your items, partner with another artist on the rise in your city or emerging market, and here's the kicker: book a listening room or lounge and charge for entry into the listening experience by purchasing an album by default. Now we're cooking with grease.

Now all you have to do is make sure you've cooked up some great audio dopamine, and let's create a pop-up in a market and go sell!

How to Sell Music with Subscription/Email Drip

Artists still don't think email is worth anything. However, it is a great place to sell both low-level items and high-ticket opportunities. In many cases, it's also the best place to keep people informed about what's going on with you.

The reason why many artists don't like emails is that they just don't understand that email equals access, and access has perks. If you're not on the email list as a fan, you can't get access to the perks, items, and music discounts and special offers that the public wouldn't necessarily receive.

The thing is, you know this is true because people offer you discounts all the time through email. You just never pay attention to it. You don't believe you can do it, but you can.

Create an invitation to get people on an email list. Say "Like and comment 'song' and I will send you a copy of my song to remix. Whoever does the best remix will get officially released on my remix album by me on Spotify with official credits and promotion." This allows more people to create user-generated content, get on your email list, and at the same time provides you with value. As you do more offers like this, more and more people will join, and you can begin to talk to those people in different ways and sell them more things.

I never used to use my emails other than letting you all know that I had a new YouTube video out. But as soon as I started emailing you all the Music Money Minute—giving you more insights to make money from music in one minute flat—my sales started to increase because I gave you exactly what you wanted: more information and more insight that I wouldn't necessarily give on YouTube.

Here's what you can do!

Right now, you have a choice: You can keep guessing and hoping things will change… or you can take advantage of a system that's already working. The real question isn't "should you do this?"—it's "how much longer can you afford NOT to?" If you need help with understanding this method even more, join the Music Money Makers every Monday at 7 PM Eastern Standard Time as we talk about situations like this live. Also join our master classes every month as well.

Back off the cliff…

The truth is—it's not these activities, your ability to do them, or even your resources to build it out that get in the way that's an issue. It's the anxiety that maybe it won't work—because it seems like too much to do because you've never been this far down the road before. The truth is a lot of people have, and that's why we're able to tell it to you. You just need to start with what you've got—and watch how far that can take you.

What's it going to cost to keep doing it your way

If you keep going down the path of relying solely on distributors, you're leaving money on the table and limiting your potential reach. Not only are you paying unnecessary fees, but you're also missing out on building direct relationships with your fans. The real cost comes in lost opportunities for higher profit margins and deeper fan engagement that could make your music career sustainable.

At the End of the Day

The beauty of these three methods—direct-to-consumer sales, pop-ups, and email marketing—is that they put you in control of your music's destiny. You're no longer at the mercy of distribution platforms or their fee structures. Instead, you're building real connections with fans while maximizing your revenue potential. And that transforms you into an independent powerhouse.